California-based NachoFoto has launched an image search engine that offers a different take on the currently available alternatives: a time factor. Billing itself as real-time image search, the engine promises to return the most recent and relevant results.
Traditional search engines—such as Google and Yahoo!—rely on file names for their image search. NachoFoto bases its search results on the semantics of the search query with respect to time, making it less dependent upon present keyword groupings or inbound link measurement algorithms.
NachoFoto uses semantic text analysis to calculate the recency factor and image density of a Web page where a given image appears. The search engine also takes into consideration the number of inbound links to the host Web site and its overall authority when indexing images. Based on the combination of these four factors, images that are the most recent and originate from sites with the highest image density, number of inbound links and domain authority are prioritized higher.
In practical terms, says the company, this means that the search results are more relevant. NachoFoto’s Web site features a case study that compares its engine’s results for keyword “iPad” over time to those of Google, Yahoo! and Bing. While the search segment leaders show static results for the entire duration of the study, the images returned by NachoFoto change depending on the day and even hour.