Google Image Search Not Showing Correct Images for a Specific Website

Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi

Message Too Old, No Replies

Google Image Search Not Showing Correct Images for a Specific Website

Harshik Senthil

11:28 am on Feb 28, 2025 (gmt 0)

I’ve noticed an issue with Google Image Search where results that were previously accurate for a site that provides searchable movie/TV show clips are now either missing or incorrect.

For years, when searching for specific scenes or subtitles, Google Images would return relevant frames from this site. However, since April 2024, these results have significantly degraded—many expected images do not appear, and unrelated images dominate the results instead.

I have checked:
The site is still live and accessible.
The site still has properly structured pages with images.
Google's cache shows older, previously indexed images.

Has anyone else experienced something similar with Google Image Search misattributing or failing to show previously indexed images? Any insights on potential causes (algorithm updates, technical issues, etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

not2easy

11:46 am on Feb 28, 2025 (gmt 0)

Hello Harshik_Senthil and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

If your site has a large number of images, I suggest submitting an image sitemap to list them in addition to the sitemap you submit for your pages.

Google explains the basics here: [developers.google.com...]

They also explain how to create an image sitemap here: [developers.google.com...]

Harshik Senthil

12:33 pm on Feb 28, 2025 (gmt 0)

Thanks for the response! The issue isn’t with indexing new images, but rather that Google Image Search is showing incorrect or unrelated images for queries that previously worked fine. The site’s structured data and image indexing appear fine, but the search results are now degraded. Could this be due to algorithmic changes or something else?

not2easy

7:26 pm on Feb 28, 2025 (gmt 0)

If you ere submitting an image sitemap you could see any problems in your GSC account. Since you are only complaining about the image errors, I can only suggest an image sitemap.There have been 3 "Google updates" in the past few months, a lot of people here have been disappointed in their changes, but these updates do not have a description the way they used to. We can only guess what they are targeting.

JennyWilson

7:31 am on Mar 1, 2025 (gmt 0)

Hello there!
According to my opnion
Algorithm, Google image changes or tiered processing of your migration domain. Even if structure and index is fine and Google rechecked everything from image redirects to GSC crawl issues to performance trends it would take some time for them to re-index. If that doesn’t work then consider requesting a reindex of all your important pages.

Harshik Senthil

5:52 am on Mar 2, 2025 (gmt 0)

Thanks for your responses! However, I don’t own the site, so I can’t submit an image sitemap or check its Google Search Console. The issue isn’t with indexing but with Google Image Search showing incorrect or unrelated images instead of the expected ones. This change happened after April 2024. Could this be due to recent Google Image Search algorithm updates? Has anyone else seen similar shifts in image search accuracy?

not2easy

11:44 am on Mar 2, 2025 (gmt 0)

Have you tried any of the GETTING INFORMATION TO GOOGLE links or forms in the Charter? Does the site owner have a GSC account? Because their account authenticates them, Google gives this communication higher priority and credibility. The Charter also suggests how to use Google's "Give Us Feedback" on any search page showing incorrect images.