A whole load of new SEO services could soon be appearing after the announcement by Idee of the TinEye search engine.

TinEye takes a new approach to internet searching, attempting to match pictures rather than words.

A user uploads an image, and then the program conducts a pixel-by-pixel search, finding if the image has been used anywhere, regardless of whether it's been cropped or digitally altered, the company claims.

"TinEye does for images what Google does for text," said chief executive Leila Boujinane.

"We are not limited by words; Google can only find an image if a particular search word is in proximity to it.

"We have the ability on a large scale to tell somebody where one of their images has appeared and how it's being used."

While the obvious use of the site would be for photographers to make sure no-one is infringing their copyright, the company claims it has other uses.

Ms Boujinane cited an example where someone used it to name a soldier in a photograph from World War II.

She said: "That's exactly when TinEye is useful, when you have an image but no words."

But is there potential for this search engine to be used by websites to increase hits, and so create the requirement for more SEO services?

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