Understanding verification and documentation Using reverse image searches to verify and identify Image search engines are great tools for verification and identification. When you upload a photo to an image search engine and perform a “reverse image search” it checks for matching file names or similar pictures that already appear online. This can help you determine whether a photo is what you think it is, older than you believe, or was used previously in a different context or country. 1. Find the right search engine for you. TinEye and Google Image Search offer Beware! A reverse image search cannot tell you when an image was taken. It only tells you if an image has been previously indexed on the Web and when. the most comprehensive databases. But many other search engines (Bing, Yandex, Baidu) also offer reverse image search. Test to see which one works best in a geographic context. 2. Always perform two searches. Each reverse image search engine queries a different database and indexes new images at different speeds. Your image may appear in one search engine while not in another. 3. Order your search results by oldest first. If the image is from a different event than is claimed, this will quickly reveal the discrepancy. 4. Locate landmarks geographically. If you are trying to identify a landmark in an image or video, a search engine that enables “similar to” searches is a great help, as landmarks are highly documented. 30 Beware! If your image does not appear in a reverse image search, it does not mean it is new. The image could have been sitting on a hard drive for years.