Have you ever come across any ultimate meme video or interesting google display ads online by chance but couldn’t find its full version?
You keep scrolling all over social media platforms for hours but fail to find its origin.
Relax that frown. There are actually plenty of techniques to track down the roots of a video clip – and the good news is that most of them work pretty well!
But here, we will be talking specifically about reverse video search that can help you find your video content within seconds.
Searching for a video using the reverse video function is different across mobiles to computers, so stick around and learn how to search by video upload over different platforms.
What is Reverse Video Search?
Reverse video search is similar to searching for a word or a phrase over the boundless internet. The only twist in this is that you will be searching for a video instead of searching for a word.
After submitting a screenshot of a video file over the web, you are provided with a bunch of results where a similar video file appears.
Google and other search engines use the colors and pixels of your submitted screenshot to search out the relevant content. So, the chances of the results being accurate is usually not too high.
Video reverse search remains being a fresh concept, and still, there are many things to work on to make it a reliable method.
Why Do We Perform A Reverse Video Search?
As you are now familiar with the concept of a reverse video search, let’s see what purpose does a search by video serve.
To Find Out If Your Video Content Is Being Plagiarized:
These days, apart from creating brand-building niche content, the best way to drive traffic to a website is by putting up video content over your social media handles.
Unfortunately, in most cases, instead of using this tactic positively, people upload images that are oftentimes plagiarized. [1]
With the help of video reverse search, one can easily find out the location where their content is being used. If your content ends up somewhere else, you can either ask for removal or credits.
To Find The Full Versions of The Videos:
Usually when a trending social media meme or funny clip is making rounds over the internet, we, as fellow internet users will have the urge to check out the full version.
The thing about short clips circulating the internet is that sometimes, these videos leave zero traces, which makes it difficult to find video sources of the origins.
Here, the reverse video search function caters to the needs of the searchers. You can track down the whole video by uploading a video clip on your preferred search engine.
To Find Relevant Content for More Information:
There are times when the information provided by a particular video is not enough. With video reverse search, you can get access to all the related videos of similar content.
Re-using a video or an image is a good practice for interacting with your target audience. If you want to re-use a video and can’t find the original publisher, reverse video can help you fetch all the details.
First, it will pull out the videos similar to the snippet provided by you.
Then, you can go through the results and pick relevant information.
5 Ways to Reverse Search a Video From Well-Known Website
Every search engine has its own set of steps to reverse search a video. Let’s find out how can you reverse a video on some of the most well-known platforms:
The first thing that comes to our mind as we’re searching for something particular on the internet is conduct a simple Google Search.
Further reading: Search Google or Type A URL
Strictly speaking, Google cannot do reverse video search. Instead, it can search video by image and give out results within seconds. Following are the steps to google search video for discovering relevant results:
- Take a screenshot of a picture that is relatable to the video you want to search.
- Tap the camera icon on the Google search bar.
3. Upload the picture there, and a list of similar photos will appear.
4. Check them and find your relevant video.
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Bing
Bing can perform reverse video search the same way Google Search video does. You cannot upload a video snippet for a reverse video search.
Below mentioned are the steps to search video by images on Bing:
- Open Bing.
- Upload the screenshot of the image related to your video on the search bar.
3. You will get a SERP page (Search Engine Results Page) consisting of relevant data.
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Berify
Berify is a popular reverse video search engine that goes through zillions of pages to find relevant results for its users.
It also has an alert feature that will remind you if someone uses your picture. After that, you will have to register your image there.
- Take a snapshot of the picture or the video clip you want to search.
- Go to Berify.com – a webpage as shown below will appear.
3. Upload the picture and click ‘search’.
4. The search might take a while, but no worries, it will be saved in the dashboard for you to retrieve later.
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Shutterstock
Like other reverse video search engines, Shutterstock also needs screenshots/snapshots to find an image or a video.
It is quite popular amongst bloggers as it searches the content from over 1 billion images and videos. If you are looking for a video source finder, Shutterstock is the one to go for.
- Go to shutterstock.com. Upload the screenshot to reverse search a video and you will get plenty of results to choose from.
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TinEye
Commonly used by corporates, TinEye is the other best application for searching videos, images, and objects on the videos.
However, like all other applications, TinEye cannot search by video and requires snapshots/screenshots for every reverse video search.
Follow the steps below to track your videos on TinEye:
- Take a screenshot of the image or the video clip you are looking for.
- Go to the TinEye webpage.
3. Click the upload button. A dialog box will appear.
4. Upload the screenshot and wait for TinEye to go through billions of pages and dig out relevant results for you.
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How to Reverse Video Search on Mobile (IOS and Android)?
You can even reverse video search on your cell phone. Different steps are available for reverse searching a video on Android and IOS. Let’s see how can you do it:
How to take a screenshot for Android & iPhone:
- By tapping on the power and volume down button together, you will take a screenshot on your Android phone.
- Press the power button and volume up button together for a few seconds to take a screenshot on the iPhone.
Steps to Reverse Video Search on Android & iPhone Through Google Chrome:
- Take a screenshot from your cell phone to search for the relevant video.
- Visit Google images and press the three spots available on the right.
- A drop-down menu will appear. Select the Desktop Site option on your Android phone and Request Desktop Site on your iPhone.
4. You will see that your screen now has a desktop version of Google Chrome available on the screen. Tap on the camera icon and upload the screenshot.
Reverse Video Searching Through Google Chrome App:
- Android:
If you have Google Chrome App installed on your phone, you can reverse video search using Google lens.
- Upload the screenshot and search for your required content from the results provided.
- IOS:
Before following these steps, you’ll have to install the Google Chrome App on your iPhone:
- Go to the page that has the image you want.
- Press the image and wait for a menu to pop up.
- Select Search Google for this image option. You will have millions of images to search from.
Other Ways to Reverse Video Search
Apart from the abovementioned methods, there are other ways to reverse search a video. Let’s go through them one by one!
Search by Video Upload
Google Video:
There is no particular feature for reverse video search Google. Still, there are other ways by which you can get your hands on that specific video.
For example, you can conduct a basic SEO keyword research and proceed to directly type the relevant keywords/phrases/text to look for a video on Google.
Many filters are available on Google to help you make your results more fruitful. All that’s left for you to do is to look through them and get your video.
YouTube:
Youtube is one of the most dominant social media platforms where millions of videos are uploaded daily.
The reverse video search process here is the same as Google. The only difference is in the efficiency level. Youtube is a more efficient platform to reverse search videos than Google.
Bing Video:
Bing Video compiles the video data from Amazon and Youtube to give out results to its users. It also provides a short preview of the video to provide the viewer with a hint of what the video is all about.
Similar Video Suggestions
YouTube:
With the autoplay feature on Youtube, you can get plenty of options to look for a similar piece of content.
For example, if you search for a video on operations management and start playing the first one, then, Youtube will give you more suggestions on a similar topic.
You can then pick and choose whichever video you like.
Google Advanced Video Search:
The advanced video search option on Google allows you to gain results and reverse video search on google through certain domain names, video duration, posting time & date, quality, subtitles, etc.
Wrapping Up
Reverse video search is a new technique that helps to safeguard your content from being reused without your permission. Apart from that, a simple reverse google video search assists you in building a unique brand identity.
However, for businesses, it isn’t always easy to maintain a unique brand identity in the market. In such situations, digital marketing agencies act as a savior.
They help organizations build a brand and protect their content from getting repurposed.
We’ve covered so many different methods of reverse searching a video up to this point, now you should at least know how to reverse a video search using one method covered!
And – if you don’t, worry not. You can always connect with us for your digital marketing needs!
One Search Pro is a digital marketing agency that has been assisting organizations with incredible services.
We specialize in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and provide other services like PPC, brand building, and social media marketing.
