A comparative analysis of web image and textual queries

This study aims to examine the differences between web image and textual queries.

A large number of web queries from image and textual search engines were analysed and compared based on their factual characteristics, query types, and search interests.

Useful results include the findings that web users tend to input short queries when searching for visual or textual information; that image requests have more zero hits and higher specificity, and contain more refined queries; that web image requests are more focused than textual requests on some popular search interests, and that the variety of textual queries is greater than that of image requests.

This study provides results that may enhance one's understanding of web‐searching behaviour and the inherent implications for the improvement of current web image retrieval systems.