These two get lumped together a lot, but they work in completely different ways, rely on completely different data, and stripping metadata does nothing to affect one of them.
Tools like Google Lens, TinEye, and Yandex compare the actual visual content of an image against other images they've indexed across the web, looking for matches or close visual similarities. This process has nothing to do with a file's metadata — it works purely from pixel content, which means it works exactly the same whether or not GPS data, timestamps, or any other metadata field has been stripped from the file.
This is a completely separate channel: data written directly into the file itself — GPS coordinates, timestamp, camera or device details — readable by anyone who has the actual file and opens it with a basic metadata viewer. No search or indexing involved; it's just sitting there in the file.
Someone who has your actual original file can read its metadata directly — no search needed. Someone who instead finds a copy of that same image somewhere else (a re-post, a screenshot someone shared, an old account) can use reverse image search to locate other places that image or similar ones have appeared, sometimes surfacing accounts or posts from years earlier, entirely independent of whatever metadata that particular copy does or doesn't carry.
Stripping metadata is a real, meaningful step — but it's one layer, not the whole picture. It closes off a specific, direct channel (the file itself), while leaving the separate question of visual matching untouched. Use AiEraser's View mode to see exactly what's embedded in a file before deciding what to do with it.