Google Search Console is expanding its reporting to show traffic generated through web multimodal Search experiences. The September 24, 2026 update adds a new multimodal search type filter, giving publishers another way to understand how people discover content through images and visual search.

What is multimodal Search?

Traditional Search usually begins with typed words. Multimodal Search allows people to use images and other visual inputs to find information. Google’s new reporting covers traffic from Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and Chrome’s right-click “Search this image” feature.

These experiences are becoming part of everyday search behavior, particularly on mobile devices. A user can photograph an object, identify a product or use an existing image and then explore related information on the web.

What Search Console now shows

Google says the new multimodal search type filter is available in the Search results Performance report as well as the report covering Generative AI features. Site owners can use the filter to isolate traffic generated through these visual search experiences.

The data can also be exported from Search Console for analysis in other tools. That makes it possible for SEO teams to compare multimodal traffic with traditional web search traffic.

Why this matters for publishers

Visual search can change how users discover pages. A person may not know the exact name of a product, location, plant, building or object, but an image can become the starting point for the search journey.

For publishers, this increases the importance of images that are relevant, descriptive and closely connected to the surrounding content. Strong page context remains important because visual discovery can lead users to pages that answer the question behind the image.

SEO implications

The new report does not mean that websites need a completely separate “multimodal SEO” strategy. Instead, it provides better visibility into an existing form of discovery. SEO teams can use the data to identify pages receiving visual-search traffic and then evaluate the images, page titles, descriptions and content supporting those visits.

E-commerce sites may find the data particularly useful because product discovery often begins with images. Travel, food, fashion, interiors and visual publishing are other areas where image-led discovery can be significant.

What to monitor

After the rollout reaches a site, publishers can compare impressions and clicks from multimodal Search with other Search types. Look for pages that attract visual-search exposure but have weak engagement, as well as pages that perform strongly and may provide patterns for future content.

It is also worth remembering that the new filter reports traffic from specific Google experiences; it is not a complete measurement of every possible image-based discovery channel on the internet.

The bigger Search trend

Google’s update reflects a broader change in how Search works. Text remains central, but cameras, images, voice and AI-generated interfaces are increasingly part of the discovery process.

For website owners, the practical lesson is simple: optimize the entire page, not just the text. Useful images, clear context, structured information and strong content all contribute to making a page understandable across different Search interfaces.

Source: Google Search Central — Web multimodal Search performance reporting