Google Search Console Adds Multimodal Filter for Image-Based Searches

Google has launched a multimodal filter in Search Console's Performance report covering image-based searches — including Google Lens and Circle to Search — as of September 24, 2026.

The update marks a meaningful shift in how website owners can understand traffic driven not by typed keywords but by images. As visual search becomes an increasingly common behaviour, particularly on mobile devices, this new filter gives site owners a dedicated window into that traffic for the first time. For businesses relying on product photography or visual content to attract customers, the implications are significant.

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What the Multimodal Filter Covers

The new filter lives under the Web search type inside Search Console's Performance report. Google has restructured the Web category into two distinct traffic streams: text-based traffic from typed queries and multimodal traffic from image-based searches.

According to the announcement on Google's Search Central blog, the multimodal category includes searches conducted through:

• Google Lens
• Circle to Search on Android
• Image uploads to Google Search
• The Chrome right-click "Search this image" feature

The rollout began globally on September 24, 2026.

Harsh Kharbanda, Product Manager Lead for Google Lens, and Moshe Samet, Product Manager Lead for Search Console, described the intent behind the update directly. "This update is designed to give you insights into how your content is surfaced when users search using images such as with a smartphone camera," they said.

The filter only appears for properties that actually receive traffic from these image-based searches. If your site has not attracted multimodal traffic, the option may not yet be visible in your dashboard. Google also confirmed the multimodal reporting capability is rolling out to the generative AI performance report, which measures impressions rather than clicks.

It is worth understanding how this sits within the broader landscape of Google's tools for growing your business online, particularly as visual search continues to expand across Google's product ecosystem.

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Limitations: No Query Data for Multimodal Traffic

Understanding the Query Gap

One notable limitation of the new filter is the absence of query data. Because multimodal searches rely on images rather than typed text, there are no specific text queries to report. Google's dimensions help page addresses this directly: "Because multimodal searches mostly use images rather than text, specific text query data isn't available for this traffic."

When the multimodal search type is selected, the queries tab is simply unavailable. No other dimension has been listed as specifically restricted for this search type. Site owners who want to extract this data can use the Export button within the Performance report.

API Support Is Still Pending

As of the publication date, the Search Analytics API reference — last updated August 11 — lists web, image, video, news, Discover, and Google News as report types. A separate multimodal value for the type parameter does not yet appear in the API documentation, suggesting the API integration may follow at a later stage.

For teams that rely on automated reporting, monitoring the API documentation closely is advisable. Those already working with SEO analytics and performance tracking will recognise the importance of incorporating multimodal data into reporting workflows as soon as API support becomes available.

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Why This Matters for Businesses and Content Owners

A New Layer of Visibility Into Visual Search

For e-commerce sites and businesses with strong visual assets, this filter offers something genuinely useful: a page-level view of what users discover when they search using an image — such as a smartphone photograph or a screenshot.

The data allows site owners to compare pages that receive multimodal clicks against those driven by text searches, broken down by country and device. Without query information, the analysis stays at the page level. A product page registering multimodal clicks confirms it appeared in a search where an image was used but stops short of revealing which image triggered the result.

Google has not confirmed whether the new filter includes historical data from before September 24, or whether splitting Web traffic into text and multimodal categories will affect previously recorded Web totals. Site owners are encouraged to compare the new split against a full day of existing Web totals once the option appears in their property.

The rollout is global but staggered, meaning some properties will see the option sooner than others. Regularly checking the Performance report over the coming days is advisable for those eager to begin analysing multimodal traffic patterns.

The Broader Signal for SEO Strategy

For businesses and SEO professionals, the arrival of this filter underlines a broader truth: search is no longer purely a text-based activity, and measurement tools are catching up to that reality. Optimising images with descriptive file names, structured data, and high-quality visuals has always mattered — but now there is a more direct way to measure whether those efforts are producing real traffic.

Image optimisation is no longer a secondary concern. With multimodal search behaviour accelerating, particularly among mobile users, the ability to track image-driven traffic at the page level represents a meaningful step forward for performance analysis. Those with a solid grounding in technical SEO best practices will be better positioned to act on this data — ensuring site structure, image metadata, and structured markup are all aligned to support visual search discovery.

How to Act on This Now

Here is how you can put this information to work immediately:

• Check your Performance report now to see if the multimodal filter has appeared for your property and begin benchmarking your image-driven traffic against text-based traffic.
• Audit your highest-traffic product or visual content pages to assess whether they are appearing in image-based searches and identify gaps in image optimisation.
• Monitor the Search Analytics API documentation for updates to the type parameter so you can incorporate multimodal data into automated reporting workflows when support becomes available.

For further context on how visual search fits into Google's evolving search ecosystem, Google's official Search Central blog remains the most reliable source for announcements and technical guidance.

Source: Search Engine Journal / Google Search Central