Google Updates Search Console: New "Multimodal" Filter Sheds Light on Visual Search Traffic
In a significant update to how web publishers monitor their digital footprint, Google has officially introduced a "Multimodal" search type to its Search Console Performance report. This change allows website owners to distinguish between traditional text-based search queries and those triggered by images, photos, or screenshots—such as through Google Lens, Circle to Search, or the "Search this image" feature in Chrome.
For years, the "Web" category in Search Console has been a catch-all for organic search traffic. While Google has gradually refined reporting to account for evolving technologies like AI Overviews and Generative AI, this latest pivot marks the first time the search giant has subdivided the core "Web" bucket based on the input method used by the searcher.
The Evolution of Search: From Keywords to Pixels
The landscape of search has shifted dramatically from the days of simple text strings typed into a search bar. With the integration of Google Lens, the "Circle to Search" functionality on Android devices, and the ability for users to upload images directly into the search interface, visual search has evolved from a niche utility into a massive traffic driver.
Google’s decision to bifurcate the Performance report into "Web: Text-based" and "Web: Multimodal" is a direct response to this shift. According to the company, this data was previously absent from Search Console reports entirely, meaning site owners have been blind to a growing segment of their traffic—particularly those operating in retail, home decor, and product-heavy niches.
Chronology of the Rollout
The rollout began in late September 2026, though rumors and community reports preceded the official announcement.
- Pre-Announcement (September 2026): Sharp-eyed SEO professionals, including Tauqueer Aziz, began sharing screenshots on social media platforms like X, documenting the appearance of the new "Multimodal" filter within the Search Console interface.
- Initial Discovery: Industry publication Search Engine Roundtable documented the change ahead of Google’s formal blog post, noting that the filter appeared across a wide range of websites before any official documentation was live.
- Official Launch (September 24, 2026): Google’s Search Central blog published the official announcement at 8:40 AM ET, authored by Harsh Kharbanda (Product Manager Lead for Google Lens) and Moshe Samet (Product Manager Lead for Search Console).
- Global Implementation: The feature began its global rollout immediately, with Google confirming that the data would appear for any site receiving traffic from visual or camera-based search queries.
Understanding the Data: What is Included—and What Isn’t
The new reporting structure provides granular visibility into which pages are surfacing via image inputs. However, it comes with significant limitations that are frustrating some in the SEO community.
The "Query" Gap
The most consequential aspect of this update is the complete removal of the "queries" dimension for multimodal searches. Because these searches are triggered by visual inputs—a photo of a lamp, a screenshot of an outfit, or a real-world object scanned via phone camera—there is no text string to report.
While some searches may combine an image with a typed refinement, Google’s current implementation groups these into the "Multimodal" bucket, and consequently, all query data is withheld. For publishers, this means you can see that a page appeared in response to a visual search, and how often it happened, but you are left guessing as to the specific intent or subject matter the user was exploring.
Data Attribution Concerns
There remains an open question regarding how this data impacts the historical "Web" totals. Initially, reports suggested that the multimodal data was entirely new and additive. However, some site owners observed drops in their text-based search traffic that appeared to correlate with the rollout.
Google’s John Mueller initially hedged on the subject but later clarified that, according to the team, the data was not previously counted, suggesting that the "new" figures should not be viewed as a reclassification of existing data. Nevertheless, the lack of clarity on whether the top-level "Web" filter now aggregates both types has created potential confusion for those conducting year-over-year performance comparisons.
Official Responses and Documentation
Google has been active in clarifying the scope of the update through both technical documentation and direct communication.
The Documentation Shift
Two primary help documents were updated to reflect the change:
- Performance Report Overview: This page now explicitly defines "Web: Multimodal" as results where an image was used as part of the query.
- Dimensions and Data Groupings: This document highlights the loss of the query dimension, confirming that for multimodal traffic, the "queries" report is unavailable.
The "Generative AI" Integration
The update extends beyond the standard Search report, appearing also in the Generative AI performance report (introduced earlier in 2026). This creates a complex data environment: a user might perform a camera search that triggers an AI Overview, resulting in an impression that is tracked as both "Multimodal" and "Generative AI."
Despite requests from regulators, such as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), for more transparent data regarding AI and search traffic, the multimodal filter provides only impressions, devices, and countries—not the click-through rates or query intent that many publishers are demanding.
Implications for Publishers and Agencies
For the digital marketing industry, this update represents both a win for transparency and a frustration for analytical depth.
The Commerce Advantage
Retailers stand to gain the most from this visibility. With Google estimating billions of visual searches monthly, and a significant portion of those being shopping-related, e-commerce sites can finally attribute a portion of their organic traffic to visual discovery. Knowing that a product page is being surfaced via Lens or Circle to Search allows brands to optimize their product photography, ensuring that images are high-resolution and properly tagged with metadata.
The Reporting Dilemma
For agencies and SEOs, the challenge is definitional. If a client asks, "Why did our traffic drop?" and the answer is "We have now separated our traffic into text and multimodal," the client may find the explanation confusing. Furthermore, because different "input methods" (Ads vs. Organic vs. Rival Search Engines) are treated differently by Google—with ads often receiving "inferred" terms and rival search engines under the DMA receiving specific query data—the lack of query data in Search Console feels like an outlier.
Strategic Adjustments
Publishers should consider the following steps to leverage this new data:
- Baseline Audit: Establish a new baseline for "Multimodal" traffic. Do not rely on historical "Web" totals for future growth projections.
- Visual SEO: Focus on "Visual SEO." This includes optimizing for context—ensuring the content surrounding an image provides enough semantic data for Google to understand the context of the photo when a user performs a search.
- Cross-Channel Analysis: Since the multimodal data is now available, compare it against your internal site search and conversion data to see if users arriving via "camera" behave differently than those arriving via "typed" search.
A Growing Channel
Google’s own history underscores the importance of this shift. Since the introduction of Google Lens, the company has reported massive growth in visual search. In late 2024, visual searches reached 20 billion per month. By 2025, that figure was bolstered by the expansion of "Circle to Search" and the introduction of AI Mode.
The introduction of the multimodal filter is a tacit admission that visual search is no longer a secondary feature—it is a primary channel of traffic. While the current limitations regarding query data are significant, the ability to isolate this traffic is a long-overdue feature for the millions of site owners who rely on Search Console as their primary window into Google traffic.
As the industry adjusts to this "split-view" of the search landscape, publishers must remain vigilant. Whether this is the final form of this reporting or merely a stepping stone toward more detailed insights remains to be seen. For now, the "camera" is officially a measurable part of the search engine optimization equation.
