For the first time, Google Search Console shows how your site performs when people search with a picture instead of words. The new multimodal filter covers Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome's “Search this image” — and it changes how businesses should think about their photos.
This guide explains what the report includes, where to find it, what it does not show, and how to turn the data into practical image and page improvements. It builds on our broader visual search optimization guide.
Key takeaways
- Search Console now separates image-led web searches from typed searches.
- The data covers Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome image search.
- You see pages, clicks, and impressions — but not the search queries.
- Original, well-described photos on useful pages are the main lever.
What Google Announced
On September 24, Google introduced Search Console reporting for web multimodal search, both in the Search results performance report and in the report for generative AI features. Google says the data includes searches with Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, and the Chrome right-click “Search this image” feature. It is rolling out globally, and metrics appear only if your site receives traffic from these searches.[1]
No query data is included. The multimodal view shows which pages were reached, not the words people would have typed — because often they typed nothing at all.[2]
How to Find the Multimodal Report
- 1Open Search Console and select your property.
- 2Go to Performance, then Search results.
- 3Click the Search type filter and choose the multimodal option under Web.
- 4Pick a date range, then review the Pages, Countries, and Devices tabs.
- 5Use Export to analyze the data alongside your other reports.
Repeat the same filter in the generative AI performance report to see how often image-led searches surfaced your pages in AI features. If you see no data, it usually means your site has not yet received qualifying traffic — not that something is broken.
Why Image-Led Searches Matter for Businesses
People photograph things they want to identify, fix, buy, or compare: a broken fixture, a plant disease, a pair of shoes, a damaged roof shingle. These searches often carry strong intent because the person is looking at the problem or product right now. Typed keywords never captured that moment well.
Retail and ecommerce
Product photos that match what shoppers photograph in stores. See our agentic commerce guide.
Home services
Clear photos of real problems and repairs — leaks, roof damage, wiring — next to explanations.
Hospitality and venues
Distinctive interiors, dishes, and exteriors people recognize and search.
How to Read the Data Without Overreaching
Start by listing the pages that receive multimodal impressions. Then ask what those pages have in common: product pages with clean photography, guides with step-by-step images, or location pages with photos of real work. That pattern tells you which visual content already earns discovery.
Compare click-through rates between typed and image-led traffic for the same pages. A page with many multimodal impressions but few clicks may show the right image but fail to explain it, or the result may answer the question without a visit. Keep observations specific and avoid treating a few weeks of data as a trend. Our AI search attribution guide explains how to connect visibility with real outcomes.
Practical Image Optimization Checklist
- Use original photos: Real products, real projects, and real locations beat stock images that appear on hundreds of sites.
- Place images near the answer: Put each photo beside the text that explains it, so the page confirms what the searcher saw.
- Write descriptive alt text: Describe what is actually in the image in plain language, without stuffing keywords.
- Use clear file names and sizes: Name files descriptively and serve compressed, appropriately sized images for fast mobile loads.
- Add structured data: Product, LocalBusiness, and Article markup help Google connect images to the right entity.
- Keep images crawlable: Avoid blocking image folders in robots.txt or loading key images only after user interaction.
These basics overlap with strong on-page SEO services and technical SEO services; image work rarely succeeds when the underlying page is slow or thin.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Generating fake “project photos” with AI
- Hiding key images inside sliders that never load
- Writing alt text as a keyword list
- Expecting query data from the multimodal filter
Where This Fits in Your AI Search Strategy
Multimodal search is part of a larger shift: people reach answers through cameras, voice, chat, and AI summaries, not only a typed query. The same principles apply across all of them — be the clearest, most trustworthy source for your topic. Our AI search statistics page tracks how fast these surfaces are growing, and our AI SEO services cover optimization across generative and visual search.
Start small: pick five pages with the most multimodal impressions, upgrade their photos and surrounding explanations, and compare results over the following weeks.
Get Found When Customers Search With Their Camera
Work with an AI SEO agency to audit your images, fix technical blockers, and turn visual search visibility into qualified leads.