Search is no longer limited to typing a few words into Google.
A consumer can take a photo of a product and search for it with Google Lens. They can circle an object on their phone screen to learn more about it, upload an image alongside a question, or use an image as the starting point for a more detailed search.
These behaviours are part of multimodal search, search experiences that combine different types of input, such as images and text, to help users find information.
Until recently, understanding how websites performed across these visual search experiences wasn't easy. That's beginning to change.
In September 2026, Google introduced new reporting capabilities in Google Search Console that allow website owners to analyze traffic and visibility coming from multimodal search experiences, including Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome's "Search this image" functionality.
For businesses and marketers, this is more than another Search Console update. It provides a clearer view of how people discover websites when their search doesn't begin with a traditional keyword.
What Is Multimodal Search?
Traditional Google searches usually begin with text.
Someone might search:
"modern black dining chair"
Multimodal search allows that same person to start with an image instead.
They could photograph a chair they like, select it with Google Lens, and ask:
"Where can I buy something similar?"
Google can use information from both the image and accompanying text to understand what the person is looking for.
Google's multimodal search ecosystem now includes experiences such as Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome's "Search this image." Google's September 2026 Search Console update gives site owners a way to identify traffic associated with these experiences. This matters because the search journey is expanding beyond the traditional search box.
What's New in Google Search Console?
On September 24, 2026, Google announced new multimodal search reporting in Search Console.
Rather than introducing an entirely separate performance report, Google added a new Multimodal filter that helps website owners isolate performance associated with multimodal search experiences.
The filter is available within both:
Search results performance reporting
and
Generative AI performance reporting
That distinction is important.
Google is effectively giving website owners another way to understand how a search began, rather than simply showing where their website appeared.
For SEO teams, this provides an opportunity to analyze whether visual and multimodal discovery is contributing to website visibility and traffic.
Where Can You Find Multimodal Search Data?
If the feature is available for your Search Console property, open your website's performance reporting and look for the Multimodal search filter.
Google says the filter can be used to analyze multimodal traffic within its Search results and Generative AI performance reporting.
Once applied, SEOs can begin comparing multimodal performance against broader search performance.
For example, you might discover that a product page receives relatively modest traditional search traffic but performs much better when users begin their searches visually. That information could influence everything from image optimization to content strategy.
There is an important limitation, however.
Google says the Multimodal filter aggregates traffic from the different multimodal search experiences together. That means Search Console currently doesn't provide a clean breakdown such as:
Google Lens: 500 clicks
Circle to Search: 200 clicks
Image upload: 100 clicks
Instead, that activity is grouped under multimodal search.
So, similar to Google's evolving AI search reporting, the data gives SEOs greater visibility without providing every level of segmentation they may eventually want.
Why Multimodal Search Matters for SEO
For years, keyword research has been one of the foundations of SEO. But what happens when the search doesn't begin with a keyword? Imagine someone sees a pair of shoes while walking down the street. Instead of trying to describe them in Google, they take a photo and search using the image.
Or someone sees a piece of equipment in a YouTube video, circles it on their Android phone and asks Google what it is used for.
The intent still exists. The difference is how that intent is communicated to the search engine.
That means SEO isn't suddenly becoming irrelevant. Instead, the information Google uses to understand webpages is becoming broader.
Text still matters, but so can images, product information, structured data, surrounding content, and the overall context of a page. For businesses, that creates another potential discovery path.
Which Businesses Could Benefit Most From Visual Search?
Multimodal search won't have the same impact on every industry.
Businesses where visual appearance plays an important role in discovery or purchasing decisions may have particularly interesting opportunities.
Think about someone searching for a particular flooring style, kitchen design, vehicle part, piece of furniture, plant, clothing item, or home improvement product. Instead of knowing the exact product name, they may simply show Google what they're looking for.
That makes multimodal search especially relevant to industries such as e-commerce, retail, fashion, furniture, home improvement, automotive, real estate, travel, and restaurants.
But the opportunity isn't exclusively visual.
A contractor, for example, could publish detailed images showing different foundation problems. A user encountering a similar crack in their home could potentially begin their research by photographing it rather than typing a description.
The search behaviour changes, but the business opportunity remains familiar: help the user identify a problem and find the information they need.
Does This Mean Image SEO Is More Important?
Potentially, but multimodal SEO shouldn't be reduced to adding alt text to every image.
Alt text remains useful for accessibility and can help search engines understand images, but Google's ability to interpret visual content extends beyond a single HTML attribute.
Businesses should think about the entire context surrounding an image.
For example, imagine an HVAC company publishes a photo called:
IMG_8492.jpg
with no nearby explanation.
Compare that with a page containing an original image of a damaged furnace component, accompanied by a heading and an explanation of the issue, symptoms homeowners may notice, and available repair options.
The second example gives search engines significantly more context about what the image represents and how it relates to the page.
A strong multimodal SEO strategy therefore overlaps with good SEO fundamentals:
- Use relevant, high-quality images rather than relying entirely on generic stock photography.
- Place images alongside content that clearly explains what they represent.
- Use descriptive filenames and appropriate alt text.
- Implement relevant structured data where applicable.
- Make sure important images are crawlable and indexable.
- Provide useful product, service, or subject information around visual assets.
The objective isn't to optimize an image in isolation. It's to help Google understand the relationship between the visual, the page and the user's intent.
Original Images May Become a Bigger SEO Asset
One of the more interesting implications of multimodal search is the potential value of businesses owning useful visual content.
Many websites use the same stock photos found across dozens or sometimes hundreds of other websites.Those images may make a page look polished, but they don't necessarily provide unique information.
Original visuals can.
For a roofing company, that might mean before-and-after project photography.
For a physiotherapy clinic, it could include original exercise demonstrations or treatment imagery.
For a manufacturer, it might be detailed product photography showing components, applications or installation.
For an e-commerce business, it could mean showing products from multiple angles and in real-world settings.
These assets aren't valuable simply because they're "original." Their value comes from helping users and search engines better understand the subject.
As visual search becomes easier to measure, businesses may begin treating their image libraries less like website decoration and more like searchable content assets.
Multimodal Search Changes Keyword Research Too
There's another interesting implication.
SEO teams have traditionally relied heavily on keyword data to understand demand.
Multimodal search introduces situations where users may have clear intent but never type the primary concept they're searching for.
A person might photograph an unknown plumbing component and ask:
"Where can I get this replaced near me?"
The image provides the object. The text provides the intent.
That doesn't mean keyword research disappears. Search queries remain enormously useful for understanding how people describe problems, services, and products. But modern search research increasingly needs to consider something broader:
What is the user actually trying to accomplish?
That shift from keyword matching toward intent is already happening through conversational and AI-powered search. Multimodal search extends the same idea into visual discovery.
What Should Businesses Do Now?
There's no reason to completely rebuild your SEO strategy because Google added a new Search Console filter.
Start with measurement. If multimodal reporting is available within your property, establish a baseline and determine whether visual search is already contributing meaningful visibility or traffic.
Then look at the pages receiving that activity. Are product pages performing particularly well? Guides? Location pages? Image-heavy service pages?
From there, review whether those pages provide Google with enough context around their visual content.
For businesses where imagery is particularly important, this is also a good opportunity to audit existing visual assets. Identify where generic imagery could be replaced with genuinely useful original photos, diagrams, demonstrations, or product imagery.
The goal shouldn't be to chase a new SEO trend. It should be to make your website easier to discover regardless of how someone chooses to search.
Search Is Moving Beyond the Search Box
Google's new multimodal reporting may look like a relatively small Search Console update, but it reflects a much larger shift in search behaviour.
Users can increasingly search by typing, speaking, uploading, photographing, circling, or combining several of those actions. For SEO, that means visibility can no longer be viewed entirely through the lens of traditional typed keywords.
Keywords, content and technical SEO remain fundamental. But images, entities, structured information and contextual relevance are becoming increasingly connected to how search engines understand and surface information.
Google's new Search Console reporting gives businesses a better way to begin measuring that shift.
At TechWyse, we're continuing to evolve our SEO strategies alongside changes in how people search from traditional organic results and AI-powered search to emerging experiences like multimodal discovery. The goal remains the same: helping businesses become visible at the moments their customers are searching, regardless of how that search begins.
Ready to make your website easier to find, understand, and choose? Connect with TechWyse to strengthen your visibility across every search journey. Call 866-208-3095 or contact us here.
