What Is Multimodal Search Reporting in Search Console in 2026?
Multimodal search reporting is a new search type in Google Search Console, announced on 24 September 2026, that shows how your pages perform when people search with images instead of typed words. Google says the data covers searches with Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, and the Chrome right-click "Search this image" feature. It appears both in the Performance report for Search results and in the Generative AI performance report.
Until this release, a visit that began with someone pointing a phone camera at a product was folded into your general web numbers, with no way to separate it out. In 2026 that separation exists for the first time in first-party data, which matters for any business whose buyers start from something they can see: furniture, fashion, packaging, spare parts, plants, food, signage, or a competitor's product on a shop shelf.
| Attribute | What Google published in 2026 | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | 24 September 2026, on the Search Central blog | New enough that most agency reports do not use it yet. |
| Surfaces included | Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, Chrome right-click "Search this image" | All image-started searches are grouped into one type. |
| Where it appears | Performance report for Search results, and the Generative AI performance report | You can see image-started visibility in both classic results and AI features. |
| How to view it | The new multimodal search type filter in the performance reports | A filter, not a separate report. |
| Filter labels in the help centre | "Web: text-based" and "Web: multimodal" | Compare the two directly. |
| Rollout | Rolling out globally starting 24 September 2026 | Not a US-only test. Indian properties are included in the rollout. |
| Visibility condition | Metrics appear if your site is receiving traffic from these queries | An empty view can simply mean no image-started traffic yet. |
| Export | "Export" downloads the data | Pull it into your own dashboards. |
Why Does Image-Started Search Matter for Businesses in 2026?
Because a growing share of discovery no longer starts with a typed query, and until now nobody could measure it on their own site. A shopper who photographs a lamp in a cafe, a mechanic who circles a part on a video, or a gardener who uploads a picture of a leaf has a buying intent that is often more specific than any keyword. Search Console now tells you which of your pages those people reached.
The commercial reason this matters in 2026 is that visual intent rewards a different kind of page. A page that ranks for a typed query is usually won with words. A page that is surfaced from a photo is usually won with images, clear product identity and structured information about what the object actually is. Without separate data, a team cannot tell whether its product photography, image file names and product markup are earning visibility, so it cannot justify investing in them. Now it can check.
- Product businesses: anything a customer can photograph before they know its name is a candidate for image-started discovery.
- Local and retail: storefronts, menus and signage are photographed far more often than they are typed.
- B2B components: part numbers are rarely known; a photo of the part is.
- Publishers: how-to and identification content often answers a question a camera asked.
How Do You Find Multimodal Data in Search Console in 2026?
Open the Performance report for Search results and use the search type filter at the top of the report. Google describes a new multimodal search type in the performance reports, and the help centre for the generative AI report lists two web options: "Web: text-based", for traffic from text queries entered into the standard Google search bar, and "Web: multimodal", for traffic when users search using images.
- Open Search Console and select your property.
- Open the Performance report for Search results.
- Open the search type filter at the top of the report and choose the multimodal option.
- Read clicks, impressions and pages as you would for any other search type.
- Repeat inside the Generative AI performance report to see image-started impressions in AI features.
- Click "Export" to take the data into your own spreadsheet or dashboard.
If nothing appears, Google's announcement gives the reason directly: you will start seeing these metrics if your site is receiving traffic from these queries. An empty multimodal view in October 2026 is a finding in itself, not a fault.
Run the same date range twice, once on "Web: text-based" and once on "Web: multimodal", grouped by page. Pages that over-index on multimodal are your visual winners. Pages that should be visual winners and are absent, a product page with no image impressions, are your first fix list.
What Does the Multimodal Filter Not Tell You in 2026?
It tells you a lot less than a typed-query report, and being clear about the gaps stops a team from over-reading the numbers. Google's announcement and help documentation describe one combined multimodal search type covering four surfaces. They do not describe a way to separate Lens from Circle to Search, image uploads or Chrome's right-click search inside that type, so treat the figure as a single bucket.
- No per-surface split is described. Lens, Circle to Search, uploads and Chrome image search are reported together.
- No image is shown back to you. The documentation does not describe seeing which photo a user searched with.
- Data appears only with traffic. Low-traffic sites may see nothing for some time.
- Usual report limits apply. The generative AI help page notes that the standard performance report data limitations, such as the 1,000-row limit, also apply.
- No conversion data. Like all Search Console reports, it stops at the click. Sales and leads still come from your analytics.
None of these are reasons to ignore the report. They are reasons to report it honestly. "Image-started impressions on product pages rose" is a defensible statement. "Lens drove these sales" is not, because the data does not say that.
How Should Teams Improve Their Multimodal Visibility in 2026?
Treat the multimodal number as the scoreboard and image quality, product identity and structured information as the work. Google's announcement says the purpose is to help you understand your site's performance and optimise your visual content. The levers below are standard Google Search good practice applied to the pages that should be winning image-started searches.
| Lever | What to do in 2026 | How to check it worked |
|---|---|---|
| Original product photography | Use your own clear images of the actual item, from the angles a buyer would photograph it. | Multimodal impressions on those pages over the following weeks. |
| Descriptive file names and alt text | Name and describe what the object is, in plain language, not "IMG_4412". | Compare multimodal impressions before and after on a sample of pages. |
| Clear product identity on the page | State the product name, model, material and use near the image. | Pages appearing in "Web: multimodal" grouped by page. |
| Structured data where relevant | Product and other applicable markup so systems can read what the page is about. | Search Console enhancement reports show no errors. |
| One page per real product | Avoid near-duplicate pages that split the signal. | Fewer, stronger pages in the multimodal table. |
Add an annotation in Search Console on the day you change a batch of images, so the before and after comparison is not guesswork. Our Search Console guide covers the wider tool, and the generative AI performance reports guide covers the AI side of the same data.
How Does Multimodal Data Connect to AI Search Visibility in 2026?
Directly, because Google placed the new search type inside the Generative AI performance report as well as the main Performance report. That means a team can now see impressions in AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode that started from an image rather than a typed question. For any business selling something visual, this closes a measurement gap in AI visibility work that was otherwise invisible.
This is the part most relevant to GEO and AEO work in 2026. Optimising content for AI answers has mostly been discussed as a text problem. The multimodal search type shows that a portion of AI feature exposure begins with a camera, which makes image clarity and product identity part of AI visibility rather than a separate image SEO task.
What Are the Common Mistakes in 2026?
- Reading "no data" as "no opportunity". Metrics only appear once your site receives image-started traffic.
- Claiming the number for one surface. Lens, Circle to Search, uploads and Chrome image search are reported together.
- Comparing different date ranges across filters. Always compare text-based and multimodal over the same period.
- Changing images without an annotation. You lose the ability to show cause and effect.
- Using stock photography on product pages. An image identical to hundreds of others gives a visual search little reason to pick yours.
- Ignoring the AI report. The multimodal type exists there too, and it is where image-started AI visibility shows up.
- Reporting clicks as revenue. Search Console stops at the click; join it with analytics before talking about sales.
Key Takeaways for 2026
Image-started search was the largest unmeasured slice of discovery for visual businesses. As of 24 September 2026 it has a first-party number.
- Search Console added a multimodal search type covering Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads and Chrome's "Search this image".
- It appears in both the Performance report for Search results and the Generative AI performance report.
- The help centre labels the options "Web: text-based" and "Web: multimodal".
- Rollout is global from 24 September 2026, and data appears only when your site gets image-started traffic.
- All four surfaces are reported as one type; no per-surface split is described.
- Original photography, descriptive file names and clear product identity are the levers to test.
- Annotate image changes so you can show what moved the number.
Distk sets up AI and search visibility reporting for growth teams in India and internationally, including the new multimodal and generative AI views, and turns them into a monthly read your leadership can act on. If you sell something people can photograph, that report is where we start.
Sources
- Google Search Central Blog, Announcing web multimodal Search performance reporting in Search Console, 24 September 2026.
- Search Console Help, Generative AI performance report (Search), for the "Web: text-based" and "Web: multimodal" filter definitions and data limitations.