TL;DR
- On 24 September 2026 Google split Web in the Search Console Performance report into 'text-based' and 'multimodal', rolling out globally.
- Multimodal covers searches from Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and Chrome's 'Search this image'.
- The Queries dimension is unavailable for multimodal traffic, so reports show pages, countries, devices and dates but not what the image was.
- Google says the data was not counted anywhere before; the Search Analytics API reference lists no multimodal search type yet, so use Export.
Google Search Console now reports searches made with an image. On 24 September 2026 Google added a "multimodal" search type to the Performance report, covering web results reached through Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and Chrome's right-click "Search this image" option. The catch is that these rows carry no query data, because the person searched with a picture instead of words.
The change was announced on the Google Search Central blog by Harsh Kharbanda, Product Manager Lead for Google Lens, and Moshe Samet, Product Manager Lead for Search Console. Google says it is rolling out globally from 24 September, so some properties will see the option before others.
What changed in the Performance report
The Search type filter used to offer Web, Image, Video and News. Web is now split in two. Google's updated help page for the Performance report defines them this way:
- Web: text-based "includes traditional search traffic originating from text queries entered into the standard Google search bar."
- Web: multimodal "includes web search results where an image was used as part of the search."
Image, Video and News stay as separate options. The difference is worth understanding, because the new split works on a different axis. Image, Video and News describe where a result appeared (the Images tab, the Videos tab, the News tab). Text-based and multimodal describe what the searcher supplied. Someone who photographs a lamp with Lens and gets a retailer's product page among ordinary web results produces a multimodal row. Someone who types "brass desk lamp" into the Images tab still produces an Image row.
Google also says the multimodal type appears in both places where Search Console reports search performance: the classic report for performance on Search results, and the separate report for Generative AI features.
The four routes Google says feed the new data
| Entry point | What the user does |
|---|---|
| Google Lens | Points a phone camera at an object or uses a photo as the search |
| Circle to Search (Android) | Circles or highlights something on screen to search it |
| Image upload to Google Search | Uploads an image into the search box instead of typing |
| Chrome "Search this image" | Right-clicks an image in Chrome and searches it |
That is the complete list in Google's post. It does not mention Search Live or image prompts inside AI Mode, and it does not say whether those sessions land in the multimodal bucket, somewhere else, or nowhere. Treat the four routes above as the confirmed scope and everything else as unknown.
A search type with no queries
The biggest practical limit is spelled out in Google's help page on dimensions. According to Google, "because multimodal searches mostly use images rather than text, specific text query data isn't available for this traffic," and the queries dimension is not available when this search type is selected.
This is a different kind of gap from the one most SEOs already live with. In the text-based report, Search Console hides anonymised queries and caps tables at 1,000 rows, so the visible queries rarely add up to the total. That is a partial omission. With multimodal, the Queries tab is gone entirely. What you still get, according to the help documentation, is the rest of the report: pages, countries, devices, dates, clicks, impressions, click-through rate and position.
Google's wording also leaves an edge case open. It says an image was used "as part of the search", and that multimodal searches "mostly" use images. A search that combines a photo with typed words therefore seems to fall into the multimodal bucket, and the typed part is not reported either. Google has not published an example that confirms this either way.
New data or old data moved?
This is the question that matters most for anyone comparing trends. Google's blog post says the data covers traffic that was not surfaced before. According to reporting by PPC Land, Google's John Mueller first said he thought multimodal searches "were not reported at all before", then, after checking with the team, confirmed that "the data wasn't previously in the counts, the report has new data."
Two consequences follow. First, if multimodal impressions were never in the Web totals, adding the new type does not take anything away from your text-based numbers. Any drop you see in text-based traffic this week needs another explanation. Second, Google has not said whether selecting plain "Web" now returns text-based plus multimodal combined. If it does, sites with meaningful camera-driven traffic could see a step up in Web totals from the date the new counts begin, which would distort a year-on-year comparison. Until Google clarifies, compare text-based against text-based.
The timing does not help. Google also released the September 2026 spam update on the same day, 24 September, so movement in search data this week has more than one possible cause.
Exports and the API
Google's post points site owners to the Export button in the Performance report to take the data into other tools. Search Engine Journal noted that the Search Analytics API reference, last updated on 11 August, lists web, image, video, news, Discover and Google News as search types and does not list a separate multimodal value. So if your reporting pulls Search Console data through the API into Looker Studio or a warehouse, you may not be able to separate multimodal traffic automatically yet. Check the API documentation before assuming your dashboards include it.
What this means for Thai marketers
Google says the rollout is global, and it gave no country exclusions, so Thai properties should receive the filter along with everyone else. The practical value depends on what you sell:
- Retail and e-commerce. Fashion, cosmetics, furniture, electronics and anything else people photograph are the obvious beneficiaries. For the first time you can see which product pages Google returns when someone searches with a photo of a product.
- Restaurants, hotels and attractions. People photograph places, menus and signs. Pages that describe a physical place may pick up multimodal impressions.
- Service businesses and B2B. Expect little or no data. Google says the metrics only appear if your site is receiving traffic from these searches.
Because no queries come with the data, the analysis has to run from pages outward. If a product page shows multimodal impressions but few clicks, the image and the page's first screen are the things to review, not a keyword. For image-led pages, the basics still apply: an original, clear product image, descriptive alt text and file names, and a page that answers what the shopper will want to know after the photo matched. Our SEO services in Thailand cover this kind of page-level review.
There is an AI-search angle too. The same multimodal split appears in the Generative AI features report, which counts impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. If you are tracking how your brand appears in AI answers, this gives one more dimension to separate. Our GEO service covers that side of search visibility.
What to do in your own Search Console this week
- Open Performance, then Search results, then the Search type filter, and check whether "Web: multimodal" appears yet. If it does not, the rollout has not reached your property.
- Once it appears, look at the Pages tab under multimodal. Note which pages appear and whether they are the ones you expected.
- Compare multimodal and text-based side by side with the Compare option, by device. Camera searches will skew to mobile.
- Export a baseline now. The API may not expose the new type yet, so a manual export is the reliable record.
- Do not re-baseline year-on-year Web totals until Google confirms how "Web" and its two sub-types add up.
If your pages rank for image-led searches, this is also a good moment for a wider SEO audit of image markup, page speed and product structured data, since those are the parts of a page you can still change without query data.
What Google did not say
- From which date the multimodal data begins, and whether historical data was backfilled.
- Whether Search Live and AI Mode image prompts are included.
- Whether "Web" at the top level now includes multimodal.
- When, or whether, the Search Analytics API will get a multimodal search type.
Frequently asked questions
What is the multimodal search type in Search Console?
It is a new filter under Web that counts search results where an image was used as part of the search, such as Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and Chrome's "Search this image". Google added it on 24 September 2026.
Can I see what people searched for with an image?
No. Google says query data is not available for multimodal traffic, so the Queries dimension is switched off for this search type. You can still see pages, countries, devices and dates.
Is the multimodal filter available for Thai websites?
Yes, it should be, because Google says the rollout is global. It may not appear on every property immediately, and it only shows data if a site receives this kind of traffic.
Will this change my existing Search Console traffic numbers?
Google says the multimodal data was not previously counted, so it should not reduce your text-based figures. Google has not confirmed how the top-level Web total treats it, so compare text-based to text-based for trend work.
Can I pull multimodal data through the Search Console API?
Not clearly yet. Search Engine Journal reported that the API reference does not list a multimodal search type, so use the Export button in the report for now.
Image search has been a blind spot in Search Console for years, and this closes part of it. If you want help reading the new data against your product pages, the Relevant Audience SEO team can set up a baseline with you.
