Google Search Console Adds a Multimodal Search Filter — What It Means for Your Traffic
TL;DR: Google Search Console now splits out multimodal search — traffic from Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads, and Chrome's "Search this image" — as its own filter inside the Performance report and the Generative AI features report. The rollout started globally on September 24, 2026, with data backdated to September 10. The catch: because these queries start with a picture instead of text, the Queries dimension isn't available when the filter is active, so you'll see impressions and clicks without knowing the words behind them.
For most of Search Console's history, "how do people find my page" has meant typed keywords. That assumption quietly stopped being complete the moment Google Lens and Circle to Search became default ways to start a search from a phone camera or screenshot. Google confirmed the change in a Search Central blog post, and the rollout was independently verified by Search Engine Roundtable and several other SEO trade outlets this week. If you want to understand how your AI Overviews and AI Mode visibility looks next to this new image-search signal, this is the report that fills the gap.
What counts as a "multimodal" search?
Google's definition groups four entry points under one filter:
- Google Lens — pointing a phone camera at an object, label, or screen and searching on what it sees.
- Circle to Search — the Android gesture that lets a user circle anything on screen to search it, without leaving the app.
- Image uploads — dragging or uploading a photo directly into Google Search on desktop or mobile.
- Chrome's right-click image search — the "Search this image" context-menu action in desktop Chrome.
Text-only queries continue to be reported as "web" search as before. Multimodal is a new, separate bucket, not a reclassification of existing data.
Where do you find it?
The filter sits in the same place as Search Console's other search-type filters — alongside Web, Image, Video, and News — in both the standard Performance report (Search results) and the Generative AI features report. Pick "Multimodal" from the Search type dropdown to isolate clicks and impressions that originated from an image-first query.
| Detail | What's known |
|---|---|
| Where it lives | Search type filter in Performance report + Generative AI features report |
| What it covers | Google Lens, Circle to Search, image upload, Chrome "Search this image" |
| Rollout start | Global rollout began September 24, 2026 |
| Data backdating | Historical data available from September 10, 2026 onward |
| Queries dimension | Not available when Multimodal is selected (searches aren't text) |
| Appears for you when | Your site actually receives traffic from these image-based entry points |
Why you won't see query text
This is the detail that trips people up first: select the Multimodal filter and the Queries tab in the report goes blank or unavailable. That's expected, not a bug. A Lens search or a Circle to Search gesture doesn't generate a typed string the way a conventional search does — there's no keyword to report. You still get Pages, Countries, Devices, and the usual click/impression/CTR metrics; you just lose the ability to see which words someone "typed," because none were.
Why this matters for SEO and content teams
Visual search has been invisible until now
Before this filter, any traffic from Lens or Circle to Search was simply mixed into your overall numbers with no way to isolate it. If a product photo, a diagram, or a recognizable screenshot on your site was driving meaningful discovery, you had no reporting path to prove it. Now you can check whether specific pages — especially product pages, visual guides, infographics, and anything with distinctive imagery — are pulling in traffic through a camera instead of a keyboard.
Image quality and context just became more measurable
Alt text, descriptive file names, and surrounding on-page context have always mattered for traditional image search. The multimodal filter gives you a cleaner way to validate whether that investment is paying off in a channel that didn't exist in your reporting a month ago. Pair this with your existing image SEO checklist and watch whether Multimodal impressions move after you improve a page's visual content.
It's a measurement upgrade, not a ranking change
Nothing about how Google ranks or surfaces image-led results has changed — this is purely new visibility into traffic that was already happening. Don't treat a jump in Multimodal numbers as a new ranking signal to chase; treat it as data you finally have access to.
What to do this week
- Open Search Console → Performance → Search results, and apply the new Multimodal search type filter.
- Check the same filter inside the Generative AI features report to see if image-first queries are also surfacing inside AI Overviews or AI Mode answers.
- Cross-reference which Pages show up under Multimodal — these are candidates for stronger alt text, higher-resolution hero images, and more descriptive surrounding copy.
- Set a monthly reminder to re-check the filter as more historical data accumulates past the September 10 backdating point.
FAQ
What is the multimodal search filter in Google Search Console?
It's a new Search type filter that isolates traffic from image-first searches — Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome's right-click image search — inside the Performance report and the Generative AI features report.
When did it roll out?
Google began a global rollout on September 24, 2026, with historical data available starting September 10, 2026.
Why can't I see query text for multimodal traffic?
Multimodal searches start from an image rather than typed text, so there's no query string to report. The Queries dimension is unavailable whenever the Multimodal filter is selected.
Does this filter replace the regular Image search type?
No. Multimodal is a distinct category covering camera- and screenshot-based entry points like Lens and Circle to Search; traditional text-based Image search results are reported separately as before.
Will this change how my site ranks?
No. This is a reporting change, not a ranking or algorithm change — it gives you visibility into traffic that was already occurring but previously wasn't broken out.
What should I do if I see no Multimodal data yet?
It only populates once your site actually receives traffic through one of the covered entry points. No data simply means none of that traffic has reached your pages yet, or it's still accumulating since the September 10 backdating point.
