Google Search Console now lets site owners break out traffic from image-driven searches, such as Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads, and the Chrome right-click “Search this image” feature, into their own line in the Performance report. A new “Web: multimodal” option appears under the Search type filter, alongside “Web: text-based,” giving site owners a cleaner view of how visual search contributes to their traffic.
What the new filter shows
The filter separates web search results triggered by a query that uses an image, photo, or screenshot from text-only queries. Google describes “Web: multimodal” as tracking search results that begin with an image, while text-only queries continue to appear under “Web: text-based.”
Traffic counted in the new view includes searches started through:
- Google Lens
- Circle to Search on Android
- Image uploads to Google Search
- The Chrome right-click “Search this image” option
For image-heavy sites, this is the first time that traffic from those surfaces shows up as its own category in Search Console rather than disappearing into the broader web totals or going unmeasured.
Was this traffic counted before?
No. According to a reply from Google on the discussion thread, the multimodal data was not included in the previous web counts at all. The new filter exposes a stream of traffic that existed in Search Console reports only as an absence. Several site owners noticed corresponding drops in their reported web impressions and clicks around the time the new filter went live, which lined up with the reclassification.
That reclassification has a practical effect for anyone benchmarking performance: web totals from before the rollout are not directly comparable to web totals after the rollout, because the multimodal slice is now carved out of “Web: text-based” and reported on its own.
What about query data?
The queries dimension is not available when the multimodal search type is selected. Because multimodal searches mostly start with images rather than text, there is rarely a usable text query string to report. Search Console can show which pages surfaced, how often, and how those pages performed, but not the typed text that drove the search.
Generative AI reporting still does not include clicks or query data, so this filter does not close that gap.
How to view the data
Open the Performance report in Search Console, click the Search type filter at the top, and choose “Web: multimodal.” The data can be exported for analysis in other tools. Google says the rollout began globally on the day of the announcement, so some accounts will see the filter before others.
What to do with the data
- Compare text-based and multimodal impressions side by side to see which surface drives more discovery for your content.
- Check which URLs appear most often in multimodal results. These are the pages Google is matching against uploaded images, and they are worth optimizing with clear subjects, descriptive filenames, and strong on-page context.
- Watch the trend over time. Multimodal usage tends to grow as Lens, Circle to Search, and Chrome image search gain adoption, and the share of traffic that comes from images will likely rise for image-heavy niches such as retail, travel, food, and design.
FAQ
What is the new Multimodal filter in Google Search Console?
The Multimodal filter in the Performance report tracks web search results triggered by a query that uses an image, photo, or screenshot. It separates image-driven searches from text-only searches, which continue to appear under “Web: text-based.”
Which Google surfaces count as multimodal searches?
Searches started through Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, and the Chrome right-click “Search this image” feature are included in the new Multimodal filter.
Does the Multimodal filter show query data or click data?
The queries dimension is not available for multimodal searches because the searches are image-based rather than text-based. Click and impression data for the surfaced pages is available and can be exported. Generative AI reporting still does not include clicks or query data.
Related coverage
- Google AI Search Is Linking to Source Websites Again, Here’s What Changed – BizScoreAI
- Google’s AI Search Guide Isn’t Reassuring. It’s a Warning About Generic Content – BizScoreAI
- Google AI Mode vs AI Overviews: Study Reveals Divergent Search Behavior – BizScoreAI
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