Google is adding a multimodal filter to Search Console’s Performance report, covering searches where someone used an image as part of the search.
The announcement on the Search Central blog says the data includes searches with Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, and the Chrome right-click “Search this image” feature. Google says it’s rolling out globally starting today.
What The Multimodal Filter Covers
The new feature can be found under the Web search type. Google’s updated Performance report help page now divides Web into text-based traffic, which comes from queries typed into the standard search bar, and multimodal, which “includes web search results where an image was used as part of the search.”
Harsh Kharbanda, Product Manager Lead for Google Lens, and Moshe Samet, Product Manager Lead for Search Console, shared their insights:
“This update is designed to give you insights into how your content is surfaced when users search using images (such as with a smartphone camera).”
The metrics show up only for sites that get traffic from these searches, according to the post. Google also says multimodal reporting is rolling out to the generative AI performance report, which I covered when it reached all sites on Aug. 31. That report counts impressions, not clicks.
No Query Data For Multimodal Traffic
Multimodal traffic comes without query data. Google’s dimensions help page explains why:
“Because multimodal searches mostly use images rather than text, specific text query data isn’t available for this traffic.”
The queries tab isn’t available when you select the multimodal search type. The help page doesn’t list any other dimension as unavailable specifically for multimodal searches.
To pull the data out, the post points to the Export button in the report. The Search Analytics API reference, last updated Aug. 11, lists web, image, video, news, Discover, and Google News as report types. It doesn’t list a separate multimodal value for the type parameter.
Why This Matters
For stores and other sites with product photos, the filter offers a page-level view of what people find when they search using an image, like a phone picture or a screenshot. You can also compare these pages with traffic driven by text searches, broken down by country and device.
Without queries, you’re left with pages. A product page with multimodal clicks tells you it was clicked from a search where an image was used as part of the search. It doesn’t tell you what image the person used.
Looking Ahead
The filter’s global rollout began today, so you might not see the option in every property just yet.
Google’s post doesn’t specify whether multimodal data includes history from before today or if the split affects existing Web totals. Once your property displays the option, take a moment to compare the new split with a full day’s worth of Web totals.
Featured Image: Google. Source: Google.
