Google Search Console adds multimodal filter for image searches

Source: Google. — Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google Search Console introduced a new multimodal filter in its Performance report globally today, enabling webmasters to analyze traffic originating from image-based searches.

This enhancement provides site owners with granular data on how their content is discovered when users initiate searches using visual inputs, a growing area of online interaction.

The new filter encompasses various image-driven search methods, including Google Lens, the recently launched Circle to Search, direct image uploads to Google Search, and Chrome’s “Search this image” functionality, according to Google.

Data for this multimodal traffic is now accessible under the existing “Web” search type within the Performance report, where it is segmented into text-based and multimodal traffic categories.

Google stated that metrics for multimodal traffic will only appear for websites that have received traffic from these specific image-based search queries.

A notable characteristic of the multimodal data is the absence of query information, as these searches are predominantly visual rather than text-based, the company explained.

Harsh Kharbanda and Moshe Samet, both affiliated with Google, indicated that the new feature offers page-level insights into content performance, particularly benefiting sites rich in product photographs or other visual assets.

This update allows webmasters to understand better how their images contribute to user engagement and content discovery across Google’s search ecosystem.

The global rollout of the multimodal data commenced today, making these new analytical capabilities available to all eligible Google Search Console users.

Source: Search Engine Journal