Google has rolled out a new multimodal search performance report in Google Search Console. The update indicates a growing shift toward visual and multimodal search experiences and the importance of analyzing the performance of sites for such experiences.
With the new multimodal search performance reporting, website owners will get more visibility into traffic generated through image-based searches. As per Google’s announcement made on September 24, 2026, “Today, we are excited to introduce Search Console reporting for web multimodal search, in the report for performance on Search results as well as in the report for Generative AI features.”
The new reporting is rolling out globally and is available through the Performance reports for Search results. Alongside multimodal reporting, Google is also adding multimodal data to its Generative AI performance report.
What the New Web Multimodal Search Performance Reporting Does
Google’s new reporting analyzes search performance where an image forms part of the search. This includes Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, and image uploads to Google Search. It also covers Chrome’s right-click “Search this image” feature.
Website owners can access this data through a new multimodal search type filter, which appears within the Web search category in Search Console’s Performance report. Google’s existing Performance report provides metrics such as clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position. However, users can now filter and analyze their Search performance using different dimensions and date ranges.
The new filter separates multimodal traffic from traditional text-based Web searches, offering site owners a clearer view of how visual searches contribute to website performance.
Notably, image-based searches often do not contain a conventional text query that Search Console can report. Therefore, query data will be absent for multimodal traffic. Hence, the Queries tab is unavailable when users select the multimodal search type. Website owners can instead examine performance through other available dimensions.
Google Also Enables Generative AI Reporting
Alongside introducing web multimodal search performance, Google is also integrating multimodal search data into its Generative AI performance reporting. The Generative AI performance report provides additional visibility into how sites appear across Google’s AI-driven search experiences.
The new reporting approach should help publishers understand how their content appears within modern search experiences. The data can also help site owners optimize their visual content.
The rollout is global, although availability can depend on whether a website receives traffic from qualifying multimodal searches. Site owners can also export the available report data for further analysis.
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