Search Console 2026: AI and Visual Search Reports

Search Console now tells you something it never did before: how your pages perform when people search with a picture instead of words. On 24 September 2026, Google announced web multimodal Search performance reporting in Search Console. It covers searches made with Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and the Chrome right-click "Search this image" option, and it appears both in the standard Performance report for Search results and in the report for Generative AI features.

That matters for any business whose customers discover products by sight. A shopper in Jaipur photographs kundan earrings at a wedding; a buyer in Dubai Marina points her phone at a sofa in a friend's flat. Until now you could not see whether those searches led to your website. The new multimodal search type filter lets you start measuring it.

One honest caveat first: reporting for AI features is new, Google has shared only limited detail, and the reports can change. Check your own Search Console to see which reports and filters your property has.

What did Google actually announce for Search Console in 2026?

According to the Google Search Central post by Harsh Kharbanda (Product Manager Lead, Google Lens) and Moshe Samet (Product Manager Lead, Search Console), Google introduced "Search Console reporting for web multimodal search" in two places: the report for performance on Search results, and the report for Generative AI features. "Multimodal" simply means a search that uses more than one kind of input, here an image, sometimes combined with text.

The post lists four entry points that feed this data:

• Searches with Google Lens
• Circle to Search on Android
• Image uploads to Google Search
• The Chrome right-click "Search this image" feature

Google said the integration was "rolling out globally", and that you will see the metrics in your Performance report only "if your site is receiving traffic from these queries". The post does not mention an API, and Google has not said how far back the data goes, so treat early numbers as a starting baseline rather than a trend.

What to check afterwards: confirm whether the multimodal option appears under the search type filter. If not, your site may not be getting visual search traffic yet.

Where is the Search Console AI report, and what is in it?

Google's announcement links to a help page for the "report for Generative AI features" and says the multimodal data appears there as well as in the normal Performance report. Search Engine Journal, reporting on 15 October 2026, quotes Google documentation saying that to qualify as a Preferred Source in AI Mode and AI Overviews, "your site needs to be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console". Google's documentation updates log also notes, on 21 October 2026, that its "control what you share with Google Search" page now covers "the Search generative AI control".

So Google confirms a Generative AI features report and a related control exist. Its announcement does not list every metric in that report, so this guide will not guess. Open it in your own account and note which columns and filters it offers before drawing conclusions.

What to check afterwards: compare the date range available in the Generative AI features report with your normal Performance report. If they differ, never compare the two directly without lining the dates up first.

How do you find the multimodal search type filter?

The steps are short:

1. Open Search Console and choose your property.
2. Go to Performance, then the Search results report.
3. Click the "Search type" filter at the top (it normally says Web).
4. Choose the multimodal option if it is listed for your property.
5. Set a date range, then look at the Queries and Pages tabs.
6. Click "Export" to download the data, as Google suggests, so you can analyse it in Google Sheets or Excel.

Repeat the same filter inside the Generative AI features report, since Google said the multimodal data is available in both.

A Delhi furniture brand could export three months of multimodal data and sort it by page: the few product pages with most impressions become the shortlist for better photos and product data.

Which questions can the new reports answer?

Used carefully, the multimodal filter helps you answer practical questions:

• Do people find us through visual search at all? Any impressions under the multimodal filter answer this.
• Which pages appear for image-led searches? The Pages tab shows which URLs Google surfaced.
• Which countries does it come from? With the filter applied, check the Countries tab, which helps a business serving both India and the UAE.
• Is it phone or desktop? Check the Devices tab. Lens and Circle to Search are phone features, while Chrome's "Search this image" also works on desktop, so the split tells you where to focus.

What to check afterwards: log the answers in a simple sheet each month so you can see a trend.

What can the AI and visual reports not tell you?

Know the limits before you report numbers upwards.

• It does not show the photo the user took. Google's post describes searches using images, but nothing suggests you will see the image itself.
• Position inside AI features is blunt. Search Engine Journal explains that Search Console "assigns all links within each AI Overview the overview's one position in search results". Moving higher inside an AI Overview does not, by itself, change your reported position.
• It does not show revenue. Search Console reports search behaviour. Sales and enquiries live in your analytics and CRM.
• Definitions can change. Google has not said how stable these reports will be. Note the date you pulled any export.

If you want a refresher on reading reports critically, our guide on how to read the reports your marketing agency sends covers the questions to ask of any dashboard.

How do you combine multimodal data with the normal Performance report?

The multimodal filter is most useful as a comparison, not on its own. Try this simple routine:

1. Export the Pages tab with the Web search type for the last three months.
2. Export the Pages tab with the multimodal search type for the same months.
3. Put both in one sheet, matched by URL.
4. Flag pages with multimodal impressions but weak clicks: the image is being found, but the page is not winning the visit.
5. Flag pages with strong text search performance but no multimodal presence, where the product is highly visual. These pages may need better images.

A Mumbai home decor brand might find its "brass table lamps" category page earns text clicks but nothing in multimodal search, which points to small, unclear images as the gap.

What to check afterwards: after you improve a page, annotate the date in your sheet and compare the next 28 days with the previous 28 days under both search types.

Which pages deserve visual search work first?

Prioritise pages where a picture is the reason someone searches:

• Product pages for jewellery, furniture, fashion, home decor, lighting and handicrafts.
• Category pages that a shopper might reach after photographing something similar.
• Restaurant menu and dish pages, because diners often photograph food and want to find the place that serves it.

For a Jaipur jeweller selling polki and kundan pieces, the job is simple: make sure each bestseller has its own page with sharp, well-labelled photos. Our jewellery brand marketing playbook covers the wider brand side.

What to check afterwards: list your top 20 revenue products and confirm each one has a dedicated, indexable page with at least one clear image.

How do you make images easier for Google Lens and visual search to understand?

This is standard image SEO, and it is the most practical response to the new data. Google's updates log shows that on 2 March 2026 it "added preferred image best practices", covering how to specify a preferred image with metadata. Beyond that, the basics are well known:

• Use real, sharp photos. Show the product clearly, on a clean background, plus at least one in-use shot.
• Name files descriptively. "gold-kundan-choker-necklace.jpg" tells Google far more than "IMG_4521.jpg".
• Write useful alt text. Alt text is the short description read by screen readers. Describe what is in the image in plain words, for example "Sheesham wood three-seater sofa in mustard fabric".
• Place images near relevant text. The product name, material and price close to the image help Google connect them.
• Keep pages fast. Compress images so large photos do not slow the page.

If your product photos are weak, fix that first. Our post on e-commerce photography mistakes lists the most common problems.

What to check afterwards: use Google Lens on your own product photo. See whether your page, or a competitor or marketplace selling the same item, appears.

Should you add structured product data and concise answers?

Yes, where it fits. Structured data is code (usually JSON-LD) that labels facts on a page, such as product name, price and availability, so search engines read them reliably. Google's updates log shows continued work on product markup in 2026, including adding "category" to merchant listing structured data on 7 July 2026 and clarifying sale price effective dates in Product structured data the same day.

Google also added, on 15 May 2026, "a new guide on optimizing for generative AI features", which includes "tips about providing local, shopping, image, and video content". Read that guide in full before you change templates.

For AI features, put a short, direct answer near the top of informational pages, then the detail. A Dubai restaurant can state its cuisine, area, opening hours and signature dishes in plain sentences on its homepage and menu page, with a clear photo beside each signature dish. Our checklist for getting cited in Google AI Mode goes further on writing for AI answers, and AI Overviews and SEO in 2026 covers the broader picture.

What to check afterwards: run each updated product page through Google's Rich Results Test and fix any errors before rolling the change across the catalogue.

How to check whether it is working

Give any change at least four weeks, then check in this order:

1. Multimodal filter, Pages tab: compare impressions and clicks for the pages you improved, 28 days before and after.
2. Generative AI features report: apply the multimodal filter there too and note any change for the same pages.
3. Web search type: confirm your normal text performance did not drop. Image work should never cost you text rankings.
4. URL Inspection: confirm Google has crawled the updated pages after your change.
5. Manual Lens test: photograph the physical product (or a similar one) with Google Lens on a phone and see which sites appear. Repeat monthly and save screenshots with dates.
6. Analytics: check whether enquiries or sales from those pages moved, because Search Console will not show this.

Frequently asked questions

Does Search Console show Google Lens traffic?

Yes. Google said on 24 September 2026 that the new multimodal reporting includes searches with Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and Chrome's "Search this image" option. You see it by choosing the multimodal search type filter in the performance reports, if your site receives traffic from these searches.

Can I track AI Overview impressions in Search Console?

Google confirms there is a report for Generative AI features in Search Console, and multimodal data appears there too. Google's announcement does not list every metric in that report, so check your own Search Console to see what it shows for your site. Remember that all links inside one AI Overview share that overview's single position.

Why is the multimodal filter empty for my site?

Google said the metrics appear only if your site is receiving traffic from these queries, and it described the feature as "rolling out globally" from the announcement date. A site with few product images may see nothing. Better images, file names, alt text and product pages are the practical next step.

Is there an API for the multimodal Search Console data?

Google's announcement does not mention an API. It says you can click "Export" to download the data and analyse it in other tools. Until Google says otherwise, plan on manual exports into a sheet.

Visual and AI search reporting is still young, so start measuring now and build a baseline. If you would like help reading your Search Console data, choosing which product pages to improve, and fixing images and structured data properly, talk to our SEO team. Jewellers, furniture makers and restaurants in Rajasthan can also see how we work locally through our SEO services in Jaipur.