# Visual Search and New Search Console Data: A Practical SEO Guide > Image search, Lens, and Circle to Search are changing how businesses and products get discovered, and Search Console shows new data. What it means for your site and how to prepare. - **الرابط المعتمد:** [https://www.rozanah.com/en/blog/google-search-visual-search-console-2026/](https://www.rozanah.com/en/blog/google-search-visual-search-console-2026/) - **المنصة:** روزانة لنمو الأعمال | Rozanah for Business Growth - **المقر والترخيص:** المملكة العربية السعودية --- SEO Rozanah Team 2026-10-04 8 min read # Google Search Is Changing Again: What Visual Search and New Search Console Data Mean for SEO Google added multimodal search reporting to Search Console: how customers discover your business through Lens and images, what changes for SEO, and 7 practical steps for site owners. Your customer used to type words into a search box. Today they may do something entirely different: point their phone camera at a chair they liked in a café, circle a backpack that appeared in a video, or upload a photo of a spare part and ask, “Where can I find one like this?” No typed keywords — yet they still reach products, stores, and pages. This behavior is no longer marginal — and on September 24, 2026, Google gave site owners their first official window into it: a new Search Console report showing how content performs in visual and multimodal search. This article explains what actually changed, what it means for your site, and what to do about it — without inventing ranking-factor claims that even Google hasn't confirmed. Quick Summary What changed? Google added a “Web: multimodal” filter to Search Console reports, showing your site's visibility when users search with images via Lens, Circle to Search, and image uploads. Why does it matter? Because part of how your business and products get discovered now happens visually — and until now you were completely blind to it. What should you do? Check whether new data appears for you, improve your images and their context, and monitor changes calmly. ## Search Is No Longer Text Only Search has evolved through stages that are easy to follow: keyword text search, then image search, then interactive visual search (point the camera and search), then multimodal search combining image, text, and context — then AI-assisted discovery that understands what is in a picture and answers questions about it. The key point: this evolution adds new discovery channels; it does not replace text search. Most searches are still text-based and will remain so for a long time. Anyone telling you “traditional search is dead” is selling you the headline, not the truth. ## What Changed in Google Search Console? On September 24, 2026, Google announced via the Search Central blog new web multimodal search performance reporting in Search Console — in the Search results performance report as well as the Generative AI features report. The rollout is global and gradual. What does a site owner see? A new search-type filter called “Web: multimodal” showing clicks and impressions when your content is discovered through an image-based search: Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, or Chrome's “Search this image” action. In the Generative AI report, impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode tied to these experiences appear too. Why is this useful? Because it answers a question you previously couldn't answer: do people find me through images? And which pages and images do it? Before this report, that visibility — if it existed — was blended indistinguishably into the rest of your data. And what does it NOT tell you? Don't expect detailed query-level data for this type the way text search provides — image-led search works differently, and the report focuses on page-level visibility and clicks. Treat it as a first measurement window, not a complete control panel. ## What Are Google Lens and Circle to Search? No technical deep dive — what matters is user behavior and how you appear in it: ### Google Lens The user opens the Google app or their phone camera and points it at something real: a dish in a restaurant, a plant, a piece of furniture, text in a foreign language. Google understands the image content and shows results: information, similar products, nearby places, links to websites — including yours, if your content is understandable and eligible to surface. ### Circle to Search On supported Android phones, the user circles anything on their screen with a finger — an image in an article, a product in a video, a restaurant name in a photo — and Google searches it instantly, without switching apps or typing words. The idea: anything you see on screen becomes searchable. The common denominator that concerns you: in both cases, the user never types your business name or your keywords. Visibility here is decided by the quality of your images, their context, and how clearly what you offer is identified — not the keyword campaigns you built over years. ## What Does This Mean for SEO? First: traditional SEO is not dead — this article rejects that phrase for the second time on purpose. What is happening is that SEO is expanding to cover: text, images, product information, surrounding context, entities (people, places, and products as understood topics), structured data, page quality, and user intent. Second: there is no magic “visual SEO formula,” and anyone claiming a new equation is inventing it. What Google announced is a measurement change — a window into visual visibility — not a new ranking factor. So the rational move: strengthen the fundamentals that serve text and visual discovery together, instead of chasing a phantom formula. What serves text and visual discovery together? Foundation Serves text search Serves visual search Useful original images Enriches the page experience The discovery material itself Descriptive alt text Understanding image content Understanding image content Surrounding page context Query relevance Identifying what is in the image Structured data Rich results Connecting image to product, price, availability Page speed and mobile experience Ranking and user experience Completing the visit arriving from the image ## The Image Itself Matters Practical image optimization — no stuffing, no exaggeration: - Use useful original images: real photos of your products, premises, and work — not generic stock repeated across hundreds of sites. - Write alt text describing what is actually in the image: “walnut wooden armchair” — not a keyword list. - Choose descriptive filenames: walnut-armchair.jpg beats IMG_4829.jpg. - Mind the surrounding page context: the headline and text around the image explain what it is and why it matters. - Invest in clear product photography: good lighting and multiple angles showing the details buyers look for visually. - Add product structured data where applicable: price, availability, and ratings connect the image to actionable information. - Avoid stuffing keywords into alt text and filenames — excess hurts more than it helps. ## For E-commerce Websites Visual search matters most for products with strong visual character — where “how it looks” is part of the purchase decision: - Fashion: finding a similar piece to one seen in a photo or video. - Furniture and interiors: matching a style or color spotted in a real place. - Electronics: identifying a device or accessory by appearance. - Food: dishes and products discovered by look before name. - Beauty: shades and products that are hard to describe in writing. - Automotive and spare parts: identifying a part directly from its photo. These are examples of real behavior, not promises of guaranteed traffic. Visual visibility doesn't guarantee clicks, and clicks don't guarantee sales — but it is one more discovery door for products bought with the eyes first. ## For Service Businesses Too Visual discovery is not for stores alone: - Restaurants: dish and atmosphere photos get discovered through Lens and lead to the restaurant page. - Clinics and centers: photos of the facility and equipment build trust before booking. - Contractors and fit-outs: photos of past work are the strongest proof of quality — and they are discoverable. - Hotels and real estate: rooms and units get compared visually before any call. - Local businesses generally: real photos of your business help Google understand what you offer and where. ## New Search Console Data: How to Use It A practical checklist — run it once, then revisit monthly: - Check the data exists: open Search Console → Performance → Search results → Search type → “Web: multimodal.” No data yet doesn't mean no visibility — the rollout is gradual. - Identify the pages and images earning visibility: where do users see you visually? - Compare clicks against impressions: high impressions with low clicks signal an improvement opportunity (image, title, or context). - Look for surprises: pages appearing visually that you didn't expect — understand why and reinforce it. - Improve the assets that actually matter: start with the images and pages in the data, not by randomly renaming thousands of files. - Review image and product structured data where relevant. - Track changes over time: log a monthly reading to measure progress instead of impressions. ## September 2026 Spam Update Alongside these developments, Google released the September 2026 spam update on September 24, 2026 — a global update for all languages that may take up to two weeks to complete, according to the Google Search Status Dashboard. The golden rule during any update: don't panic over days of fluctuation, and don't make major decisions before the rollout completes. Review Search Console and your site quality first, and change only what proves to need changing — not everything that moves in the rankings. Methodological caveat The spam update overlaps with the multimodal report rollout, so visibility changes in the coming weeks may have mixed causes. Don't attribute any movement to a single cause before both rollouts complete and the data is reviewed calmly. ## What NOT to Do - Don't rename every image on your site for keywords — improve what actually matters. - Don't stuff alt text with keywords — honesty always beats stuffing. - Don't replace useful content with auto-generated filler — quality is the fixed currency of every update. - Don't assume every visual impression will become a click — visibility is discovery; the click is a decision. - Don't rebuild your website over one week of ranking movement — especially during an incomplete update. - Don't chase every Google update with random SEO changes — observe, understand, then act. ## 7 Practical Actions The article's takeaway in steps any business owner can follow: - Open the “Web: multimodal” report in Search Console and check whether data exists for your site. - Identify your top 10 visible images and pages — and start there. - Improve those images: honest alt text, descriptive filename, clear page context. - Replace repeated generic stock with real photos of your products, premises, and work. - Add product structured data where applicable: price, availability, ratings. - Review your mobile page speed — most visual discovery arrives by phone. - Log a monthly reading of the report, and wait for the September update to complete before drawing conclusions. ## What This Means for Rozanah Clients If your site or store was built with Rozanah, the foundation exists: organized pages, improvable images and content, and Search Console hooked into SEO services. The natural step is reviewing current visual assets — key images and pages — and improving them within the regular content plan, while tracking the new data month by month. And for businesses building their digital presence from scratch, the message is even clearer: build the site from day one with real photos and content explaining what you actually offer — that is what text and visual search both understand. ## Conclusion Search is becoming more visual and multimodal, but the fundamental requirement hasn't changed: help Google and users understand what your business, pages, products, and images actually contain. Clarity is the strategy: real images, honest descriptions, understandable context, accurate data. Everything else is detail. ## Is Your Site Clear to Visual Search? Request a search-visibility review covering: Search Console and the new reports, image quality and alt text, structured data, and the mobile experience. Request a review of your site to learn how search sees you today — in text and images — and which step pays back most for your business. ## Sources - [Google Search Central Blog: announcing web multimodal search reporting in Search Console (September 24, 2026)](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/09/web-multimodal-in-sc) - [Google Search Status Dashboard: September 2026 spam update (began September 24, 2026)](https://status.search.google.com/incidents/XhUDXP7A67iHCD2kmbVu) - [Google Search documentation updates — September 2026](https://developers.google.com/search/updates) - [Google Lens — official page](https://lens.google.com/) The facts above come from Google's official sources. The review steps and recommendations are Rozanah's analysis from working with sites and stores — not official Google statements. 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