How Website Owners Can Use the New Data
The most valuable part of the update isn’t simply knowing that visual search exists.
It’s being able to use actual performance data instead of guessing.
Find Pages That Perform Well in Visual Search
Start by looking at which pages receive multimodal visibility.
You may discover that certain types of content perform better than others.
For example, a site containing tutorials, products, demonstrations, original photography, diagrams or other strongly visual material might discover that particular pages are being surfaced through image-led searches.
That information gives you something concrete to investigate.
What does the page contain?
What types of images are present?
What problem does the page solve?
How is the visual content connected to the surrounding article?
You shouldn’t assume that one particular element caused the visibility. Search performance involves many signals.
But the report can help identify pages worth studying.
Compare Visual Search With Your Broader Search Performance
Multimodal traffic should not be analyzed in isolation.
Compare it with your normal Google Search performance.
A page could perform strongly in traditional Search but have almost no multimodal activity.
Another page might attract a greater share of its visibility through visual discovery.
Understanding those differences can help you learn how people find different types of content on your site.
Pay More Attention to Useful Visual Content
Google says the new reporting is intended to help website owners better understand performance in the changing search landscape and optimize their visual content.
That doesn’t mean every article suddenly needs dozens of images.
An image should still have a purpose.
Depending on the subject, useful visual content might include:
- Original photographs
- Product images
- Screenshots
- Charts
- Diagrams
- Illustrations
- Step-by-step visuals
- Before-and-after comparisons
The right format depends on what helps the reader understand the subject.
A detailed diagram may be valuable in one article while adding nothing useful to another.
Make Images Understandable in Context
Images shouldn’t exist independently from the rest of the page.
The surrounding article, headings, captions when useful, descriptive ALT text and overall subject of the page can all help create understandable context for readers and search engines.
ALT text deserves particular care.
Its primary purpose is accessibility. It should describe an image meaningfully when the image requires a textual alternative—not become a place to stuff keywords.
The same principle applies to image optimization more broadly.
Optimize for clarity and usefulness rather than trying to manufacture a shortcut into visual-search results.
Review Your Existing Content
The new reporting can also provide a reason to revisit existing articles.
You don’t necessarily need to start by creating new content.
Look at pages that already contain useful visual material.
If those pages begin receiving multimodal impressions or clicks, examine whether their images are still accurate, useful, appropriately sized and relevant to the surrounding content.
If an older screenshot no longer represents the current interface, update it.
If an important tutorial is difficult to understand without a visual, consider whether adding one would genuinely improve the page.
This fits the broader SEO principles covered in our SEO for Beginners guide: optimize pages to help people first, while also making the content understandable and discoverable through search.
Why This Matters Beyond Image Search
This update also illustrates how the definition of “search” continues to expand.
For years, SEO discussions largely revolved around keywords typed into a search box.
That remains important.
But users can increasingly begin searches with cameras, screenshots, voice, images and AI-powered interfaces.
For website owners, the practical lesson isn’t to abandon traditional SEO.
It’s to recognize that discovery can now happen through more interfaces and more types of input.
Search Console’s multimodal reporting gives publishers another window into that changing behavior.
