Google has introduced a new feature to its performance monitoring tool, Google Search Console, that enables website owners to see when people have found their site by searching with an image.
Traditionally, Google Search Console has reported on how websites perform for text-based searches carried out in Google.
If your website is appearing in searches made for “digital marketing agency in Ellesmere Port”, Google Search Console reports on how many clicks and impressions your website is receiving, and which pages are driving this engagement.
The new ‘multimodal’ filter is being added in the section known as Performance report and will cover searches made using tools such as Google Lens, as well as Circle to Search.
It will also include searches where a user uploads an image to Google or uses the ‘Search this image’ feature in Chrome.
The multimodal filter is being rolled out globally, although it may take some time before it appears in every Search Console account.
What is a multimodal search?
A ‘multimodal’ search means that a user has used an image as part of their Google search.
For example, somebody could take a photo of a flower and use Google Lens to identify the species. They could do the same with a product they like to find out where they can buy it.
This type of search is becoming increasingly popular as people move away from only typing words into a search box. Being able to track these searches is therefore useful for website owners whose pages may be appearing in the results.
What can you see in Google Search Console?
If your website receives traffic from image-based searches, the new filter will help you see which pages are appearing in those results.
For an ecommerce website, for example, this could make it easier to identify products that are being discovered through photos, screenshots or other image-based searches.
The Performance report will show the usual Google Search Console data, including clicks, impressions, average click through rate and average position.
However, Google will not show the actual search query behind a multimodal search in the same way it does for a traditional text-based search. In many cases, this is simply because there was no written search query to begin with.
You therefore might be able to see that a particular product page received 20 visits from image-based searches, but you will not be able to see which photo people searched with.
Why does this matter for SEO?
The update gives website owners another way to understand how people are finding their website through Google.
It also highlights the importance of featuring good quality, relevant images on websites, especially for ecommerce websites where people may search using photos of products.
As the way people search continues to change and image-based searching becomes more common, this data can give businesses a clearer picture of how Google is helping potential customers find their websites.
Want to understand how people are finding your website? Get in touch with the team at Engage Web to see how we can help improve your visibility.
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