Google Search Console’s September 2026 Update: What Multimodal Search Means for SEO

Google Search is becoming less dependent on a person typing a few words into a search box.

People can now search with photographs, smartphone cameras, screenshots and visual references. Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and other multimodal experiences allow a user to start with an image and discover websites, products, places or information from it.

That change has now reached Google Search Console.

On 24 September 2026, Google announced new Search Console reporting for web multimodal search. The new reporting adds a multimodal search type to the Performance reports for Search results and Generative AI features. Google says the data includes searches made with Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and Chrome’s “Search this image” feature. Google Search Central

For website owners, this is more than another Search Console filter.

It is a signal that SEO analysis needs to look beyond traditional typed keywords.

What changed in Google Search Console?

The September 2026 update gives site owners a way to identify performance coming from multimodal searches.

Previously, a website owner could already analyse Search performance using dimensions such as queries, pages, countries and devices, together with metrics including clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position.

Google has now added a way to isolate multimodal search activity.

The new data is particularly relevant to websites whose content contains useful images, products, locations, diagrams, photographs, visual guides or other information that people may want to identify or explore visually.

Google says the feature is rolling out globally and that metrics will appear in the Performance report when a site receives traffic from these types of queries. Google Search Central

The important distinction

This does not mean that traditional keyword SEO has stopped working.

It means that the definition of a search query is becoming broader.

A customer might type:

“red hiking shoes”

Another customer might photograph a pair of shoes and search for them.

A potential customer might type:

“building contractor near Brits”

Another might photograph a building or construction detail and use a visual search to identify a product, material or company.

The underlying intent can be similar even though the input is different.

Why this matters for keyword research

For years, SEO strategy has focused heavily on keywords.

A business might identify:

“web developer Brits”
“web design Brits”
“SEO services Brits”
“website development North West”

Those phrases remain useful.

But keyword research alone cannot describe every way a customer can now discover content.

Multimodal search introduces another question:

What could someone photograph, screenshot or visually identify that would lead them to this website?

That changes how businesses should think about content.

A restaurant, for example, should not only optimise text describing its food. High-quality images of dishes, the premises, menus and relevant locations can also contribute to how the business is discovered visually.

A building contractor can publish photographs of completed projects.

A retailer can provide clear product images.

A tourism business can publish useful photographs of accommodation, facilities and destinations.

A web development agency can show real interface examples, diagrams and informative visual content.

The objective is not to stuff keywords into images.

The objective is to make the visual content useful, discoverable and closely connected to the page it appears on.

Google’s September spam update is also important

The multimodal Search Console announcement arrived on the same day that Google recorded the start of its September 2026 spam update.

Google’s Search Status Dashboard records the September 2026 spam update as beginning on 24 September 2026, applying globally and across all languages. Google says the rollout may take up to two weeks. Google Search Status Dashboard

These are separate developments.

The multimodal Search Console update changes what website owners can measure.

The spam update changes how Google’s ranking systems assess websites and spam-related behaviour.

They should therefore not be treated as one algorithm update.

However, they make the same broader point for website owners: SEO is increasingly about the quality, usefulness and technical accessibility of the whole website rather than simply repeating target keywords.

What should you do in Search Console?

If you manage a website, the first step is not to rewrite every page.

Start by measuring what is already happening.

1. Open the Performance report

In Search Console, open the Performance report for Search results.

The report provides information about impressions, clicks, click-through rate and average position, along with dimensions such as queries and pages. Google also allows the data to be filtered and compared. Performance report — Google Search Console Help

Look at your normal web-search performance first.

Identify:

Pages receiving the most impressions
Pages receiving the most clicks
Queries generating impressions
Queries generating clicks
Pages with high impressions but low CTR
Queries where your average position is close to the first page

These provide your baseline.

2. Check the new multimodal search type

Next, use the new multimodal search type filter when it is available for your property.

Google says the new reporting covers multimodal searches from Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and Chrome’s image-search functionality. Google Search Central

Do not expect every website to have significant data immediately.

Google specifically says that metrics will appear when the site receives traffic from these queries.

For a small business website, the initial dataset may therefore be small.

That is not necessarily a problem.

The value is in identifying whether this channel is beginning to produce impressions and clicks.

3. Compare pages rather than looking only at the whole website

If multimodal traffic appears, identify which pages receive it.

Page type	What to investigate
Product page	Are product images clear and relevant?
Service page	Do images reinforce the service being described?
Location page	Are photographs genuinely representative of the location or business?
Blog/article	Do images explain or support the subject?
Portfolio page	Are project images original, useful and properly associated with the project?
Homepage	Does the imagery clearly represent the business?

This can reveal opportunities that a traditional keyword report might not show.

Do not abandon keyword research

The word “keyword” is still important in SEO.

Search Console continues to provide query data that shows which searches are associated with a website’s visibility in Google Search. Google recommends using the Performance report to understand which queries bring traffic and to use that information to improve SEO efforts. Google Search Console Help

The mistake is treating keywords as the only representation of search intent.

Instead, think in layers.

Layer 1: Keywords

What words and phrases are people typing?

Layer 2: Search intent

What are people trying to accomplish?

For example:

Find a supplier
Compare products
Find a local service
Learn how something works
Find a location
Identify an object
Solve a problem

Layer 3: Content

What page best satisfies that intent?

Layer 4: Visual content

Could an image, diagram, photograph or other visual help someone discover or understand that page?

Layer 5: Search Console evidence

What does the actual performance data tell you?

This creates a much stronger SEO process than choosing a keyword and repeatedly inserting it into a page.

Optimise images as part of SEO

Google’s image SEO documentation recommends helping Google discover and index images and optimising the pages where those images appear. Google image SEO best practices

That means image optimisation should be treated as part of website development rather than an afterthought.

Use relevant images

An image should genuinely support the page.

If an article is about web development in Brits, photographs or diagrams related to the subject are more useful than generic stock photography that has no relationship to the content.

Give images useful filenames

A filename such as:

IMG_3847.jpg

does not communicate much.

A descriptive filename such as:

web-development-brits-business-website.jpg

provides more context.

The filename is not a magic ranking factor, but descriptive organisation makes the asset easier to manage and can contribute useful contextual information.

Write useful alt text

Alt text should describe the image appropriately and support accessibility.

Do not turn alt text into a keyword list.

Bad:

web development Brits web developer Brits website design Brits SEO

Better:

Developer reviewing a local business website on a laptop

The second describes what is actually visible.

Optimise the image itself

Large, unnecessarily heavy images can make pages slower.

Use suitable dimensions, modern formats where appropriate and compression that preserves useful visual quality.

Performance is part of the overall user experience, and a fast website is easier for both users and search systems to work with.

Connect images to useful pages

Google’s image guidance also emphasises the importance of the image’s landing page.

An image should not exist in isolation.

A product image should lead to a useful product page.

A project photograph should appear on a page explaining the project.

A location photograph should support relevant information about the location or business.

The surrounding page gives the image context.

Structured data can help Google understand content

Structured data is another way to communicate information about a page.

Google explains that structured data can help it understand page content and potentially make pages eligible for supported search features. General structured data guidelines

However, structured data is not a replacement for useful content.

It should accurately describe what is already on the page.

For images used in structured data, Google states that the image URLs must be crawlable and indexable. The image should also be relevant to the page on which it appears. General structured data guidelines

This is particularly important as visual search becomes more prominent.

Search Console is a measurement tool, not a ranking button

A common misunderstanding is that submitting a sitemap, inspecting a URL or requesting indexing directly improves ranking.

These tools help Google discover, crawl and understand a website.

They do not guarantee a particular ranking.

Google’s own Search Console guidance recommends making sure Google can find and read your pages, considering sitemap submission, and monitoring search performance through the Performance report. How to use Search Console

The distinction is important.

Search Console helps you answer:

Is Google finding my pages?
Which pages are indexed?
Which queries show my pages?
How many impressions am I receiving?
How many clicks am I receiving?
Which pages are gaining or losing visibility?
Which countries and devices are producing traffic?
Are there technical problems?
Are there signs of unusual traffic changes?

Your website needs to answer:

Is the content useful?
Is it accurate?
Does it satisfy the visitor’s intent?
Is it easy to navigate?
Does it load properly?
Does it work on mobile?
Does it clearly explain the business?
Does it provide evidence and useful information?

Search Console can tell you where to investigate.

It cannot make a weak website strong by itself.

What to do when rankings or clicks fall

Do not immediately assume that Google has “penalised” your website.

Google’s guidance on traffic drops recommends investigating several possible causes, including algorithm updates, technical problems, spam issues, seasonality and changes in search behaviour. Debugging drops in Google Search traffic

A sensible investigation looks like this:

Step 1: Check Google Search Status

Look for a confirmed ranking update or Search incident.

The September 2026 spam update, for example, is recorded in Google’s official Search Status Dashboard. Google Search Status Dashboard

Step 2: Check Search Console

Compare the affected period with an earlier period.

Google recommends using Search Console’s comparison tools and examining queries, URLs, countries, devices and search appearances to identify where a change occurred. Debugging drops in Google Search traffic

Step 3: Check individual pages

A site-wide traffic drop does not necessarily mean every page has a problem.

Find the pages responsible for the largest changes.

Step 4: Check search demand

Search behaviour changes.

A drop in impressions can sometimes mean fewer people are searching for a topic rather than a problem with your website.

Google recommends using Google Trends as part of investigating changes in search demand. Debugging drops in Google Search traffic

Step 5: Avoid unnecessary changes

If a page is already performing well and there is only a small fluctuation, Google advises against making radical changes simply because of a temporary movement. Debugging drops in Google Search traffic

A practical SEO checklist for 2026

The following checklist is a useful starting point for a small or growing business website.

Technical foundation

Make sure important pages can be crawled.
Use HTTPS.
Maintain a valid XML sitemap.
Check indexing problems in Search Console.
Fix broken or accidentally blocked important pages.
Use canonical URLs appropriately.
Make sure the website works properly on mobile.
Monitor page experience and Core Web Vitals.

Content

Write for people first.
Match pages to real search intent.
Use descriptive page titles.
Use useful headings.
Answer important customer questions.
Keep information accurate and current.
Avoid creating large numbers of thin pages simply to target keywords.

Keywords and queries

Review actual queries in Search Console.
Look for relevant long-tail searches.
Identify pages receiving impressions without enough clicks.
Compare similar queries rather than obsessing over one exact phrase.
Use query data to discover content opportunities.

Images and multimodal search

Use relevant original or properly licensed images.
Give files descriptive names.
Write useful alt text.
Compress and size images appropriately.
Make sure important images can be crawled.
Place images on relevant pages.
Consider whether customers could discover your content through a visual search.

Measurement

Monitor clicks and impressions.
Track CTR.
Review average position as a diagnostic metric rather than an absolute score.
Compare periods rather than judging isolated days.
Segment data by page, query, country and device.
Check the new multimodal search reporting where available.
Export data when deeper analysis is useful.

What this means for small businesses

For a small business, the most important lesson from Google’s September 2026 Search Console change is not that every website now needs an elaborate image strategy.

It is that search is becoming more varied.

Customers can discover information through words, images and increasingly AI-assisted experiences.

That makes a useful website more important, not less.

A local business should therefore build pages that clearly explain its services, locations, products and expertise, while using images that genuinely add information.

For example, a business serving Brits, Maboloka, Letlhabile or Kgabalatsane can create useful service pages, location information, project photographs, product images and explanatory content rather than simply repeating the phrase “web development in Brits” throughout the website.

The same principle works anywhere in South Africa.

The biggest SEO mistake to avoid

The biggest mistake is trying to reverse-engineer every Google change into a new keyword trick.

Google Search changes constantly.

A better long-term strategy is to build a website that is:

Technically accessible
Fast and usable
Easy to understand
Helpful to visitors
Relevant to the business
Supported by useful original content
Properly structured
Measurable through Search Console

Then use Search Console to learn what is actually happening.

The September 2026 multimodal reporting update makes that last part even more valuable because website owners can now start seeing another way people discover their content.

Final takeaway

Google’s 24 September 2026 Search Console update is significant because it brings multimodal search into the performance data that website owners use to understand visibility.

It does not replace keyword research.

It expands the picture.

SEO is moving from a model where the main question was:

“Which keyword should this page rank for?”

towards a broader set of questions:

“What does the customer want?”

“How might they search for it?”

“What content best answers that need?”

“Could they discover it through an image or another visual search?”

“What does the Search Console data tell us?”

For businesses investing in SEO in 2026, that is a much more useful way to think about Google Search.