Search Console’s multimodal filter: exporting image-initiated search

In its announcement dated 2026-09-24, Google introduced multimodal reporting for Search results and Generative AI features. It dated the start of global rollout to that day. Checking the snapshot on 2026-10-27 does not move the launch date into October.

For a site owner, the practical change is the ability to isolate searches initiated with an image. This is a narrower task than analyzing generative-feature reporting overall: the relevant distinction here is how the search query begins.

Section sources:[1] Google Search Central

Google’s list names Lens, Circle to Search on Android, uploading an image to Google Search, and the image-search command in Chrome’s context menu. Their shared characteristic is using an image to initiate a search.

Our editorial inference is to label the export as the multimodal segment of the selected report. The list of supported experiences does not establish that the downloaded file lets you count each experience separately. The announcement does not describe that breakdown.

Section sources:[1] Google Search Central

The documented route is short: open the relevant performance report, select the multimodal search type filter, and click Export. Google explicitly suggests using the downloaded data for analysis in other tools.

To keep the export understandable outside the interface, we recommend recording the report name, selected period, and filter alongside the file. Then open the file and check that its contents can be associated with the recorded selection. This is a proposed verification workflow, not the result of an export we performed.

Section sources:[1] Google Search Central

Google says the metrics will appear if the site receives traffic from the corresponding queries. A global rollout announcement therefore does not, by itself, establish that a particular site has data.

If you cannot obtain the intended segment, first record the observed state: the filter is unavailable, the report is empty, or the download failed. Our editorial recommendation is to leave the cause unresolved pending investigation. The announcement supplies no diagnostic rule that turns every such state into evidence that the site’s images are absent from search.

Section sources:[1] Google Search Central

We computed the supplied public snapshot’s SHA-256, matched it against the specified value, and extracted the announcement body. We separately checked the date, report names, covered experiences, export instruction, and condition for metrics to appear. The check took place on 2026-10-27; no Search Console interface or actual exports were examined.

To repeat the check, match those provisions against the body of Google’s announcement. Our added recommendation concerns preserving export context; the source does not measure the effect of that workflow. Original editorial copy is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source remains subject to its own terms.

Section sources:[1] Google Search Central