Correction, September 28, 2026: The earlier version implied that multimodal traffic was previously included in Web totals; Google has not established that reporting history. We also clarified that the Search performance report supports page-level impressions and clicks, removed the overly broad first-of-its-kind wording, and distinguished a possible period of volatility from a guaranteed outcome.
The briefing
Two Google developments landed on Thursday, September 24, 2026, and both sit in the same lane: how visual and AI-mediated search show up in your data and your rankings.
- Search Console now splits Web search traffic into Text-based and Multimodal. The Multimodal type covers searches where a user included an image, through Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome's "Search this image." You can view page-level impressions and clicks in the Search performance report, but no query data. The filter provides a dedicated view of these image-led searches.
- Google started the September 2026 spam update, with a stated window of up to two weeks. That is unusually long. The three earlier 2026 spam updates each ran a few days at most. Allow for a potentially longer observation window and resist reading day-to-day swings as a verdict.
The through-line for growth leaders: search discovery keeps fragmenting away from the clean, query-based model most reporting was built on. One release gives you a new measurement surface with a real blind spot. The other is a ranking action you cannot see into. Both reward patience and page-level thinking over keyword-level reflexes.
Search Console adds a Multimodal filter for image-based searches
What changed. Google announced web multimodal Search performance reporting in Search Console. Under the existing Web search type, a new control splits your traffic into Text-based and Multimodal. Google says the Multimodal type covers searches where the user included an image, specifically Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, and Chrome's right-click "Search this image" (Search Central blog, 2026-09-24).
Evidence and date. The announcement and start of rollout are dated September 24, 2026 on the Search Central blog. Independent trade coverage confirmed the same filter and behavior the same day (Search Engine Land, 2026-09-24; Search Engine Journal, 2026-09-24). Google says the rollout is global and may not appear for every property immediately.
The limitation that shapes how you use it. There is no query data for multimodal traffic. Google explains that these searches mostly rely on images rather than typed text, so the queries dimension is unavailable when you select the Multimodal type. You can still see which pages surfaced, how often they were shown, and compare against text search by country and device. That is the whole design constraint. Treat it accordingly.
Business implication (our analysis). For image-heavy sites, product catalogs, and any business where people point a camera at a physical object, the new filter offers a dedicated view of which pages people reach through image-led searches. Google has not specified whether it includes historical data or changes existing Web totals. Compare a complete day of the new split with your property's totals before treating it as a continuous historical series.
Three practical reads:
- A page signal, not a keyword source. Because queries are hidden, this data tells you which pages earn visual-search impressions and clicks, not what people searched. Do not try to reverse-engineer keywords from it. Use it to rank pages by visual-search performance.
- A gap-finder for image assets. If a product or how-to page draws strong text traffic but little multimodal traffic, that is a flag to check image quality, alt text, structured data, and whether the page even has the right images to be recognized in Lens.
- A comparison tool. The device and country splits let you see whether visual search skews mobile or regional for your catalog. That can inform where you invest in image work first.
Pair this with the reports you already have. The Search Console generative AI report measures a different slice of the shifting SERP, and reading the two together gives a fuller picture than either alone. If visual search is now a named channel in your data, the discipline behind it is image SEO for a multimodal world and the broader voice and visual search playbook.
Action. Open Search Console, select the Web search type, and apply the Multimodal filter if it has appeared for your property. Export the top pages by multimodal impressions and clicks. Compare that list against your top text-search pages. Where a commercially important page underperforms in multimodal, audit its images, alt text, and image structured data. Log a baseline now so you can measure the trend as the channel grows. Do not wait for query data that Google has said will not be there.
Google starts the September 2026 spam update with a two-week window
What changed. Google began rolling out the September 2026 spam update on September 24, 2026 at 9:15 a.m. PDT. It applies globally and to all languages. This is the fourth spam update of 2026, following updates in March, June, and August (Search Status Dashboard; Search Engine Land, 2026-09-24).
Evidence and date. The rollout start is recorded on the Search Status Dashboard, and independent reporting confirmed both the start time and the window the same day (Search Engine Journal, 2026-09-24). Google did not describe what the update targets, which is standard for spam updates.
The one detail that matters most. The stated timeline. Google says this rollout may take up to two weeks to complete. The three earlier 2026 spam updates were each given a few days, and none took longer than about two days and sixteen hours. A two-week window is a meaningful change in expected duration (Search Engine Land, 2026-09-24).
Business implication (our analysis). A longer rollout can mean a longer period to observe ranking changes; it does not guarantee volatility for any individual site. Positions can move, settle, and move again before the update is marked complete. That has two consequences for how you and your stakeholders behave.
- Do not overreact to day-to-day swings. Mid-rollout data is not a final result. A drop on day three can partly reverse by day ten. Treat any movement as provisional until the dashboard marks the update complete.
- Manage the internal narrative early. If leadership watches a rankings dashboard, tell them now that a two-week update is running and that volatility is expected. That prevents a panicked reallocation based on a temporary dip.
A trap to avoid. Keep this separate from the August 2026 spam update, which was a distinct event that completed on August 21. Movement you see this week could trace to either the new rollout or the settling tail of earlier changes. Do not read a fresh penalty into every drop. We covered the earlier event and its recovery timing in The August 2026 Spam Update Just Closed; the diagnostic discipline there still applies.
Action. If a site sees a sustained decline once the rollout completes, self-assess against Google's spam policies rather than chasing quick fixes. Spam updates target policy violations, not general quality signals, so the honest question is whether any pages, links, or content practices breach those specific rules. Document your rankings baseline now, then compare after Google confirms completion, not during the window. For the measurement side of surviving volatility, see Measuring SEO When the Clicks Fall.
What the rest of the field looked like this week
Our scan did not identify other fresh, sufficiently corroborated developments to include. In paid search, paid social, lifecycle, CRO, commerce, and content and brand, the sources we checked mainly surfaced roundups and older items. We will not pad those into stories they are not.
One item we deliberately held: a UPenn and Northeastern field experiment on AI Mode reducing publisher referrals is circulating in trade press. The underlying paper is dated August 2026, so it fails the seven-day newness test. It is real and worth reading, but it is not news this week, and we will not dress older research as breaking.
What to do next
Prioritized for a growth leader this week:
- Check for the Multimodal filter in Search Console today. Select the Web search type and see if the Text-based versus Multimodal split has rolled out to your property. It may not appear for every account yet.
- Baseline your visual-search pages. Export top pages by multimodal impressions and clicks. Save this now so you can track the channel as it grows. Use page-level impressions and clicks, without query data.
- Audit image assets on your best commercial pages. Where multimodal performance lags text performance, review image quality, alt text, and image structured data. This is where visual-search gains are won.
- Announce the spam update window internally. Tell anyone who watches rankings that a rollout running up to two weeks is live and that volatility is expected until it completes.
- Freeze the panic reflex. Do not make ranking-driven decisions mid-rollout. Wait for the dashboard to mark the update complete before drawing conclusions.
- Separate August from September. When you do assess drops, confirm which update the movement traces to before concluding anything about cause.
- If a sustained drop survives completion, run a policy self-assessment. Check pages against Google's spam policies specifically, not general quality signals.
Sources and dates
- Announcing web multimodal Search performance reporting in Search Console - Google Search Central blog, documentation, published 2026-09-24, accessed 2026-09-28.
- Google Search Console performance reports gets multimodal filter - Search Engine Land, published 2026-09-24, accessed 2026-09-28.
- Google Search Console Adds Multimodal Filter For Image-Based Searches - Search Engine Journal, published 2026-09-24, accessed 2026-09-28.
- September 2026 spam update - Google Search Status Dashboard, documentation. Publication date not shown; checked 2026-09-28.
- Google releases September 2026 spam update - Search Engine Land, published 2026-09-24, accessed 2026-09-28.
- Google Rolls Out September 2026 Spam Update Globally - Search Engine Journal, published 2026-09-24, accessed 2026-09-28.
