See Google Lens and Circle to Search Traffic in Search Console Pakistan

Google Search Console now reports visits from image-based searches, such as Google Lens and Circle to Search, using a new multimodal search type filter in the Performance reports. Google announced it on 24 September 2026 and says it is rolling out globally. A separate Generative AI report covers AI Overviews and AI Mode.

A customer in Karachi photographs a lamp in a friend's house, circles it on her Android phone and sees shops that sell it. If your product page was one of them, that visit used to blend into your normal search numbers. Google has now given it a name and a filter.

We read Google's announcement and its Search Central pages on 8 October 2026. We have not opened a live Search Console account for this article, so the exact menu wording below follows Google's post, and your own screen is the final word.

Google added a multimodal filter on 24 September 2026

Google's Search Central blog says it now offers Search Console reporting for web multimodal search. It sits in the Performance report for Search results and in the report for Generative AI features. You use a new "multimodal search type" filter to see it.

Multimodal means a search that starts with something other than typed words, such as a photo. Google says the data covers four ways of searching:

1. Searches with Google Lens.
2. Circle to Search on Android.
3. Image uploads to Google Search.
4. The Chrome right-click "Search this image" feature.

Google says the data is rolling out globally from 24 September 2026, and that you will see the metrics if your site receives traffic from these queries. A site with none will see nothing, and that is normal.

Pakistani shops and publishers with strong photos gain the most

Image search favours sites with clear original photos. A clothing seller, a furniture workshop, a bakery, a property agent or a recipe blogger can each get visits from people who searched with a camera instead of words. Before this filter, you could not separate those visits.

Google describes the goal as helping you "optimize your visual content". It does not say that any type of photo ranks better. We found no ranking promise in the post, and we make none here.

The middle column is our reading of how people use these tools, not data from Google.

How to look at the data in four steps

Open Search Console, go to the Performance report for Search results, and add the new multimodal search type filter. Compare it with your normal numbers for the same dates, then export the table to keep a record.

1. Sign in to Search Console with the account that owns your site.
2. Open the Performance report for Search results.
3. Find the multimodal search type filter and apply it.
4. Click Export to download the data and study it in a spreadsheet.

Google's post mentions the Export button. It does not give a screenshot or the exact position of the filter, so look through the filter options if it is not obvious. If the filter shows nothing, your site may have no such traffic yet.

The Generative AI report tracks AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google launched Search Generative AI performance reports on 3 June 2026 and added a note that from 31 August 2026 it had rolled them out to all websites worldwide. They show impressions in AI features in Search and Discover, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The reports show impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates. The device view is available for Search results. You can look by hour, day, week or month. Impressions are not clicks, so do not read them as visits.

Google's guide to AI features adds that appearing there needs no special markup. A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. Our pieces on AI Overviews and what Pakistani businesses should do and on using Google AI Mode in Pakistan explain the features themselves.

What to do with image traffic once you can see it

Start with the pages that already appear. Make sure each has a sharp original photo, a plain file name, honest alt text and a price or detail in the text next to it. Google's own list of basics says important content should exist as text, and that images and videos should support it.

• Use your own photos, not copies from other sites.
• Describe the image in simple words in the alt text.
• Keep the page indexable and not blocked in robots.txt.
• Keep stock and price information current.

If you added a social account to Search Console, the Instagram and TikTok reports sit beside this data and are worth reading together. And if you list a shop, update its Business Profile too.

Common questions

Is the multimodal filter available in Pakistan?

Google says the rollout is global from 24 September 2026. You see data only if your site gets traffic from these searches.

What counts as a multimodal search?

Google lists Lens searches, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search and Chrome's right-click "Search this image" feature.

Does this change my rankings?

No. It is a reporting feature. Google's post describes it as new data to help you understand your performance.

Can I export the data?

Yes. Google says to click Export in the report to download the data and analyse it in other tools.

Where do AI Overviews and AI Mode show up?

They appear in the Generative AI performance reports, and they are also counted in the overall Performance report under the Web search type.

Do I need new markup for image search?

Google's AI features page says no special markup is needed for AI features. Good images, text and a crawlable page remain the basics.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked 8 October 2026 against Google's announcement of web multimodal reporting, the Search Generative AI performance reports post and AI features and your website. We did not sign in to Search Console for this check, so menu names follow Google's wording and may differ on your screen.