Google Multimodal Search in 2026: What Nigerian Businesses Need to Know
Google Search is becoming less dependent on traditional typed queries.
People can increasingly search using images, cameras and other visual inputs.
On September 24, 2026, Google announced new Search Console reporting for web multimodal search, giving site owners visibility into performance from experiences including Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and Chrome's "Search this image" feature.
For businesses, this creates a new reason to take visual content seriously.
What Is Multimodal Search?
Traditional search starts with words.
For example:
"best office chair in Lagos"
Multimodal search can start with an image.
A person might photograph a product, upload an image, use Google Lens or use another visual-search feature to discover information.
Google's new reporting helps publishers understand how their content performs in these visual search experiences.
Why Does This Matter for Businesses?
Imagine a potential customer sees a product, building, logo, packaging design or piece of furniture they are interested in.
Instead of typing a long description, they can use their camera or an image.
That means the information Google can understand from your visual content becomes increasingly important.
What Should Businesses Optimize?
1. Use descriptive image filenames
Instead of:
IMG_4829.jpg
use something meaningful such as:
professional-website-design-lagos.jpg
The filename isn't a magic ranking factor, but descriptive filenames make your media library easier to manage and understand.
2. Write useful alt text
Alt text should describe the image where appropriate.
For example:
"Hordanso team discussing digital marketing strategy"
is more useful than:
"image123"
Don't use alt text as a place to stuff keywords.
3. Improve the surrounding page content
An image shouldn't exist in isolation.
The text surrounding it should explain what the image represents and why it matters.
For example, a website design case study could include:
Project objective
Design approach
Technology
Business problem
Outcome
Screenshots
4. Use high-quality original images
Stock photography is easy to reproduce.
Original photographs, screenshots, diagrams, product images and case-study visuals can provide much stronger context.
For a digital agency, this could include:
Website screenshots
Before/after redesigns
Campaign dashboards
Automation workflows
Branding projects
GBP screenshots
Technical diagrams
Businesses should also consider:
Video
Infographics
Diagrams
Product photography
Screenshots
Charts
Visual case studies
The key principle is simple:
Make the visual useful.
What Does This Mean for Nigerian Businesses?
Consider a Nigerian company selling professional services.
Its website might contain a generic stock photograph of an office.
That image provides little information.
A stronger visual strategy could show:
The company's actual team
Its office
Completed projects
Customer-facing products
Real campaign results
Process diagrams
Before-and-after examples
This gives search engines and users more contextual information.
Check Search Console
Google's new multimodal reporting allows site owners to examine this traffic through Search Console's performance reporting.
If your site receives this type of traffic, it becomes possible to ask:
Which pages appear?
Which images attract visibility?
Which searches lead users to the site?
Are visual searches growing?
Which content deserves more visual investment?
Multimodal Search and AI Search
Visual search is also part of a broader change in how people discover information.
Search is increasingly combining:
Text
Images
Video
Maps
AI-generated answers
Conversational queries
That means businesses should think beyond the traditional idea of "ranking a keyword."
The objective is to create content that can be understood in multiple contexts.
What Businesses Should Do Now
Start with your most important pages.
Audit:
Images
Alt text
Image filenames
Page context
Original visual content
Structured data where appropriate
Mobile experience
Search Console performance
Don't redesign your entire website simply because multimodal search exists.
Instead, gradually improve the quality and usefulness of the visual information already on your site.
Final Thoughts
Google's new multimodal Search reporting is a useful reminder that search behavior is expanding beyond typed queries.
For Nigerian businesses, the opportunity is to create websites containing useful text and useful visual information.
If your business depends on Google visibility, your SEO strategy should account for how customers discover information, not just the keywords they type.
Hordanso LTD helps businesses improve SEO, website visibility and digital content strategy as search continues to evolve.
