Multimodal Search.
Learn what Multimodal Search means in modern search and SEO.
Search queries that combine multiple input types—text, images, voice, or video—to find results, powered by multimodal AI models.
Multimodal search allows users to search using combinations of inputs: taking a photo of a product and asking 'where can I buy this cheaper?', uploading a screenshot and asking 'what font is this?', or combining voice and camera input. Google Lens, Google Multisearch, and Apple Visual Intelligence all represent multimodal search in practice.
How Multimodal AI Enables This
Multimodal AI models (like GPT-4V, Gemini, and Claude 3) can simultaneously process text, images, audio, and video. This capability enables search engines to understand what an image contains, match it against their index, and return results that address both the visual and textual components of a query—a fundamentally different paradigm from keyword-based search.
Optimising for Multimodal Search
Image SEO becomes significantly more important in a multimodal search world. Detailed alt text, descriptive file names, image sitemaps, and structured data (Product schema with image properties, ImageObject markup) all help search engines build accurate representations of visual content. Brands with strong product photography, infographics, and visually distinctive content are best positioned to benefit from multimodal search growth.
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