Multimodal search is transforming the way people find information online.
For decades, search engines relied primarily on text-based queries. Today, users can search with photos, screenshots, voice commands, videos, and even real-time camera input. Instead of typing a few keywords, people can simply point their camera at an object, upload an image, speak a question, or combine multiple inputs to get more accurate and contextual results.
This shift is being fueled by advances in artificial intelligence, large language models, computer vision, and multimodal reasoning systems. Products such as Google Lens, AI Mode, Circle to Search, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI-powered search experiences are rapidly changing user behavior and expanding the ways people interact with search engines.
The growth has been remarkable. Google Lens now processes billions of visual searches every month, AI-generated search experiences are appearing for a growing share of queries, and multimodal AI has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the artificial intelligence market.
For marketers, SEO professionals, ecommerce brands, and publishers, understanding multimodal search is becoming increasingly important. As users shift from keyword-based searches to image, voice, and AI-powered discovery experiences, businesses must adapt their content, optimization strategies, and digital assets accordingly.
To help you understand the latest trends, we’ve compiled 100 of the newest multimodal search statistics, covering adoption, AI search growth, visual search, voice search, Google AI Mode, user behavior, market size, and future industry forecasts.
Multimodal Search Adoption Statistics
- Google Lens processes more than 20 billion visual searches per month.
- Google Lens usage reached 25 billion monthly searches in 2025.
- Generative AI reached 53% population adoption globally within three years.
- ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users by February 2026.
- Google AI Mode surpassed 100 million users shortly after launch.
- AI search is available in 200+ countries through Google’s AI Mode rollout.
- AI search expanded from 7 countries to 229 countries between 2024 and 2025.
- AI-powered search adoption is growing faster than traditional search feature adoption cycles.
- Multimodal search is now integrated across text, image, voice, and video inputs.
- AI tools account for less than 2% of total desktop web visits in the U.S. and Europe.
Google AI Search Statistics
- AI Overviews are generated for 51.5% of real-world search queries.
- AI-generated answers covered only 1% of COVID-related queries in 2024.
- AI-generated answers covered over 66% of COVID-related queries in 2025.
- That represents a 5,600% increase in AI-generated responses.
- Google AI Overviews launched globally in more than 200 countries.
- AI search platforms processed 2.8 million search results in one large-scale research study.
- Researchers analyzed 24,000 search queries across AI search systems.
- The study covered 243 countries worldwide.
- Google AI Overviews appear above traditional search results for more than half of tested queries.
- AI-generated search results show less than 0.2 average Jaccard similarity compared with traditional search results.
Visual Search Statistics
- Google Lens launched in 2017.
- Lens now supports image, voice, and video search inputs.
- Circle to Search launched with the Samsung Galaxy S24 series in 2024.
- Circle to Search supports image, video, and text recognition.
- Multi-object image search arrived in Circle to Search during 2026.
- Circle to Search can identify multiple products within a single image.
- Google added AI Overviews to Circle to Search in 2025.
- Visual search now supports virtual try-on experiences.
- Circle to Search supports QR code scanning directly from screens.
- Circle to Search also supports full-screen translation capabilities.
Multimodal AI Market Statistics
- The global multimodal AI market was valued at $1.73 billion in 2024.
- The market is projected to reach $10.89 billion by 2030.
- The market is growing at a 36.8% CAGR through 2030.
- Another forecast estimates a $3.23 billion multimodal AI market in 2026.
- That forecast predicts $20.82 billion by 2033.
- The projected CAGR through 2033 is 36.4%.
- The AI search engine market reached $16.3 billion in 2025.
- The AI search engine market is expected to reach $20.75 billion in 2026.
- The market could hit $182.17 billion by 2035.
- AI search engine market CAGR is projected at 27.3%.
AI Search Traffic Statistics
- AI search traffic increased 527% year over year.
- AI referrals grew from 17,000 to 107,000 sessions in one benchmark study.
- AI referral traffic to retail sites grew 693% year over year during the 2025 holiday season.
- AI-driven ecommerce referrals increased 752% year over year in October 2025.
- AI traffic converts at approximately 3x higher rates than traditional channels.
- Traditional search still drives roughly 87.6% of ecommerce traffic.
- AI traffic remains below 2% of total web visits.
- AI referral traffic surpassed 1.1 billion visits in June 2025.
- Citation sets change approximately 50% month to month across AI platforms.
- Only 11% of citations overlap across major AI search platforms.
Voice Search Statistics
- Voice is now a core input method within AI Mode.
- Multimodal search combines text, voice, image, and video inputs.
- Voice-assisted search is increasingly integrated into visual search experiences.
- Search Live launched in India during 2025.
- AI-powered voice interactions are replacing many traditional search queries.
- Conversational follow-up search is now available directly within AI Overviews.
- Google users can now ask follow-up questions without leaving search results.
- AI Mode supports spoken search conversations.
- Voice-based multimodal interactions are growing faster than keyword-only searches.
- Search behavior is shifting toward conversational interactions.
Search Behavior Statistics
- Google reports users are asking more complex questions than ever.
- Query lengths are increasing as AI search adoption grows.
- Multimodal questions are becoming a larger share of searches.
- Users increasingly search with photos instead of keywords.
- AI search surfaces fewer long-tail sources than traditional search.
- AI search results show lower source diversity than traditional search.
- AI search is more likely to surface platform-owned content.
- Users increasingly expect search engines to understand context.
- Image-based search is becoming a mainstream behavior.
- Multimodal search is reducing reliance on exact-match keywords.
AI Mode Statistics
- AI Mode supports text prompts.
- AI Mode supports voice prompts.
- AI Mode supports image uploads.
- AI Mode supports photo capture queries.
- AI Mode uses Google’s Gemini model for multimodal reasoning.
- AI Mode combines Gemini with Google Lens.
- AI Mode became available to millions more users during 2025.
- AI Mode can understand object relationships within images.
- AI Mode can analyze materials, colors, and shapes in photos.
- AI Mode uses a “fan-out” technique to generate multiple visual queries from one image.
Future Multimodal Search Statistics
- Gartner predicts traditional search volume will decline 25% by 2026.
- AI search is expected to become a primary discovery channel.
- AI search adoption is outpacing PC adoption curves.
- AI search adoption is outpacing internet adoption curves.
- AI-powered recommendations are becoming a standard search feature.
- AR-powered shopping experiences are expected to increase significantly.
- Shoppable video search is becoming a core ecommerce trend.
- Visual-first search behavior continues to grow.
- AI-generated search experiences are becoming more conversational.
- Search engines are evolving into intelligence engines.
Quick-Hit Multimodal Search Statistics
- 20 billion Google Lens searches per month.
- 25 billion Lens searches monthly by 2025.
- 53% global generative AI adoption.
- 900 million ChatGPT weekly users.
- 100 million+ AI Mode users.
- 229 countries with AI search availability.
- 51.5% of queries trigger AI Overviews.
- 527% growth in AI search traffic.
- 693% growth in AI retail referral traffic.
- 36.8% CAGR for the multimodal AI market through 2030.
FAQs
What is multimodal search?
Multimodal search allows users to search using multiple input types, including text, images, voice, video, screenshots, and live camera feeds, rather than relying solely on typed keywords.
What is the most popular multimodal search tool?
Google Lens is currently the most widely used multimodal search tool, processing over 20 billion visual searches every month.
How fast is multimodal search growing?
Multimodal search is growing rapidly alongside AI-powered search experiences. AI search traffic increased 527% year over year, while the multimodal AI market is projected to grow at roughly 36% annually through the next decade.
Why is multimodal search important for SEO?
Multimodal search changes how content is discovered. Images, videos, product photos, visual context, and structured data are becoming increasingly important because users can search with photos, screenshots, voice commands, and videos rather than keywords alone.
What is the future of multimodal search?
Search is moving toward conversational, AI-powered experiences that combine text, images, voice, video, and real-world context. Industry forecasts suggest multimodal search will become a primary way people discover information, products, and services online.
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