- Okay, But What Does Multimodal SEO Actually Mean?
- How Google Reads Your Images and Videos
- Simple Image Fixes That Make a Real Difference
- Getting Found Through Google Lens
- Video SEO Australia: Getting Your Videos Found
- Where AI Search Fits In
- Things We Keep Spotting on Local Sites
- Quick Visual Content Checklist
- Make Your Visual Content Work as Hard as Your Text
- Questions People Ask Us
Stand at any Perth bus stop and you'll spot someone pointing their phone at something. A sneaker. A plant. A strange bolt from under the car. Not long ago they'd have typed a clumsy description.
That habit is bigger than most owners realise. According to Google, Lens now gets more than 25 billion queries a month, and roughly a fifth of those people are looking to buy something. In 2023 Google put it at 12 billion.
So it's more than doubled, while plenty of small business sites still use photos as wallpaper.
Trouble is, Google can't send those searchers your way if it has no clue what's in your pictures. And IMG_4471.jpg isn't giving it much, is it?
Fixing that is basically what multimodal SEO is for. Below is what we'd tell a mate who runs a shop or trade business: what it is, how Google reads photos and video, and fixes worth doing this month.
Okay, But What Does Multimodal SEO Actually Mean?
Search used to mean a box and a few words. Your dad might still search like that. Plenty of people don't: they snap a photo and type "where can I buy this", or mumble a question at the traffic lights.
Multimodal SEO is about Google still getting your business when the question shows up as a photo, a voice clip or a video instead of typed words. Your words still count. They just aren't doing all the heavy lifting now.
Say someone in Joondalup snaps a cracked roof tile after a windy night and asks Lens who fixes these.
Google needs to know what the tile is, that it's a repair job, and that you've done it before. A gallery of unnamed photos? You're not in the conversation.
How Google Reads Your Images and Videos
Here's roughly how it works. Google runs your photo through a vision model that guesses what's in it (good, but not perfect; show it a kelpie in bad light and you might get "fox").
Then it checks that guess against your file name, alt text, caption, heading and nearby copy.
When all that agrees, great. When it doesn't (or there's no text at all), your image tends to sit there gathering dust.
Video's similar, only Google leans harder on the words you give it: title, description, transcript, thumbnail, schema. Give it enough and it'll skip someone straight to the minute where you answer their question.
Simple Image Fixes That Make a Real Difference
The funny thing is, most image SEO problems have nothing to do with your photography. They happen between taking the shot and hitting upload.
- Name your files properly: timber-decking-install-fremantle.webp gives Google something to grab onto. DSC0092.jpg gives it nothing.
- Useful alt text: One plain sentence about what's in the picture.
- Original photos: That handshake stock image lives on thousands of sites. Yours don't.
- Watch the file size: We'd go WebP or AVIF, and keep most images under 200KB.
- Keep pictures near their words: An image floating three scrolls away from its text helps no one. A one-line caption underneath doesn't hurt either.
- Don't skip the boring stuff: Nobody gets excited about image sitemaps or structured data, but they help Google find your pictures and match them to products.
Selling online? If you run one of the many ecommerce websites in Perth, shoot products from a few angles on a plain background. Lens matches on shape, colour and pattern.
Getting Found Through Google Lens
Google Lens optimisation isn't a secret trick. Think of a police line-up: Lens wants one clear suspect in the photo and a page that says exactly who it is.
Selling a lamp? Photograph it the way someone would spot it in a friend's lounge room. Fixing gutters? Show the sagging one you found and the straight one you left.
Want a reality check? Point Lens at one of your own products. If competitors show up and you don't, you know where to start. Our SEO services team does this on local audits.
Video SEO Australia: Getting Your Videos Found
Aussies love online video. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found 91% of adults watched video through an online service in 2024, with YouTube leading the pack.
The good news? Getting your video SEO Australia basics sorted isn't rocket science:
- Pop it on YouTube, then embed it on the page it's about.
- Title it the way your customers would type it, like "How to Choose Pool Fencing in Perth".
- Add a transcript and captions. Google reads them, and so does anyone on the train with the sound off.
- Use VideoObject schema with a thumbnail and description.
- Got a ten-minute walkthrough? Chop it into chapters so Google can link to the good bits.
We'd back a wobbly two-minute phone video answering one common question over a $10k brand film nobody watches past the logo.
Where AI Search Fits In
AI Overviews and AI Mode pull in images and video too. A page with a clear explanation, a labelled photo and a short video gives them three chances to mention you.
That's why we reckon visual search optimisation belongs in planning, not squeezed in after launch. Before writing a page, decide what the photos and video will show and what you'll call them. Our content creation team starts there.
Things We Keep Spotting on Local Sites
- Camera filenames: Straight off your phone means Google's staring at numbers.
- Alt text that's blank or stuffed: Empty tells Google nothing. Ten keywords jammed together looks dodgy.
- Key text inside the image: That "20% off this week" banner? Google struggles to read it.
- Videos with no context: No transcript, no description. Just a play button.
Running WordPress? A properly set up WordPress website design has compression, alt text fields and schema ready from day one.
| Asset | What Google needs |
|---|---|
| Product photos | Clear subject, descriptive filename, alt text, Product schema |
| Project photos | Real images, suburb and service in the caption |
| Videos | Searchable title, transcript, VideoObject schema |
| Infographics | A text version on the page |
| Google Business Profile | Recent photos of premises, team and work |
Quick Visual Content Checklist
Grab a coffee and run through this:
- Filenames describe what the image shows
- Alt text on all meaningful images
- Images in WebP or AVIF and under 200KB
- Videos with titles, transcripts and schema
- Image sitemap submitted in Google Search Console
Fewer than four ticks? Google's probably missing a big chunk of your visual content.
Make Your Visual Content Work as Hard as Your Text
Visual search isn't coming down the track. It's already here.
You don't need a shiny new website. This week, pick your five busiest pages, rename the photos, write proper alt text and stick a transcript under one video. Check Search Console's image report in a month. Boring work, but it pays off.
Multimodal SEO comes down to explaining what you do in pictures as clearly as in words. If you'd rather hand the detective work to someone else, give the team at DigitalHub360 a shout.
Questions People Ask Us
Does a small business really need to bother with multimodal SEO?+
If people can photograph what you sell or the problem you fix, yes. It means your words, photos, videos and structured data all point Google the same way. Multimodal SEO keeps you visible whether someone types, talks or snaps a pic.
Can Google Lens actually help a small Perth business get more customers?+
It can, yeah. Google Lens optimisation matters more than people think for local shops, because plenty of Perth shoppers would rather point their phone at something than describe it. Real photos, honest alt text and a fresh Business Profile help Lens link their search back to you.
Is image optimisation the same thing as visual search?+
Not quite. Image SEO is the older stuff: getting pictures into Google Images with decent file names, alt text and a sitemap. Visual search optimisation is newer. It's Lens looking at a real object, say a pair of boots on someone's feet, and matching it to the boots on your shelf.
How long before video SEO pays off in Australia?+
From what we've seen, usually two to three months once your videos have decent titles, transcripts and schema. It depends on competition and how often you post. Short clips answering local customers' questions get going quickest.