Google Search On 2022: Multisearch Near Me, Translated Results and More

Google held its Search On 2022 event on 28 September, and if you run a website, a shop or a local business, you want to know which of the many announcements will actually touch your traffic. Here is the short answer. Google Search On 2022 was about making search more visual, more local and less tied to one language.

The headline items are multisearch “near me”, multisearch in more than 70 languages, translated news results, a new “Discussions and forums” section, and a long list of shopping and Maps features. Most of them are rolling out over the coming months, and many start in the US in English only.

Below I go through each announcement in plain words, what is live now, what is coming later, and what I think site owners should do about it.

Google Search On 2022 at a Glance

Google posted a full recap of the Search On 2022 announcements on its blog. This table pulls out the features that matter most for websites, with the timing Google gave on the day.

Treat the “coming months” items as plans, not promises. Google often adjusts timing and scope after an event like this.

Multisearch Goes Global and Gets “Near Me”

Multisearch lets you take a photo or screenshot in Google Lens and add words to it, such as a colour or a brand. It launched in April as a US-only beta, and I explained how it works in my guide to searching with images and text together.

At Search On, Google said multisearch is now available in English globally. It also said multisearch will come to more than 70 languages in the next few months. That turns it from a US experiment into something your customers in many countries may use.

What Multisearch Near Me Adds

Multisearch near me was first shown at Google I/O in May, which I covered in my roundup of the Google I/O 2022 search announcements. Now it has a rough date: Google said it will start rolling out in English in the US later this fall.

The idea is simple. You take a photo of a dish, a plant or a piece of clothing, add “near me”, and Google shows local businesses that have it. The search starts with a picture, but it ends with a local result.

What It Means for Local Businesses

Google matches the picture with local businesses using images, reviews and information it already holds about places. There is no special setting or tag for multisearch near me.

In my experience, the businesses that will do well here are the ones with clear, real photos of what they sell. A restaurant with photos of each popular dish gives Google far more to work with than one with only a logo and an outside shot.

• Upload real photos of your products or dishes to your Business Profile.
• Keep your categories, hours and menu accurate.
• Ask happy customers for reviews, since reviews often name the exact item they bought.
• Name products clearly on your website, using the words people actually say.

Translated Results: News From Other Languages

This is the “translated results” part of the event. Google said that in early 2023 it will launch a feature that uses machine translation to show news coverage from other countries.

Google’s example was a major earthquake in Mexico. Someone searching in English would see translated headlines from Mexican publishers, next to the usual English results. At launch, news in French, German and Spanish will be translated into English, on mobile and desktop.

Google explained this in its post on bringing more voices to Search. The goal is to show local reporting that people would otherwise miss because of the language.

Who Should Pay Attention

If you publish news in French, German or Spanish, this could open up an English-speaking audience you never reached before. If you publish English news, it means you may share the results page with local publishers writing in their own language.

For most small business sites, this one will not change much. It is about news, not product or service pages.

Discussions and Forums in Search Results

Google also added a new section labelled “Discussions and forums”. It shows links to posts from popular forums and discussion sites when Google thinks personal experiences will help with a search.

Google’s example was a search for the best cars for a growing family. The section might show a forum thread where a parent talks about using a minivan. Google said it is rolling out now for English users on mobile in the US, and that it may change the feature based on how people use it.

Why This Matters for Content Sites

This fits the direction Google set in August with the helpful content update and its focus on people-first content. Google keeps showing that it values first-hand experience over content that only repeats what other pages say.

My honest view: if your article on “best family cars” is a list rewritten from other lists, a real forum post from a real owner is now competing with it directly. The fix is not to fake experience. It is to add real knowledge you actually have, such as how you tested something, what went wrong, and who it suits.

If your business already has an active community or support forum, keep it open to search and keep it tidy. Thin, spammy threads help nobody.

Lens Translation and New iOS Shortcuts

Google Lens can already translate text in photos, and Google says people use it to translate text in images over 1 billion times, across more than 100 languages. The update makes the translated text blend into the picture, so a translated poster looks like the original rather than having text pasted on top.

Google said this improved experience is launching later this year. Google says it uses a type of AI model called a generative adversarial network, the same kind of technology behind Magic Eraser on Pixel phones.

The Google app for iOS also gets shortcuts under the search bar, starting now. These include shopping from your screenshots, translating text with your camera and humming to search.

For site owners, these are mostly user features. Still, they show how often people now start a search with the camera, not the keyboard.

A More Visual Way to Explore Search Results

A big part of the event was about how results look and how people build their searches. Google described several changes, mostly for English in the US over the coming months.

• Query building while you type: autocomplete will suggest words and topics you can tap to build your question, rather than typing it all out.
• Faster answers: Google said it will show relevant content before you finish typing.
• Topic chips: after a search, you can add or remove topics to go deeper or change direction.
• Visual stories and short videos: for topics like a city, results can show visual stories, short videos, tips and things to do from creators and people who have been there.
• Explore as you scroll: further down the page, you see related topics for inspiration beyond your exact query.

What This Could Mean for Clicks

When Google helps people refine a query before they hit enter, long and specific searches may become more common. I think this rewards pages that answer one clear question well, instead of pages that try to cover everything loosely.

It also means more room on the page goes to images and video. If your topic is visual, such as travel, food, fashion or home, I’d treat good original images and short videos as part of your SEO, not an extra.

If you want to see which longer searches already bring you traffic, the Performance report in Search Console is the place to start. Those queries show you which questions your pages already answer well.

Food and Restaurant Search Changes

Google shared several food features on the same day. In the coming months, you will be able to search for a specific dish, such as soup dumplings, and see local places that serve it. You can also narrow the search, for example to spicy dishes.

Google also said it will show what makes a restaurant stand out, based on machine learning that looks at images and reviews. And it is expanding digital menus, making them more visual and highlighting popular dishes and dietary options, starting with vegetarian and vegan.

Google says menu information comes from people, from merchants, and from restaurant websites. So the menu on your own website matters. Keep it as text on a normal web page, not only as a PDF or image, so Google can read it.

When I look at restaurant sites, the menu is often the weakest page. If you own a restaurant, this is the time to fix it. Start with the menu page and your Business Profile photos.

Shopping Updates for Online Stores

Google listed nine shopping features. These are the ones I think store owners should know about:

• Searching with “shop”: in the US on mobile, starting a search with the word “shop” shows a visual feed of products from many stores.
• Shop the look: for clothing, Google shows items that go well together and where to buy them.
• Trending products: US shoppers will see popular products in a category, later this fall.
• Shop in 3D: 3D views of sneakers are coming to Search soon.
• Dynamic filters: shopping filters that change based on search trends, available now in the US, Japan and India.
• Personalised shopping results: US shoppers will be able to set preferred brands and departments later this year.
• Page insights: in the Google app, shoppers will see helpful details about the product page they are already looking at, in the coming months.

What Online Stores Should Check

Almost all of these features depend on good product data. Google needs to know your price, stock, colour, size and brand, and it gets most of that from your product pages and your Merchant Center feed.

I’d start with three checks:

1. Make sure your product pages use Product structured data with price and availability.
2. Look at the Merchant listings report in Search Console for errors and missing fields. I explain each item in my guide to the Merchant listings report.
3. Use clear, original product photos on a plain background, with one photo for each colour you sell.

Google Maps Updates

Google Maps got four updates, and they matter for anyone who depends on local visits:

• Neighborhood vibe: shows popular spots in an area using photos and info from the Maps community. It starts rolling out globally on Android and iOS in the coming months.
• Immersive view: a rich, 3D-style preview of places, rolling out in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo in the coming months.
• Aerial views: more than 250 photorealistic aerial views of landmarks around the world, available now.
• Search with Live View: point your phone camera down a street and see nearby places like cafes and shops placed on the view. It starts rolling out in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Paris and Tokyo in the coming months.

Again, photos and reviews from real customers are what feed these views. A Business Profile with recent photos and active reviews has a much better chance of standing out.

About This Result and Personalised Results

Google also expanded the “About this result” panel, the three dots next to a result that explain where it comes from. It now shows whether a result is personalised, with a way to turn personal results off. Google said this is available in the US in English.

Google also said that early next year, people will be able to opt in to alerts when new results with their personal contact details show up, so they can ask for them to be removed.

For SEO, the personalisation note is a useful reminder. Two people can see different results for the same search, so I never judge rankings from a single search on my own phone.

What Google Search On 2022 Means for Your SEO

None of these announcements is a ranking update. Nothing here changes how your pages rank tomorrow. But taken together, they show where Google Search is going: more camera searches, more local intent, more first-hand voices and less dependence on one language.

Here is what I’d do over the next few weeks:

1. Audit your images. Replace stock photos with real photos of your products, dishes or work where you can. Add plain, descriptive alt text.
2. Update your Business Profile. Check categories, hours and menu or product details, and add fresh photos. These feed multisearch near me and Maps.
3. Fix product data. Add or correct Product structured data and clear Merchant Center feed errors.
4. Add real experience to key pages. Where you have tested, used or built something, say so and explain what you learned.
5. Make menus and price lists readable. Use HTML text instead of images or PDFs only.
6. Watch Search Console. Note the dates of new features in your reporting so you can explain changes later.

What I Would Not Do Yet

I would not rewrite your whole site for features that are not live in your country. Many items are US-only or months away. Planning is fine; panic work is not.

I’d also skip any tool or service that claims to “optimise for multisearch” with special code. Google has not released any markup for it. Good images, accurate business data and helpful pages are the work.

Finally, keep this event separate in your head from the recent ranking changes. The September core update and product reviews update are still fresh, and if your traffic moved this month, those are the more likely cause. Check those dates against your traffic before you blame anything from Search On.

Conclusion

Google Search On 2022 showed a search engine that wants people to search with pictures, find things nearby, and hear from real people in any language. Most features are still rolling out, and many start in the US in English.

The good news is that the work to prepare is the same work that helps SEO anyway: real photos, accurate product and business data, and pages that share genuine experience. If you run a local business, a sensible next step is to review your photos and menu or product details this week.