Google Discover is significantly different from traditional search. Instead of just waiting around for you to go ahead and type in some question, it just gives you things, articles, videos, you name it, based on what it thinks you are into.
“More than 800 million humans are viewing Google per month. Not only is that a huge number, it is an entire other world of possible eyeballs,” states Bill Fukui of MedShark Digital.
The challenge is acquiring knowledge about why Discover succeeds and how you can put your content in front of the right eyes. Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of how this whole thing operates and how you can position your content to be a success here.
What is Google Discover?
Google Discover is like reading a magazine created specifically for you, but with the element of there not being an editor in some faraway dusty office somewhere deciding what articles to put in for you. It is simply Google’s algorithm chugging up stuff it assumes you will enjoy.
You do not have to do a thing or even know what you are looking for. It vomits up articles, videos, some arbitrary clickbait articles, whatever your fix is, right in your face. You can access it on the Google app, the home page of Chrome on your phone, or just Google.com on your phone.
Google Discover is all visuals: big pictures, attention-grabbing headlines, and a courtesy nod of attribution so you can tell who put it together. Google Search is the forever library; Discover is a bit more your personalized hype man squad. It has standards, too; unless it is new and from a solid source, it is not being hand-curated for your feed.
Google Discover Optimization in Overall SEO
Google Discover is not keyword-based; it attempts to guess at what people are interested in and then serves them up whatever they might be interested in. So, if you are still obsessed with keywords as a marketing strategy, you are in the wrong place. It is all about jumping on the bandwagon for something that is trendy or that is sure to get the clickthroughs.
Marketing here is about creating eye-grabbing content that is going to read well and be wonderful on a phone. Shiny photos, not stale, outdated, or generic photos. And, tie your content into something that is currently trending, or something evergreen. Clear E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals are also necessary.
Make sure you have some structured data as well, pages that load quickly, and a fresher experience every time you visit. You have to be different, but make the user feel as though you “get” them.
Best Practices for Optimizing for Google Discover
To appear in Google Discover, you must comply with Google guidelines but with a bit of panache. For starters, you cannot put up pixelated little images or cookie-cutter images; you must use sensational, huge photos, perhaps 1200px or more in width, something that stops the user from scrolling.
You must also demonstrate that you are well‑informed; E-E-A-T. Sign your name there, preferably a little author bio, keep it current with current dates, and reference good sources.
Optimizing for mobile is not optional. If your page takes more than a few seconds to load, people will leave. And hit those Core Web Vitals, too, or Google’s crawlers will skip right over you.
Google Discover Tracking and Performance Improvement Guidelines
You will want to track how you are doing on Google Discover. Number one, head to their Discover report. It will inform you about your pages getting eyeballs, how frequently they are showing up, and what individuals are clicking on. Number two, head to Google Analytics (GA4) to view what individuals are doing with your content.
Identify the patterns; there are likely some marketing topics that are sure to blow up, or one particular post that is exceptional in performance. That is gold. Take all that information and utilize it to assist you in leveling up your content. Do not be scared to test. Test, mess with your process, and keep producing that new content.