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Google Discover optimization: How to Optimize Google Discover
23/04/2024 5Min read
- Google Discover is a particularly important source of organic traffic for publishers. This personalized feed, available within Google's mobile app and mobile search homepage, offers users an engaging experience by recommending relevant content, even before they know precisely what they want to search for.
- Google Discover is one of the quickest-growing sources of traffic for news websites, with some publishers reporting Discover traffic as higher than organic search traffic.
- Customizing your content to align with Google's guidelines and user preferences can increase your website's visibility on the platform and expand your audience.
- This article serves as a comprehensive guide to optimizing content for Google Discover – how the feature works, the significance of optimization and actionable strategies to improve the chances of your content being featured.
What is Google Discover?
- Google Discover is a customized feed of content that appears on mobile devices. It displays news stories, videos and images tailored to each user’s interests and online behavior.
- This feature is intended to emulate the personalized feeds found on social networks. It is a proactive method of delivering fresh, relevant content directly to users based on personalized data gathered by the platform.
- Just like the AI-powered recommendations served to users on a TikTok or Instagram Reels feed, Google Discover uses machine learning algorithms to analyze user data and determine which subjects and the best types of content a user is likely to engage with. The platform then selects and exhibits content from various publishers and creators that align with these interests.
- The data utilized to generate a user's Discover feed comprises their browsing history, location, search history, app usage, and other relevant data points. Users have the option to personalize their feed by choosing topics of interest or modifying their preferences within Google Discover.
- The diverse range of content displayed by Google Discover includes:
- News articles: Fresh, timely news stories from reputed sources.
- Video content from various platforms, most notably YouTube and YouTube Shorts, on topics aligned with user interests.
- Blog posts and articles: Evergreen or timely articles covering various subjects in sectors like lifestyle, technology, travel and health.
Images and infographics that provide useful information.
- Product suggestions: Reviews and suggestions for products in categories such as tech, fashion and home goods.
- Paid Discovery advertisements also appear throughout user feeds as they scroll. Ultimately, a user's Google Discover feed reflects their interests and historical activity, with a heavy emphasis on entertainment, sports, hobbies and activities.
- Users can directly shape their feed by following or unfollowing specific topics, adjusting their preferences with "show more" or "show less" options and opting to hide content from specific publishers.
Why optimize for Google Discover?
- Optimizing your content for Google Discover can have a significant influence on your online presence and overall success.
- Enhanced visibility and traffic potential
- Google Discover reaches millions of users daily, offering substantial visibility and exposure to a wider audience.
- Featured content can drive significant traffic to your website.
- Enhanced user engagement and experience
- Because content in Google Discover is personalized, it’s more likely to resonate with users, leading to higher engagement and meaningful interactions with your site.
- Additionally, with the option to follow specific publications, it can lead to more loyal return visitors.
- Potential influence on branding and audience growth
- Prominent placement on Google Search enhances brand visibility and credibility.
- As users frequently encounter your content, you build trust, loyalty and a growing audience that can help expand your brand.
Optimizing content for Google Discover
- For better performance on Google Search, concentrate on creating high-quality, engaging content that resonates with the interests of your target audience.
- The biggest shift in thinking between traditional search engine optimization and optimizing for Google Discover involved moving from targeting queries to focusing on user interests.
- Google Discover prioritizes delivering content that aligns with users' interests, even without their explicit search query or intent. Here are some tips to optimize your content for Discover.
Focus on Quality and Relevance
- Tailor your content to match the interests and preferences of your target audience, using historical data to hone your strategy. Analyze user behavior and trends to understand what subjects resonate the most.
- Ensure your content is current, relevant, and engaging to capture users' attention. Strive to offer valuable insights, solve problems, or entertain your audience.
Create helpful, trustworthy, people-first content
- Users have the ability to directly influence their feed by following or unfollowing specific topics, adjusting their preferences using "show more" or "show less" options, and choosing to hide content from specific publishers.
When self-assessing your content, some questions Google suggests asking include:
- Does the material provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?
- Is the content presented in a manner that inspires trust, such as clear sourcing, evidence of expertise, and background information about the author or publishing site, like links to an author page or the site's About page?
- Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content helpful if they came directly to you?
Optimize headlines
- Write compelling headlines that attract users to click and explore your content further.
- Use interesting language, numbers/statistics or pose questions to capture users' interest. Avoid clickbait, as this goes against Google Search guidelines.
Include visual elements and follow image guidelines
- Include visually attractive media to enhance the presentation of your content. High-resolution images and engagement videos can significantly increase user engagement and retention and are very important for appearing within Discover’s card-based UI.
- Large images at least 1,200 pixels wide and enabled by the maximum-image-preview:large settings are more likely to generate visits from Discover. Avoid using a website logo as your image.
- Balance evergreen and seasonal content Evergreen content offers long-lasting relevance and can remain valuable over time if updated regularly.
- However, with its algorithmically powered feed, Discover tends to favor up-to-date news stories, trends and event-related pieces that tap into current events and popular subjects.
Showcase expertise and building on topical authority
- Demonstrate your knowledge and authority in your field and stand out on Google Discover by providing in-depth analysis beyond surface-level information to encompasses expert commentary.
- Offer an original perspective or research that distinguishes your content from others and establish credibility by showcasing your credentials, experience or industry affiliations.
Technical optimizations for Google Discover
- To maximize your chances of appearing in Google Discover, do not forget to pay close attention to technical SEO aspects that can enhance your visibility and performance. Here are some important strategies to consider:
Implementation structured data
- Utilize schema markup to provide extra context and information about your content. Structured data types such as Article, NewsArticle, VideoObject and Breadcrumb can help Google better understand your content and demonstrate your topic authority.
- Follow Google’s guidelines for structured data implementation to ensure your markup is properly formatted, and use schema testing tools to validate your markup and fix any errors.
Optimize for mobile users.
- Because Google Discover is still mostly exclusive to mobile devices, optimizing your content and website for mobile browsing is essential.
- Utilizing a responsive website design is considered best practic for delivering a smooth experience across various devices, particularly mobile, which accounts for the majority of web traffic. Optimize images, code, and resources to reduce loading times and ensure optimal performance on mobile devices.
- Designed your content with mobile users in mind. Use clear headings, bullet points and concise paragraphs for easier readability on small screens and prioritize user experience with intuitive navigation and layout.
Improve page loading speed
- Large image files can slow down your page loading speed. To improve performance, optimize images by compressing them while preserving quality and using modern image formats such as WebP.
- Additionally, conduct routine website audits to identify and resolve performance issues. Check for outdated plugins, unnecessary scripts or other elements that might hamper your site's speed and efficiency.
Measurement performance and analytics
- The most effective way to monitor your Google Search traffic is by using Google Search Console (GSC). Within the Search Console, you can see the daily traffic your website receives from Google Discover and compare it with the traffic generated from Google Search.
You can also use GSC to:
- To access the Discover performance report, go to Google Search Console and navigate to the Discover performance section. Here, you can review how your content is performing on Google Search. You have the option to group, filter, and compare your data according to your preferences. Remember that your property must receive a minimum number of impressions to appear in the report.
- Monitor key metrics such as clicks, impressions, average click-through rate (CTR), and the content types driving the most engagement. Track traffic trends to observe fluctuations over time and assess how your content performs. Ensure your data is actionable by identifying which types of content, subjects, or formats perform best on Google Discover, and leverage that insight to shape your future content strategy.
- Analyze your data routinely for recurring patterns and seasonal trends that can inform your content calendar and publishing schedule.
- Assess audience behavior by evaluating how users interact with your content, such as which articles receive the most engagement on Discover, to refine your approach and provide more relevant content.
Leveraging Google Discover for brand visibility
- Google Discover presents an invaluable avenue for publishers and creators to multiply their reach.
- Through mindful optimization and an emphasis on creating engaging and relevant content, you can capture the attention of an expanding user base.
- Staying ahead of trends, adherence to Discover’s guidelines and maintaining a strong focus on user experience will position your content for success.
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