Google Discover: Get Your Content In and Be More Visible!

Would you like the content you share on your website to be noticed by a wider audience in a short time? Thanks to Google Discover, you will be able to do this easily. This algorithm, formerly called Google Feed, has now received a new name that mobile users often encounter: Google Discover.

When users enter the Google browser, just before they make their queries, they come across a lot of content that Google points to and say: “hey, you should check this too”. The Discover page attracts more and more people every year. According to a study, the number of users who entered various content using Google Discover last year is exactly 800 million.

Google Discover: Getting Your Content In It!
Google Discover: Getting Your Content In It!

But what does that mean? What exactly does this algorithm pay attention to? And of course, what exactly is Google Discover? Let’s find the answers to all these questions together with the help of Screpy experts!

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What is Google Discover?

Google Discover is an algorithm used to improve the browsing experience of individuals using mobile devices. The main thing that this algorithm does is to suggest content that users think they might be interested in, even though they do not directly indicate this in any way.

But how?

Of course, not surprisingly, the search activities of the users, the data collected from the user’s device within the user’s permission, every information obtained within the framework of internet surfing behaviors determines who and what Google will recommend.

For example, knowing where the user is located through the device, examining the location settings, browsing the downloaded web files and applications, greatly affects what content Google offers to each individual to “discover”.

The main feature of Google Discover is that it generally provides you with up-to-date content, in addition to the most basic content (can be called evergreen contents in some sources) related to your interests. The latest uploaded content that interests you, in other words, “fresh out of the oven” that can be called “hot“, can take place more in Google Discover.

Users can easily find content that suits their interests through Google Discover, without having to search.

What Type of Contents Are Placed in Google Discover?

When you think of hot content, you can think of many things. Blog contents? Is it fun-themed content? Sponsored content?

No, the truth is, Google Discover is about all of these.

Indeed, firstly, it deals directly with newsworthy content. This means that websites with News records have a much higher chance of being on Google Discover. While browsing here, you will often come across websites such as Fox NEWS, CNN. Well, that’s what Discover does: give users what’s relevant in the news.

Discover added Web Stories to the feed last year, in 2020. The fact that this structure is particularly suitable for mobile device use may have further enhanced the user experience.

What Type of Contents Are Placed in Google Discover?
What Type of Contents Are Placed in Google Discover?

But of course, it does not mean that you can get your blog website to Google Discover. According to the researches, the contents listed in Google Discover are as follows:

  • 46 percent of the content is counted directly from the websites with news registration.
  • 44 percent of content encourages users to shop directly and is available from e-commerce sites.
  • 7 percent of the content is provided from sites for entertainment purposes.
  • 2 percent of the contents are listed from sites related to traveling.
  • The remaining one percent provides content in a very wide category, from education to finance, automotive to health.

The Main Logic of Google Discover

For several years, Google has been improving their internet experience with the following understanding: The only way to give people what they want to see on the internet is not to give them what they write in the search bar on the SERP. Now, every move that individuals make in the world shows what kind of culture they are in and what interests them.

So the world is the best way to understand user intent. As long as we can explore the real world, we can discover users’ intentions. That’s exactly why Google recommends content based on users’ activity (which are accessible) in the world, not just their activity in the search bar.

Research shows that the text is less important -but still important- than the visual in the content that appears on Google Discover. The main purpose is of course to provide accurate information, but it is important for Google that it is interesting enough and encouraging people to access.

  • One more thing: just like SERP pages, Google Discover pages are completely personal. Searching for a hotel in a particular region for a honeymoon vacation may cause a person to see an up-to-date news about vacation statistics in the summer on Google Discover. So when you exit Google Discover, you meet a user who is truly ready to convert.
  • It can be seen that there are special content called evergreen content in Google Discover. Speaking to Google’s words, these are content that is not new to the internet world, but may be new to you. For example, content such as “8 Essential Tips for Photograpy” can also be found in Google Discover quite easily.
  • Google Discover also allows tracking of post types with specific themes. As below, you can see the word “Follow” on the side after clicking on the category to which any content belongs.
Main features of Google Discover
Main features of Google Discover
  • A large number of content can be found on Discover via video content platforms such as Youtube. So, Google can also suggest a video directly to you.
  • Google Discover recommends content in more than one language for users whose searches and language usage is in more than one language. Yes, you heard it right: there are no limitations in this matter. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that both English and Spanish contents are listed one under the other.
Multi language feature of Google Discover
Multi language feature of Google Discover
  • Finally, Google Discover is listed at the bottom of the search bar on each user’s www.google.com page. No need for extra application. It is just in Google.

How to Succeed in Google Discover – Getting Your Site to Google Discover

So, if you want to make your content more visible by entering Google Discover, what kind of optimization should you do? We will talk about the subject with you today.

Content is The King

Of course, the first thing that matters is that a content is comprehensive, satisfying, powerful and strong enough. Google cares about this not only for SERP but also for Discover.

Engaging content is very important at this point. At the same time, it is possible to say that the content that makes clickbait to get hits is marked as quite problematic by Google.

Content optimization
Content optimization

High quality content requires two main things:

  1. SEO compatibility: Actually, this is mostly about the user experience you provide. For example, the presence of title tags such as H1, H2 in your content, the enrichment of your content using various additional structures (eg listings), the presence of many images or graphics in the content increase your SEO compatibility score. These also show that you are creating rich, useful, traceable content for the user.
  2. Readability: It is important that the users do not constantly encounter keywords while reading your content, the titles, keywords and basic details are distributed homogeneously in the flow, and the sentences in the content are easily understandable. Short, understandable and non-contradictory sentences.

Content Optimization Never Ends

Google Discover wants to show users the best content in their field. That’s why you have to make sure that the content you write is the best content amongst your competitors. If you are writing for a specific product or service and want to go to Google Discover as an e-commerce site, of course your competitor will be less. But if you are producing evergreen content or you want to convey a very up-to-date breaking news to the users in the most accurate way, you will have a lot of competitors on the internet.

So here’s what you need to do:

  1. Do not go beyond the basic issue.
  2. Give the most accurate information.
  3. Offer the most detailed content compared to your competitors in the industry.
  4. Refer to the core point often.
  5. Answer readers’ questions.
  6. Also reference and answer possible questions that readers may ask.
  7. Detail what you explain with text using images, graphics, and videos.

While doing all these, of course, you should constantly check your competitors and identify the remaining features from them. Remember: Optimization is a never-ending process.

Here are a few important points:

  1. A strong headline – But don’t do clickbait!
  2. Content compatible with the title
  3. Subheadings compatible with the title
  4. High quality featured images and intermediate images

Use Graphics and Images – But High Quality Ones!

Google Discover cares that the content is rich enough visually and graphically. There are two things to be aware of:

Image optimization
Image optimization
  1. Use of a large number of visuals, videos and similar content
  2. The high quality of these ingredients used
  3. All of these details are important to us. Therefore, do not forget to optimize your optimization in this direction.

Google Has Strict Content Policies

We do not expect content that does not comply with Google’s content policies to be recommended by Google, do we?

Well, sure.

Google Content Policies and Google Discover
Google Content Policies and Google Discover

Google basically demands that you meet two key criteria in terms of Page Quality (PQ) and Needs Met (NM). Read these policies in detail and make sure your content meets them. Let’s give you some information about what quality content should have first of all:

  1. Content should not be duplicate.
  2. The content should not be spam.
  3. Placement of the content on the page should be set so that the user can see / access / read it.

If you want higher visibility, you need to pay attention to these for both your SEO score and the likelihood of appearing on Google Discover.

Accelerated Mobile Pages and Mobile Responsive Web Design

For Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs), you need to optimize the pagespeed of your web page: but it’s important to do this for mobile devices. There are many factors affecting mobile pagespeed. First of all, you have to make sure that your site has a mobile responsive design.

Accelerated Mobile Pages and Google Discover
Accelerated Mobile Pages and Google Discover

When users enter your site on screens of different sizes, they should not encounter a misleading and disturbing experience. Instead, the appearance should be loaded quite easily and the browsing quality should be increased thanks to a theme that is easily scaled to the mobile device used. Because Google Discover is specifically about mobile experience, mobile compatibility is a very valuable criterion. You can take a look at the mobile-first indexing content to better understand the importance given by Google to the mobile experience.

Structured Data and Google Schemas

There is no exact data that structured data affects your SEO score. Of course, this also applies to your possibility of being shown on Google Discover. However, structured data allows you to speak the language of the search engine and therefore showcase the content you share more richly. So it might be a good idea to mark your content with various Google Schemas codes.

Using Structured Data for Being More Visible in Google Discover
Using Structured Data for Being More Visible in Google Discover

Try Using Google Search Console to See Your Discover Performance

Do you know that Screpy will soon be integrated with Google Search Console? You can also get information about the Google Discover performance of your website through Search Console. How many clicks did your content get after it went to Discover, what exactly did this traffic do, what were the conversion rates of this traffic? You can get information about all these issues.

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Discover and Getting Your Site in It!

We examined the working principle of Google Discover in detail. We will now try to answer the most frequently asked questions about this algorithm.

FAQ

Is Google discover available on desktop?

No, Discover service is not provided on desktop. This is an algorithm that works purely to improve the mobile experience.

Only news in Google Discover?

No, there are a wide range of content groups from evergreen content to Youtube videos.

How do I appear on Google Discover?

In order to be visible there, it is important to have rich content, support with visuals and videos, use structured data markup, and have a mobile-compatible web page. Check above for more detailed information.

There was a sudden traffic spike on my site, what is the reason?

The fact that Google shows your web page in Discover can cause you to experience a sudden and unexpected traffic spike. You can use Google Search Console to analyze this traffic.

What’s the difference between Google Discover and Google News?

It is like a listing in Google Discover that can also contain news that may be associated with the user. Google News, on the other hand, refers to all content found with the news registration on Google. There may be a lot of content other than news on Google Discover: travel content, shopping contents, evergreen contents, videos, etc.

Is there a Google Discover app?

No. Simply put, Google Discover is the area shown under the search bar on the www.google.com page on mobile devices. There is no separate app for this.

Are there ads on Google Discover?

Yes. Since May 2019, Google Discover has been making money from this area with the services it offers under the name of Discovery Ads. Ads can be published on Discover as well as on other services of Google. Check out Google’s advertising options for more.

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