What is Google Discovery?
Google Discover is a platform launched by Google in 2018 that algorithmically presents content based on user behavior, interests, and search history. In Discover, the content stream is displayed only based on the user's interests and without entering any query. Discover, a product of the search engine Google, works on the basis of displaying personalized content, more like a social media platform.
Although we are used to seeing Discover on mobile devices, Google recently announced that we will now be able to see Discover on desktop devices as well.
It’s important to remember that Google Discover’s focus is always on the user. The platform automatically delivers personalized content based on the user’s:
Search history
Browser history
Application effectiveness
Location history and settings (depending on Google account settings)
Followed topics
SEO and Google Discovery
The importance of Google Discover for SEO is undeniable. Discover is a platform where any website, not just news sites, can increase their visibility and gain significant organic traffic.
Let’s take a deeper look at what Google Discover means for SEO and how you can leverage its potential, as it delivers content based on users’ interests, bypassing the need for a personalized feed and search queries.
How can we outperform on Discover?
There are some points we need to consider in order to get more overseas chinese in europe data visibility and traffic on the Discover side. Let's examine the steps you can take to increase the chances of your content finding a place on this platform using Google documents .
Quality, Interesting and Trendy Content Production
The Discover area is shaped by trends. Therefore, it is important not to miss trends. Creating original and interesting content that provides value to users is another important point. Content that can attract the attention of the target audience should be produced using different content types such as articles, videos, images, tables and lists.
Titles, snippets or images should not contain misleading or exaggerated details to increase appeal. Important information should not be intentionally withheld to create suspense. In short, keep titles descriptive.
As a footnote: It has been observed that the “open graph title” structure also affects the Discover side . In other words, it is possible for the title you use in the open graph title structure to be seen on the Discover side.
Avoid Clickbait
Google also states in its own documentation that the use of 'clickbait' should be avoided.
“Use page titles that capture the essence of the content but are not clickbait.”
Considering that we write content for real users and produce it for their benefit, we do not encounter this problem in the titles we create.
Image and Video Optimization
When using high-quality images and videos in content, it is important to add appropriate alternative text and descriptions. Using descriptive text not only for alt texts but also for file names will contribute to your image optimization.
Google explains the use of images that can help get listed in Discovery as follows:
“Include engaging, high-quality images in your content, especially large images, which are more likely to attract visitors from Explore. Large images must be at least 1200px wide and enabled with max-image-preview:large or using AMP . Avoid using a site logo in your image.”
According to this explanation, you can check the images for your important content. If the width value is not 1,200 pixels, you can edit your images according to this suggestion.
If we need to detail the use of max-image-preview; If you do not want Google to use larger thumbnails when AMP pages and the standard version of an article are served in Search or Discover, you can specify standard or none as the max-image-preview value.
An example usage:
<meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard">
Thanks to this usage, small images will be transferred to the large size on the right, that is, the full-width image, as in the screenshot below. It is stated that there are those who have experienced that this process increases the click-through rate by two or three times.
For your hero images, it is recommended to use a 16:9 aspect ratio.
EEAT
The credibility of the content is very important for the user. Providing information about the publication, publisher and/or the company behind it in your content will make your content stronger in terms of EEAT . Content that is strong in terms of EEAT is also more likely to be listed in Discover.
You may also consider adding the author's contact information for added trust and transparency.
However, it would be correct to clearly state the publication and update dates on the content page.
Structured Data Markups
Using structured data markup in your content will help search engines better understand the context of our content.
Indicating various information such as author information and content publication dates, which we mentioned in the previous article, using structured data markups will also be an added bonus to content quality.
Content Update
To keep the content relevant and up-to-date, updates and innovations should be made regularly. Especially updating evergreen content will have a positive impact on your performance. An example graph after the update on evergreen content is as follows.
For example, let's say we have a news site. If we created content about the minimum wage increase in 2023, we need to update our content according to the change that will be made in 2024.
Using Knowledge Graph
Users can only follow your brand/website in Discover if it is featured as a knowledge graph.
In this way, your users will be more aware of your content if they follow the site.
Additionally: Discover performance is positively correlated with social media performance. Therefore, increasing your social media engagement will positively impact your Discover performance.
Although there is no “direct” method to be listed in Discover, we have mentioned the improvements that can contribute to this. With these improvements, you will be able to increase your performance on the Discover side as you will increase the quality of your content.
Performance Measurement
Once you've developed your content, you may want to evaluate how it's performing on the Discover side.
In Google Search Console, you can only observe the performance of content in Discover under the Discover heading.
