Introducing Google Discover, the best window for the search engine to recommend your website

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If you're planning your SEO strategies just to rank your site in search results, you may be missing out on a new space to explore.

Following its main objective, to provide people with the best usage of our employment database experience , Google created a content source that, based on their interests, shows new pages to users without having to resort to the search engine.

This new feature is called Google Discover and offers great opportunities for those who want to get more results with Google.

And when we say more results, we mean that without any major optimizations, our blog got over 7K clicks in just one month, plus over 100K new impressions in 3 months.

We want you to be able to make the most of this tool too, and that is why, in this article, we will tell you all the secrets about it so that you can use it in your SEO strategies.

Keep reading!

What is Google Discover?
Google Discover is a Google mobile feature that offers users content based on their interests, without necessarily having to perform a search.

Image discover1.gif
Google has always been reactive so far, right? The user types in a keyword and only then does the search engine offer links as an answer in the search results pages (SERPs).

This Google service remains the same. Only now the search engine wants to improve the user experience with an active and predictive attitude.

The goal is to anticipate search intent and suggest content that is highly likely to be liked by users.

To this end, Google created a feed called Google Discover, which serves as a hub for content of interest to users . It was launched in 2018, in line with the changes announced by the search engine for its next 20 years .

One of them was to change the classic search mode to a way of obtaining information without the need for queries.

That is, the search engine is now proactive in offering relevant content to users, even when they do not have a specific search in mind. Google Discover is therefore the symbol of this new direction.

Before that, in 2017, Google Feed had already been launched , which also featured relevant content and news. Later, this feature was refined, new types of content were added, it was given a new name and look and became Google Discover.

With this, Google goes far beyond being a simple search tool and begins to offer new content discovery experiences.

How does Google Discover work?
You might be wondering: where is this resource that I've never seen before? If you search on desktop you won't find it, as Google Discover is only available on mobile devices.

From your smartphone you can access Google Discover in three ways:

via the Google app (Android and iOS);
by the browser with the URL google.com;
On some devices, swipe right on the home screen.
In the bottom menu, you'll find a tab called Discover, represented by an asterisk symbol. This is where the feed is located.

You can scroll through the feed just like on social media . Content is displayed in cards, consisting of an image, title, initial section, source and publication date.

By tapping the card, the user is directed to the content page. See the example below:


The content that appears in the feed is generally current, with posts from a few hours or days ago. But Google can also show older content that makes sense to the user.

Additionally, Discover content can also include videos , sports scores, weather, stock prices, music festival attractions, movie releases, and many more. For each piece of content, Google will choose the most appropriate format.

But how does Google know what your interests are and what content you would like to receive? Simply because Google knows everything you search for in its search engine!

All of these searches represent problems that have been present in your life and that Google understands are relevant to you.

But that's not all, if you allow it , Google can access a wealth of information about your interactions on the Internet.

Here's what Google may use to personalize Google Discover content :

web and app activities, including Google search usage, Chrome history, activity on websites, apps, and devices that use Google services, audio and voice recordings, contact data for devices;
location history and settings, including places you’ve been, as well as your home and work locations.
With this information, the algorithms determine, in a completely personalized way, what content should appear in Google Discover for each user.

Google also understands that it doesn't always get it right. Therefore, the app relies on user collaboration to create a more relevant content feed. To do this, there are several options to customize your feed.


On the app page, you can tell Google what kind of content you want to receive, and you can also tell Google what topics interest you.

For certain topics you search on Google, the search engine displays a “follow” button. If you click on it, you will start receiving content related to that topic.

We use as an example a search for "recipes", for which Google displays a selection of "Interesting discoveries". By expanding this section, we can see suggestions of Google Discover articles on the topic.

The app also offers the option to manage interests, so you can see all the topics you're following and choose whether to hide any of them.


Why optimize content for Google Discover?
So, now you know how Google Discover works. As a user, you can take advantage of the app's suggestions, but as a marketing professional, did you realize that you can leverage this feature in your SEO strategies?

Being featured in Google Discover is another opportunity to increase the visibility of your pages and generate more organic traffic to your site.

The reach potential is huge: when Google Discover launched, the official announcement said that Google Feed already had 800 million monthly users.

HubSpot reports that some sites saw spikes in mobile access in 2019. Upon investigating the reason, they realized that much of the source of the access was Google Discover.

In the case of Vogue's website, for example, hits through Discover even outpaced traffic through organic search.

On our own blog, we have already seen content that was published just a few hours ago start to appear in our top 10 most visited content in real time. And this has already happened with news, complete guides and various other types of formats.

In addition, one of the features that Google Discover is making is that it is fully optimized for mobile devices. With the constant growth in the use of mobile devices, accesses through the application are expected to increase.

Another advantage of optimizing content for Discover is that the app creates a closer relationship with the user. Let’s explain it further.

Google search is only used when the user has a demand and wants to ask a question.

Google Discover, on the other hand, is not triggered by an immediate need, but rather the user goes there to scroll through the feed, discover new content and get informed, as if they were on a social network.

Therefore, using this feature can become a habit and generate more loyalty in the user. If your pages appear in their feed, your brand will be associated with this habit and will always be present in the person's daily life .

Of course, to do that, you must always have relevant content for the user and offer a good experience on your site, so that they want your pages to continue appearing in the feed. That's what we're going to talk about now.

How to optimize your pages for Google Discover?
Google's search engine has been studied by market experts for a long time. That's why we've already discovered many ranking factors and learned various ways to optimize pages with SEO.

On the other hand, very little is known about Google Discover. The initiative is relatively new, having appeared in 2018 and gained more relevance in 2019.

Brands are beginning to realize its potential, while some studies are beginning to be carried out to understand Google's recommendation criteria.

What we do know, and what Google itself reveals on this page , is that the Discover feed is assembled and classified with content that the search engine understands to be relevant to each user.

Therefore, we understand that to optimize your Content Marketing strategy for Google Discover , the key is to produce relevant content with the user in mind.

Essentially, your content needs to answer questions and align with your buyer persona ’s interests . It also needs to follow Google’s guidelines, which prioritize the quality of the user experience and condemn black hat practices .

Nothing different from what we always talk about when it comes to SEO strategies, right? If you're already doing it to position yourself well in the SERPs, take advantage and do it for Discover too.

The difference here is that Google will anticipate the search intent and bring the answer even before the user asks the question .

Either way, there are some specific guidelines to improve your chances of appearing in users' feeds, which were the ones we used to achieve all the results mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Below we'll share some tips for optimizing for Google Discover. Keep reading!

Use high quality images
This is a recommendation from Google itself. On the Google Discover support page , there are only two guidelines for better performance:

produce relevant content;
use high resolution images.
This is because Google selects an image to compose the page card in the feed. But it may appear highlighted or in thumbnail, depending on the resolution used by the page.

According to the search engine, using large images instead of thumbnails on the card leads to a 5% increase in click-through rate, 3% increase in time spent on pages, and 3% increase in user satisfaction.

So, to enable large images in the Google Discover feed, you need to:

use high-resolution images (at least 1200 pixels);
grant Google the right to display your image to users (use AMP format or fill out this form).
Optimize your pages for mobile devices
Google Discover is only available on mobile devices.

Have you ever imagined that your post is suggested by Discover but no one can read it because it doesn't fit the screen? This is detrimental to the user experience.