Google Discover: How to Use It for SEO

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What is Google Discover?
Google Discover is a Google service that presents the latest news to smartphone and tablet users . These are located below the search field, and each contains a large image, a title, and a preview or description.

Screenshot with Google search function and two Google Discover cards
Google Discover cards appear below the search field
Google Discover is an evolution of the older Google News Feed , though Discover can include content from any web page, not just news sites. Originally, Google Discover only worked on Android devices, but it can now be used on Apple iOS devices as well.

Note
Google Discover can be easily turned on or off on your smartphone or tablet. On Android systems, open the Google app and go to “More” and “Settings” at the bottom. In the “General” section, you will find a slider that restaurants email database you can use to turn Google Discover on or off.

Google Discover vs. traditional Google search: what are the differences?
Google's traditional search function and Discover complement each other . However, they are different concepts based on the same technical principles. In theory, Google Discover considers all content on websites that Google's search engine has indexed. Both Google's search engine and Google Discover focus on user benefit: users should be presented with content that is most useful to them.

While Google search engines allow users to actively enter one or more search terms, Google Discover works the other way around: Google actively suggests content that may be of interest to users . Discover works in much the same way as other news channels, more or less like social media, except that Google's algorithm decisively decides on the content of the feed and that active user input is not absolutely necessary.

Note
If you go to “Settings” and then “Interests” in the Google app on your phone, you can add or hide your personal interests. This helps Google Discover select content that is more tailored to your interests. The prerequisite is that you have activated the “Web & App Activity” section in your Google account. This will save your activity on websites and apps within your Google account.

The big question with regard to Google Discover is, too, which criteria Google uses to suggest which content to which users and when . Since Google keeps its algorithms and the number, type and weighting of the individual parameters secret and constantly adjusts them, there is no generally valid answer to this question. In any case, Google also bases its assessment of user interests for Discover primarily on search data, location and information voluntarily provided by the user.

Advice
If you want to know how Google and Google Search have evolved since their inception, check out our article “ The Evolution of Google Search .”

SEO for Google Discover: On which websites does it make sense?
Google Discover does not collect content from all websites, but rather follows relatively strict selection criteria: Discover primarily targets large websites with many individual pages that meet higher standards of expertise, competence and trustworthiness. In this context, Google created SEO guidelines in 2018 with the acronym EAT ( Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness ), which apply to both the traditional Google search engine and the Discover function. As practice shows, Google Discover relatively frequently contains content from news sites, magazines or specialist media, which Google assumes enjoy a high level of trust among users.

The question that many small website operators inevitably ask themselves is: Is it worth the effort to optimise a website with Google Discover in mind? In many cases, the answer to this question will be negative. If, for example, you have a small, static website with only a few pages on which new, high-quality content does not appear regularly, you do not have to worry about Google Discover or take any action in this regard. In this case, it is sufficient to regularly do your homework in the field of SEO and to be aware of the basics of search engine optimisation . You can also find basic information on SEO terms in our SEO lexicon .