A How question

How does an SEO company optimize for Google Discover?

2 min read Cites 2 sources

By making your content eligible and appealing, not by targeting it. Discover shows people content related to their interests without them searching, so there is no keyword to rank for. Google’s guide to Discover and your website explains that content “is automatically eligible to appear in Discover if it is indexed by Google and meets Discover’s content policies”, and that “No special tags or structured data are required.” An SEO company’s work is therefore to keep content indexable and within those policies, improve the images and headlines Discover shows, and publish the kind of content it favors, while being clear that eligibility does not guarantee appearance.

What the company can influence

Google’s image guidance for Discover is specific. It recommends large, high-quality images that are at least 1200 pixels wide, with more than 300,000 total pixels and a 16×9 aspect ratio, enabled through the max-image-preview:large setting, and a representative image specified in the page’s markup rather than a generic one such as a logo. A company should check that your templates allow large previews and that each article specifies a suitable image.

Headlines and previews need to be honest. Google’s guidance warns against clickbait that inflates engagement with misleading or exaggerated details in the title, snippet, or image, and against sensationalism that plays on morbid curiosity, titillation, or outrage; it asks for titles that capture the essence of the content.

The content itself carries the rest. Google says Discover uses many of the same signals and systems as Search to judge helpful, people-first content, and the guidance favors content that is timely, tells a story well, or offers unique insight. Some formats are held back: the guide says Discover might not recommend job applications, petitions, forms, code repositories, or satirical content without any context, and that beyond SafeSearch it filters out content that might be seen as shocking or unexpected.

What it cannot control

Google states plainly that “being eligible to appear in Discover is not a guarantee of appearing.” The guide names three reasons Discover traffic shifts: readers’ interests change, Discover adjusts the types of content it shows, and updates to Google Search can sometimes produce traffic changes in Discover. A company that promises Discover traffic is promising something it does not control.

Measuring it and setting expectations

Search Console keeps Discover separate: its Performance report help notes that “Separate Performance reports are available for traffic originating from Google Search, News, and Discover.” Read that report on its own rather than folded into search figures. Google describes it as “less predictable or dependable when compared to keyword-driven search visits” and advises treating it as “supplemental to your keyword-driven search traffic.” A sensible plan treats Discover as a bonus on top of search, not as a channel to depend on.

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