What is Google Discover? Why is it important? How does it work Does the emergence of Google Discover mean that Google’s search engine is going to become like social networks? Is it possible to use Google Discover for the benefit of SEO? If yes, how?
If you’re an SEO expert and you’re asked, “What’s the most important thing for Google’s search engine?”, you’ll probably answer: answering user questions with the most accurate, correct, and up-to-date information possible.
Your answer is correct but not complete. Google no longer wants to be just a responsive search engine. Google has bigger and more interesting goals and the introduction of Google Discover is the reason for this claim.
Google wants to be useful, informative, responsive, and of course interesting.
In this article, I will answer the questions that have been asked, I will fully introduce you to Google Discover and its importance for website SEO, and I will provide tricks that will help SEO experts and content creators of any website to make the most of this opportunity for website SEO.
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How to get help from Google Discover for website SEO?
Before introducing the tricks, I need to talk a little about Google Discover and its relationship with SEO. Google Discover first appeared on users’ mobile phones in 2017. At that time it was called Google Feed. Google Feed only browsed the contents of news websites and displayed the latest news related to each user’s interests.
Less than a year later, Google Feed gave way to Google Discover. Discover had a different design and user interface and was no longer limited to news content and could show any type of content from any website to the user.
The important point was that the user did not search on Google to reach that content. Google itself, without searching for the user and based on the information and data collected from each user’s online behavior, suggested the content that it thought each user needed and was interested in.
Upon hearing this news about Discover, digital marketers, content production experts, site managers, and SEO experts were happy and excited. They had found a free tool that could bring their brand and products to interested users and grow organic website traffic.
In other words, Google Discover allowed them to reach a large number of users and potential customers and drag them to the website.
This is why Google Discover is valuable and important for site SEO experts and digital marketers, and creating content for Google Discover has become a vital part of the SEO and marketing strategy of various websites, especially store websites.
What is Google Discover?
Discover Google is a personalized content feed that Google curates and displays to mobile users who have the Google app or Chrome installed.
Discover is available on Android or iOS phones and tablets that use the Google app or Chrome. Google Discover is an artificial intelligence-based feature that prioritizes mobile users and allows them to follow websites or topics based on their interests.
In addition, Discover’s artificial intelligence examines all the online behavior of each user and his search history to know him better and based on them, he finds areas and topics that he likes and is attractive to him, and then suggests related content.
In Google Discover, all types of content (news, blog posts, videos, photos, etc.) are displayed on topics related to the interest of each user, including technology, sports, politics, music, media, marketing, etc.
Google defines Discover as:
Discover is a part of Google Search that shows people content related to their interests, based on their Web and App Activity.
How does Google Discover work?
Although Discover is part of Google’s search engine, it is not search-oriented. It means that the user does not go to search for something in Google Discover. It is Google and Discover that suggest content to the user.
The user’s need does not make him search on Google, Google itself goes to the user and offers the content that it thinks he may need.
Discover works similarly to the algorithm of social networks and based on the user’s interaction with the posts, it displays related posts and content.
So, Discover does not work with search and user needs and is not question-oriented. Rather, it has a system that monitors each user’s past and present interactions and behaviors with machine learning models (algorithms) to get to know him and learn what areas and topics are interesting to him.
The goal of the system and algorithms is to collect and display the most relevant content to each user’s interests from the web.
Discover’s primary focus is on the user and based on any data and information it can obtain from you, including.
- Search History
- Browser history
- Activity in different applications (App activity) and
- Geography (where you live or work)
It identifies your interests and offers you content related to them.
Look at the image below. Is it other than that the owner of this Google Discover site is interested in SEO, artificial intelligence, and programming and has already searched about various topics in those fields? Discover probably also knows his job. You can also guess. Maybe he is an SEO expert or a programmer.
Why was Google Discover created?
Using insights gathered from user data, Discover has pushed the search engine toward “question-free search.” It seems that Google has replaced the knowledge of the interests and needs of individual users with the knowledge of the general needs of users in each field.
Google has long stated that improving the user experience and creating a satisfying interaction for its users is a priority. Google is not just looking to improve the user experience of the Google search engine, but focusing on improving the user experience is one of the most important SEO trends and techniques in 2024.
Of course, as search engine journal said, Discover is creating a new experience for mobile users:
Google Discover is a mobile experience that helps users find information they didn’t know they needed.
In other words, Google Discover shows that the Google search engine has changed its strategy and has put the prediction of users’ needs on its agenda.
This claim is proven by the daily evolution of Google Discover. Since 2018, new features have been added to it and its algorithms have improved to increase the connection between the content that it shows to each user daily and topics of interest to them. Discover’s development uses advanced artificial intelligence technologies to better understand user behavior patterns and predict their information needs more accurately.
This change in Google’s strategy both improves the user experience and provides a new way for businesses, digital marketers, content producers, and SEO professionals to communicate effectively and meaningfully with target audiences.
Why is Google Discover important for SEO?
Digital marketing trends are always important and decisive for site SEO experts and for formulating SEO strategies. Trends guide SEO experts on where and how they can increase website traffic. No online business can properly and effectively brand itself without SEO. Because site SEO is necessary for branding.
For online businesses and marketing and SEO professionals, this number means that.
First, the website must be fully optimized for mobile users
Second, it is necessary to produce content that will find its way to Google Discover to increase the organic traffic of the website.
Therefore, the job of an SEO expert has become more difficult than before. Creating content for Discover means creating content for the interest and taste of each user. Is such a thing possible? Is it possible to optimize the website and its contents for Google Discover?
Yes, it can. It is only necessary for the SEO expert to change his way of thinking and in addition to complying with all the principles and standards of content SEO, he should also follow the following tricks.
9 tricks to use Discover for the benefit of SEO
The website and its contents can be optimized for Google Discover. The site’s SEO expert should dedicate a separate and new section to Google Discover in the SEO strategy. Google Discover wants to produce its content.
There are no keywords and tools like KWFinder with the help of which the SEO expert can find the interest of each business/website target user and create content for them.
SEO specialists and the marketing team of every business need to proceed based on the following tricks, create content and try to reach Discover.
Of course, it is important to note that all site SEO standards must still be followed; In other words,
The website must be mobile-first and responsive and designed based on technical SEO standards.
All pages, especially blog pages, should be AMP (accelerated mobile pages).
Content production for user needs, keywords, and ranking in Google search results will continue.
Create special content for Google Discover.
1. Focus on the user, not their questions
“This personalized search engine” no longer deals with keywords and user queries. The user himself, his taste, job, place of residence, habits, the brands he buys from, and his interests are a priority for Discover.
Therefore, you should spend time and research and try to find not only the persona of the website’s audience but also try to get to know every user as much as possible.
The store website SEO expert may even need to prepare questionnaires or ask questions to individual customers in different ways to find out their interesting and favorite topics.
Find and target user interest areas, not keywords.
The answer to this key question must be found: “Why do my users and customers need and show interest in my products and services?”.
For example, it is natural that the customers of the online store of mountaineering and camping equipment are interested in nature tourism, nature, mountains, pristine places, excitement, or sports; They need and buy climbing equipment.
So, the SEO expert of this website should produce content for mountain or exciting activities and sports (note, not the keyword mountain or the keyword excitement).
2. Find entities
Mountain, nature, nature tourism, pristine places, and exciting sports are not keywords, each is an independent entity. Any topic you consider is related to a set of other topics and concepts. Just like the example mentioned.
Mountaineering gear is related to climbing, mountaineer, nature tourism, mountains, and many other independent topics, concepts, and things. To create content for Google Discover, you need to find entities that share the interests of users and your products and services and create content for them.
Related topics and concepts usually include:
- entertainment,
- activities,
- People (politicians, celebrities, athletes, models, etc.),
- Places,
- events,
- Products,
For those who buy mountaineering equipment, the topics and content about the world’s great mountaineers, or the news of events that are held in connection with climbing or conquering the world’s famous peaks, or proper nutrition for mountaineers, are interesting and readable.
Also, tools can be used to find independent and related things. entityexplorer is one of the best tools for this. Just give it a topic or a keyword and it will deliver all the words, concepts, and topics related to it in the form of a mind map.
3. Surf the trends
In any field where the website is active, you can use relevant trends and hot topics to create content. Look at Google Discover through the eyes of a newspaper. It should contain the most important news and events in the world in any field.
You should generate content about each trend related to one of the identified entities so that you can use that flow for the benefit of your website and business.
For example, consider the Hamster Combat Telegram game. For several days, there was talk of this game everywhere. Those few days were a golden opportunity for websites that operate in the field of cryptocurrencies and trading to reach interested users on Google Discover by producing content about hamsters.
4. Produce engaging and intriguing content with catchy headlines
There is another important difference between creating content for Discover and creating content for a website blog: in blog posts, it is important to provide complete and comprehensive answers to users’ questions about a specific topic (the keyword or phrase that is searched for). Content should be informative and up-to-date.
But the content produced for Discover must be attractive first of all. The user’s questions are not supposed to be answered in the contents of Discover. Because he did not ask a question that the content is the answer to.
The purpose of Discover’s content is not to inform. Discover is supposed to inform the user about interesting things. Discover’s content is news content. Discover content should be interesting to make the user search for a product or service or click on a link.
That is why the titles of the content that are produced for Discover should be very attractive and catchy so that the user is encouraged to click on your content and not other content that appeared in his Discover.
5. Produce quality, relevant and useful content
Discover content should be interesting and attractive, but not poor quality and irrelevant. Indeed, Google Discover does not work like Google’s search engine. But it is completely loyal to Google’s standards.
Discover does not display low-quality content that has no value for the user and is not useful or invalid and incorrect. The content produced for Google Discover should also meet the four criteria of E-E-A-T.
That is, a website that sells climbing equipment cannot produce merely attractive content to reach Discover, in which it is falsely claimed that climbing cures all kinds of diseases or is good for diabetic patients and also puts the title “climbing cures all pains”.
The content that is produced for Discover must be related to both an Entity and the field of business or website to which it is linked. In addition, it should provide the user with useful and correct information and news about a specific topic (for example, the hamster game).
6. Only post large, high-quality photos
In the Discover feed, the user sees a title, a photo, the name of the website, and a number (how many hours or days ago the article was published). Most of the time, he decides whether to click on the content or not based on the title and photo. Therefore, attractive, large, and high-quality photos are essential for Discover content.
The best way to boost content in Discover is to use large, high-quality images that are at least 1,200px wide and set to max-image-preview: large.
It is better not to use a website or business logo for Discover photos.
7. be honest
Do not lie, exaggerate, or create controversy in the content you produce for Discover. By the way, contrary to what it seems, Google Discover does not like exaggeration and controversy at all.
Discover loves trends, but not because they’re controversial. Because users pay attention to current issues and want to know more about them.
So, stay away from the margins and news and yellow content. Attract users’ attention in Discover with creativity, not exaggeration. If Google finds that your website is publishing fake news, you will be penalized.
8. Produce video content
Videos are highly visible on Google Discover. Google likes visual content and has shown this interest in search results in recent years. In Discover, like search results, YouTube videos are displayed.
Promote your business YouTube channel or website. Produce engaging and useful videos for independent and related topics and concepts. Of course, remember that YouTube videos also need SEO.
9. be quick
Google Discover is more or less like a newspaper. If you want to use the potential of Discover for the benefit of SEO, you need to create content quickly. This is especially true about exploiting trends.
Trends attract the attention of users for a short period and soon give way to other trends. Of course, remember that you shouldn’t sacrifice quality for speed.
You don’t have to create content for all related trends. If you can take advantage of a few trends, you will get significant traffic from Discover for the website.