Google Discover is the name given to the content feed that appears on Google’s mobile home page. As SEO Manchester we know it is automatically generated for you by Google and is based on your online activity in order to present you with a highly personalised feed based on the topics it believes you are interested in, such as football or marketing.
Many SEO agencies Manchester view it as more of a social media site than a search engine, but it is important to remember that Google bases it on your search history and activity, in order to ensure it is not only timely but relevant to you as well.
You may not realise this, but many people see Google Discover on their mobiles every day, and it has actually become a reliable source of traffic for many websites since its introduction back in 2018. It seems to work particularly well for news and media outlets for example, with many of them saying that they now receive a lot of their Organic traffic from Google Discover.
Google Discover is still something of the unknown for many business owners though.
How does Google Discover generate your feed?
To really understand SEO, you need to know how search engines work, and the same can be said for Google Discover. Google themselves have said that they use:
- Your activity across all Google products
- Your location history
- Your location settings
- Topics you follow
to generate your feed.
It should come as no surprise then that people feel it is more of a social network, as it not only reflects your interests and hobbies but everything else that is relevant to you as well. Google has even allowed it to be personalised to the point where it takes into account not only how important a topic is to you, but your level of expertise in it as well.
From a business owner’s point of view, what this means is if there is a demand for your content and you can send the right signals about it to Google, you will start to drive Discover clicks from people who are already interested in what you are talking about. This gives it a huge benefit over social media, where your content tends to be put in front of people who may not be interested in what you have to say.
How can you drive Google Discover Traffic?
Having said all that, we advise you don’t spend too much time trying to chase Google Discover traffic unless you are already really far down the road with your SEO Campaign. In fact, the majority of businesses would be much better off continuing to focus on their Organic traffic instead, unless you run a news site.
SEO is an uncertain topic as it is, as Google is notoriously close-lipped about exactly how to move your site up the rankings – and Google Discover is even more uncertain. You can’t analyse your competitors, for example, and you can only use Google Search Console as a research tool, meaning your results will be limited. It is also really hard to predict how well a piece of content might do on Google Discover as well.
However, there are some tips that we have gathered that may help get your content into Discover, such as:
- Having a mobile-friendly site. Discover is a mobile-only feed after all, so if your site struggles on mobile you won’t appear in Discover. Core Web Vitals come into play from May this year, making having a mobile responsive site even more important.
- Use high-quality & unique images. Images tend to get the most attention on Discover, so make sure all of your visual content is unique and high-quality.
- Metadata and content should be aligned. Your title tags and meta descriptions should be well-written and entice users to click through to find out more.
- Publish content about popular topics. News sites tend to dominate Discover’s feed at the moment, as they provide timely content about popular topics. Focus on good copywriting and provide unique insights, and you may just show up in Discover as well.
- Work on your E-A-T. Do everything you can to position your brand as a thought leader in your industry, by demonstrating your expertise, authority, and trust
- Be consistent in your topic choice. Your website should be about your specific niche, so try not to deviate too far from this when you are creating content.
Most businesses should be able to leverage Google Discover to provide them with traffic but it probably won’t be a priority for you unless you are a news site. The great thing about Google Discover is that it can drive clicks through to your website, even when there is no search demand for the targeted keyword. If you want to increase traffic to your site and improve your rankings please get in touch with the team at SEO MCR, the leading Manchester SEO agency.
