Definition:
Google Discover is a Google Search feature that shows content related to each user’s interests without requiring them to enter a query. It presents recommendations, such as articles and videos, that help people discover information from different sources.
The selection may be based on the user’s activity and preferences, depending on their settings. Not everyone receives the same recommendations, and the content is not limited to recent news.
Table of contents
Origins and operation of Google Discover
Google introduced Discover in September 2018 as an evolution of its content feed. The change brought a new presentation and expanded the idea of discovering information without performing an explicit search.
In a conventional search, the user enters a query and receives related results. In Discover, the systems select content that might interest them based on the available signals.
These signals may include activity saved in the account, stated interests and interaction with recommendations. Their use depends on personalisation settings and the available features.
Discover can be found in the Google app and on other supported surfaces, such as certain mobile browsing experiences. Its availability and presentation may vary by device, country and settings.
What content can appear
Discover shows content on a wide range of topics, such as science, technology, sport, entertainment and travel. Selection reflects the user’s interests, not just the publication date.
An older article can appear if it remains useful and relevant. It is therefore not necessary to publish breaking news to be eligible to receive traffic from Discover.
Users can indicate that they are not interested in a topic or source and adjust recommendations. These preferences help personalise the experience but do not turn the feed into a fixed list of publications.
Discover is not the same as Google News either. Although both can show news, Discover includes other content and is organised primarily around each person’s interests.
Requirements for appearing in Discover
A page is eligible to appear if it is indexed by Google and complies with Discover’s content policies. It does not need special tags or dedicated structured data markup. Meeting these conditions does not guarantee selection.
Google’s recommendations for Discover focus on helpful, reliable, people-first content. They include the following:
- Descriptive titles: reflect the content without exaggeration or withholding essential information to encourage a click.
- Editorial contribution: provide original information, useful explanations or relevant coverage of the topic.
- Representative images: use quality images related to the content, avoiding generic visuals or those with too much text.
- Good page experience: make the content easy to read, navigate and access.
- Avoidance of sensationalism: avoid techniques intended to manipulate interest through outrage, morbid curiosity or misleading claims.
For large images, Google recommends a width of at least 1,200 pixels, high resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It also advises enabling large image previews through max-image-preview:large or AMP.
These recommendations support appropriate presentation; they are not a formula for achieving a particular position or number of visits.
Advertising in Google Discover
Discover can show ads alongside content recommendations. These are advertising placements and should be distinguished from a page appearing organically.
Demand Gen campaigns, managed through Google Ads, can use Discover as one of their placements. Delivery depends on the campaign’s settings, assets and requirements.
Buying advertising is not the same as having an article selected as an organic recommendation. These are separate routes, with their own management and measurement.
How to measure and interpret traffic
Search Console provides a Discover performance report showing impressions, clicks and CTR once the property reaches the minimum impression threshold required for the report to be available.
Impressions indicate the recorded exposure of the content; clicks reflect access from Discover, and CTR relates the two metrics. None of them proves, on its own, that those visits have produced a useful business outcome.
Discover traffic can fluctuate considerably. Changes in user interests, the types of content shown and updates to Google’s systems can alter its distribution.
A drop does not automatically indicate a technical issue or a penalty. It is worth reviewing which pages were receiving traffic, how their presence is changing and whether there are indexing issues or relevant changes to the site.
Google recommends treating Discover as a supplement to search traffic, not as a stable and predictable source of visits. Likewise, an improvement in observed CTR does not, on its own, establish that a page will receive more recommendations.