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Aleksander Janicki
CONTENTS:
- What is Google Discover?
- What kind of content appears on Google Discover?
- Is it worth using Google Discover?
- How to appear on Google Discover? Is it possible to submit or add your website there?
- E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness
- Google Discover vs. ads
- Does CMS have an impact on getting on Google Discover?
- Google Discover. What to avoid?
- How to check if my website is already on Google Discover?
What is Google Discover?
Google Discover is one of Google's services, available only to smartphone users via the Google mobile app and in the Chrome browser (on Android phones).
In order to access it, simply open the Google Chrome app. Once it’s activated, you’ll see content from Discover under the search field.
Discover can also be accessed by most Android smartphones by swiping right on the home screen.
Google Discover is not available on desktop devices – PC or laptop.
What kind of content appears on Google Discover?
First of all - personalized.
The algorithm selects and displays content based on the topics with which the user has interacted recently.
These will be mainly articles and news, but also others, such as stock market rates, live results of games, tutorials, videos and other notifications, such as weather warnings.
The displayed content depends on the user's interaction with any Google applications - such as searches in Google Search. They are also the result of any information the user has given access to - from location, contacts or calendar content, to websites visited and interactions on them.
Users can actively influence the shape of their Discover card by:
- 'liking' the content they are interested in - then more similar content will appear,
- disliking content that does not interest them - then this type of content will be shown less,
- and selecting the categories they want to see (or not).
This way Google Discover creates a unique set of topics of interest for each user based on their interests. This is called 'Interests,' and you can review them at any time and deselect the ones you don't want to see in Discover.
The service provides users with those contents that are most likely to interest them. This is good for content creators because they have the opportunity to reach audiences who will be interested in their content. This is better than paid promotions, which are often seen by people who are not interested in a particular product or service (and therefore will not check out your website or purchase your products). It is worth mentioning that Google Discover is a free service.
An important thing to notice is that content appears in Google Discover regardless of the date it was posted. This means that older articles also have a chance to appear there. For this reason, it’s a good idea to create 'evergreen' content - content that does not go out of date, such as tutorials, instructions or reviews.
Is it worth using Google Discover?
Generally speaking, yes. As an online publisher, you don't have to pay anything for your content to appear in Google Discover. This is a valuable addition to your reach. However, you should be aware that the service is quite capricious, meaning there are no guarantees that you will manage to appear in it regularly even if you theoretically meet all the requirements. Which ones? More about it below.
How to appear on Google Discover? Is it possible to submit or add your website there?
Unlike Google News, it’s not possible to submit your website, service or any website to Discover. This is decided only by Google's algorithm. So there are no magic tricks, embedding special html codes on your site, etc.
However, there are a few recommendations to increase chances of your site showing up on Discover.
- Firstly, your website must be verified and indexed in the Google Search Console.
- Secondly, this service is available only on mobile devices. Therefore, if you want your content to appear on Google Discover, make sure your site is adjusted for display on smartphones and tablets.
- Thirdly, correct sizing of thumbnails is essential to appear on Google Discover, so make sure your thumbnails of articles are at least 1,200 pixels wide.
- Fourthly, in order to get into Google News your website needs to become a verified source. You can read more about this in our guide: Google News. What is it and how to get listed there?
E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness
To stand a chance of appearing on Google Discover on a relatively regular basis, you need to focus on meeting the four factors, abbreviated E-E-A-T - experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness.
Based on these Google's automated systems, Google evaluates the content of webpages, which translates directly into a presence in the Discover tab. All these factors are interconnected and intertwined.
Authoritativeness
For your website to be considered credible, you need to answer three questions: who, how and why.
Who created the content? Is the author an enthusiast of the topic or an expert in the field (they should be), or do they create content on a topic he is not familiar with, seeing its popularity? The author should also have a profile created that can be accessed directly from any article written by them. The profile should allow readers to learn more about the author.
How did they create the content? If they used sources, they should cite them. If they conducted a research or survey, they should provide figures to support their claims. Credibility also applies to individual articles, for example, each article should have a publication or update date attached.
Why did they create the article in question? If Google finds out that it was merely to get a lot of views, it won't be satisfied. Content should first and foremost be useful to readers. Below we explain what conditions need to be met for content to be considered as such, and what else should be avoided.
You should also add a contact tab with your company’s address, so that users can easily learn more about it and ask questions or voice their concerns.
Trustworthiness
It cannot be stressed enough how important editorial issues are.
Sure, a typo here and there will happen to everyone. However, spelling mistakes and even stylistic errors have no place in Google Discover. That's why it's a good idea to check your content for linguistic accuracy before publishing it.
A large number of typos, poor translations from other languages, syntax errors - all this is immediately considered low-quality content, which might be copied from another source or just plain spam.
As mentioned before, it’s also a good practice to include, for example, information about the author under the title of the article.
Expertise
Another important factor is uniqueness.
If you are creating content based on sources available on the Internet and want to stand out above them, you need to offer your readers something more - preferably something that other websites have not included in their articles.
Be cautious, however, because speculating, providing unverifiable information, can damage your credibility. If you run a large network of websites, and articles are published on each of them, this is especially harmful.
Among the important factors, Google also lists quality, both of the content and of the site itself. The length of the article, among other things, is crucial. After reading it, the users should feel that they have learned everything they want to know about the topic.
When publishing content, think about whether someone would want to quote it and whether it could appear in a book or encyclopedia. If not, something needs to be changed. However, the quality of an article is not only about what it contains, but also about what it does not contain.
Avoid clickbaits - exaggerated titles unrelated to the content. The title should convey the content of the article. The same goes for the accompanying photo.
Photos must also meet another requirement - be in good resolution. The minimum required resolution to appear in Google Discover is 1200 pixels width. A large number of attractive photos will also positively translate into your presence in the Google Discover tab.
Experience
The quality of the internet portal will also be determined by the behavior of its users - will they bookmark it? Will they share it with their friends? Will they leave a comment? How much time will they spend on the website?
Try to create content that is useful and reliable for users to make it so. Good targeting will also allow you to lengthen the time websurfers spend on your website.
At the same time, remember to make it easy for users to interact with your article. Add sections at the end of the article. You can create a comment section. Most importantly, allow users to share your articles on social media or via messages with simple buttons to further increase your reach for free.
Google Discover vs. ads
How do ads relate to appearance on Google Discover? In theory, articles with ads can appear there, but under certain rules. Ads and paid promotional content must not take up more space than useful content.
In addition, any sponsored material should be clearly labeled. Do not imply that sponsored content is independent and original content, as this is misleading to users and Google looks at it badly.
Does CMS have an impact on getting on Google Discover?
Yes and no. As you know from this article, the content you post on the website is hugely responsible for getting into the Discover tab. But you also know that other factors count, such as transparency (contact tab, prepared author profiles), the right size of photos or the dates of publishing articles.
CMS 4media was developed based on the needs of publishers, including (but not limited to) appearing on Google News. Discover and News, despite being separate services, have a lot in common (as they are both developed by Google), so if you want a CMS that is technically optimized for these services right from the start, it's worth giving it a chance.
The only thing left in your hands to work on the quality of the content and credibility of the service.
Google Discover. What to avoid?
First of all, any content appearing on your internet portal must not violate Google Discover's content policy. Therefore, you must avoid content that is:
- dangerous,
- misleading,
- related to harassment,
- spreading hatred,
- manipulated,
- medical,
- of an explicitly sexual nature,
- terrorist,
- depicting violence and cruelty,
- containing vulgarities and swearing,
- containing false information,
- related to elections during the period of election silence (in certain countries).
What's more, if the listed rules are repeatedly violated, the content will be removed from Google Discover, and the webpage itself may be banned from the service (with the exception of content that is particularly valuable to society for its artistic, historical, educational, documentary or scientific value).
How do I check if my website is already on Google Discover?
If your website already appears in Google Discover and you want to verify whether it's worth the effort to stay that way, you can check the effectiveness report in Google Search Console. It will tell you, among other things, how many people saw the link to your site, and how many actually clicked on it.
