Google Discover

Google Discover is Google’s personalised content feed, shown in places such as the Google app on mobile. Unlike search, where people actively look for something, Discover shows content based on the user’s interests and behaviour.

For content creators and media companies, Discover can deliver a lot of traffic, but it comes in spikes and is hard to predict. Google recommends treating it as a complement to search traffic. The traffic is organic rather than paid, and it requires the right kind of content.

For Google to show content in the feed, it has to be visually appealing and relevant enough to the user.

Discover is a personalised feed, not search results

How search works

The user types a query and Google shows relevant results.

How Discover works

Google analyses the user’s interests and shows content they may find interesting (no search needed).

Example

A user who often reads about running, visits running blogs and has searched for marathon training will see articles about running in their Discover feed, even when they have not actively searched for them.

Where is Google Discover?

Mobile (the Google app)

Open the Google app and the Discover feed appears directly below the search bar.

Android phones

Swipe right from the home screen to open the Discover feed.

For some websites, Discover is the largest source of traffic.

Algorithms choose what appears in Discover

But most of what appears is decided by Google’s AI.

Discover delivers traffic in spikes

An article can get many visits in a short time, and then the traffic tails off.

Organic search, by contrast, delivers stable, long-term traffic.

Both are valuable, in different ways.

Discover reaches people who are not searching yet

The problem with search: People have to search actively. If they do not know they need the information, they do not search for it.

Discover shows content that matches users’ interests without them having searched for it.

Example

A user interested in sustainability sees an article in Discover: “Five easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint at home”.

The user did not search for the article, but clicked when it appeared because the topic caught their interest.

Result: Discover builds awareness and reaches people early in the customer journey.

Content in Discover has to work on mobile

Discover is primarily a mobile service.

Content creators need to optimise their pages for mobile. Slow sites or a poor mobile experience make visitors from Discover leave the page.

Visually driven articles get a higher CTR

Discover is visual. Articles with strong images get a higher CTR.

Both evergreen and topical content work in Discover

Evergreen: Content that stays relevant year after year.

Topical: News, events and current trends.

Discover favours personally relevant content

Discover shows content based on the user’s interests.

To reach users: The content has to match specific interests rather than being generic.

Example

Generic (lower chance in Discover)

“Ten tips for better health”

Specific (higher chance)

“Ten tips for runners to avoid knee injuries”

The latter reaches people who are interested in running. The former is too broad.

Do lists and guides work in Discover?

List articles and practical guides can work in Discover.

Why: The format is easy to digest and clearly structured, with an image for each point.

How Discover affects news and topical content

For media companies, Discover is a major source of news traffic.

Google’s Discover update in February 2026 is intended to bring more locally relevant content from websites in the user’s country, less sensationalist content and clickbait, and more in-depth content from websites with subject expertise. The update was first released for English-language users in the US, and Google said it would reach other countries and languages over the following months.

Current events: Google recommends content that ties in with what people are interested in right now.

No approval needed

Content can appear in Discover automatically if it is indexed by Google and follows Discover’s content policies. No special tags are needed, and no approval in Google News. The requirements are described in Google’s documentation on Discover.

Google recommends large, high-quality images

Implementation

In the <head> of article pages:

In HTML it looks like this:

<meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:large">

Fast loading keeps visitors on the page

Discover traffic is mobile. Slow sites get high bounce rates.

Can structured data help in Discover?

Structured data is not required for Discover. Schema.org markup or og:image can, however, influence which image Google chooses.

Example of markup

Article

In JSON it looks like this:

{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "Article",
 "headline": "Article title",
 "image": "https://example.com/bild.jpg",
 "datePublished": "2026-03-20",
 "author": {
 "@type": "Person",
 "name": "Author name"
 }
}

NewsArticle (for news articles) is similar to Article, but has the type NewsArticle.

Why: The markup tells Google which image represents the page.

How to make your website mobile-friendly for Discover

Test with Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools.

Create for people, not algorithms

Google reiterates the advice: create content for users, not to “hack” the system.

What this means

Good

Create valuable content with strong images, because it engages readers.

Bad

Adding random stock photos just to include an image.

Google sees through the bad approach.

How often should you publish for Google Discover?

Google writes that Discover traffic can change for reasons unrelated to quality or publishing frequency. A high publishing rate does not guarantee traffic. Publish as often as quality allows.

Subject expertise can get more articles into Discover

Become known for something specific.

Example

A running website that consistently publishes high-quality content about running gets more articles into Discover (for people interested in running) than a general health site that occasionally writes about running.

Strategy: Choose a niche and build expertise there. Google learns that the website is an authority in the field.

Test different content formats

Not every article reaches Discover. Test what works.

Analyse: Which articles got Discover traffic? What do they have in common?

Create more of what has worked.

Write a title that catches attention

Discover shows a title and an image. The title has to make people want to click.

How to write the title

Clear benefit

“Seven ways to save SEK 5,000 a month on food”

Clear topic

“How new runners can avoid knee injuries”

Topicality

“What the new iPhone update means for privacy”

Avoid clickbait

Google advises against misleading titles. The title must match the content.

Choose strong images

The image is the first impression.

How the author strengthens credibility

Articles with a clear author and expertise earn more trust.

How to see Discover data in Google Search Console

Google Search Console shows Discover performance.

How to analyse

Identify winners

Which articles got the most Discover traffic? What do they have in common?

Test more of it

If lists with images worked, create more lists.

Find patterns

Do articles reach Discover as soon as they are published or days later? Adjust the strategy accordingly.

Does Discover traffic show up in Google Analytics?

Large spikes in Google Analytics may come from Discover.

Viewing Discover traffic: Search Console shows it in full. GA4 has no default channel of its own for Discover, so the traffic cannot be separated out there without your own configuration.

Optimise: A high bounce rate suggests problems with the content or the mobile experience.

Which KPIs should you track for Discover?

Impressions

How many people saw the article in the feed.

CTR

The share who clicked. It varies widely.

Traffic per article

Some articles get many more impressions than others. Find out why.

Engagement

Bounce rate, time on page, pages per session.

Conversions

If the goal is leads or sales, how many visitors from Discover converted?

Discover and search play different roles in the strategy

How to create content for both search and Discover

For search

Create content based on the search queries people use.

For Discover

Create content based on interests and trends.

Ideally

Articles that work for both search and Discover.

Example

Article: “How to train for a marathon: the complete guide”

For search

Optimised for the queries “marathon training” and “marathon training guide”.

For Discover

Large training images, a clear structure (lists/steps) and relevance for people interested in running.

Result

Search traffic over time, and a spike if the article appears in Discover.

Mistake 1: You use poor images

Problem

Stock photos, small images, poor quality.

Result

Low CTR even if the article reaches Discover.

Solution

Invest in high-quality images (your own photos or licensed images that are relevant to the content).

Mistake 2: The mobile site is slow

Problem

Articles load slowly on mobile.

Result

Visitors leave before the page has finished loading.

Solution

Optimise Core Web Vitals, especially LCP.

Mistake 3: You write clickbait titles

Problem

Misleading titles to get clicks.

Result

The page goes against Google’s advice to avoid misleading titles.

Solution

Titles that attract clicks but match the content.

Mistake 4: You have not specified a large image

Problem

No large image specified in schema.org markup or og:image.

Result

Google may choose a different image as the thumbnail.

Solution

Specify a large, relevant image with schema.org markup or og:image.

How media companies and news sites get traffic from Discover

News gets a lot of traffic from Discover.

What do blogs and content marketing need?

Potential: High, but it requires the right content.

How can e-commerce reach Discover?

Challenge: Product pages rarely reach Discover.

Is Discover suitable for B2B and services?

Challenge: B2B content is often less visual and more niche.

How AI affects personalisation in Discover

Google’s AI is getting better at understanding what users want.

Consequence

Content and users are matched more precisely. Higher relevance brings higher engagement.

For websites

Quality and relevance become even more important.

Video may take up more space in Discover

Since September 2025, Discover has been intended to show more content types, including YouTube Shorts.

Trend

Video content may be given higher priority in future.

Strategy

Complement articles with video where relevant.

How to go from content to traffic

Discover requires no paid advertising, but it does require the right kind of content.

Process

Contact us about Discover optimisation

Carnaby helps media companies and content creators optimise for Google Discover, from technical implementation to content strategy.

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