People who use Google Search Console on a regular basis have noticed that there has been a new addition of performance reports. It has got a new name and called discover. Recently Google has announced that it will now include all data, even Chrome data. Users are allowed to access stories from Google Discover in several ways.
The most common way is through the Google search app or Google’s home page. Discover can also be seen when you open a new tab in their web browser from an iOS or Android device. The only difference now is that Google will show not just the data collected on the search app or its home page but also Chrome.
However, if you are new to Google Search Console, this blog is meant for you. This blog further talks about what Google Discover is and how it can help optimize your content for the Discover feed. It also includes how you can use the new features of Discover performance reports.
What Is Google Discover?
Previously called Google Feed, Discover is an automatically populated news feed that shows topics of your interest. Irrespective of if it is sports, food, politics, or even art, it delivers content Google thinks might engage you.
This information is directly fed to the smartphone and mainly based on your search results and interactions with Google. As mentioned earlier, now the algorithm will also take topics from searches you have made on Chrome.
Along with that, you can directly choose to follow a news thread, for instance, your favorite blog or football team. Along with news articles and stories, it also serves sports results, videos, stock prices, event information, and a lot more. To quote Google, Discover is a “content hub for your every interest.”
How Can You Optimize the Content on Google Discover?
On the basis of your search results and website clicks, Discovers feed is algorithmically ranked. It puts most emphasis on the things that Google thinks the user might find attractive. In simpler words, the more the section of content is interesting and relevant as per the Google algorithm, the more likely it is to show up on the feed. However, that is not just it. Any content will only be eligible to be displayed on the feed if:
- The content agrees to Google’s news and content policies.
- Google has indexed the content. (This can be checked this by using the URL Inspection Tool or you can just search for the webpage on Google.)
If you are a content developer and want your content to be given priority in Google Discover, using large images can significantly help. Ask your SEO Company to skillfully incorporate large-sized images instead of thumbnails. Nevertheless, there are some steps you need to follow to enable it. Large images on your content are allowed, only if you complete Google’s opt-in program for big image use form or use AMP. Google typically advises that you use images that are at least 1,200 pixels wide.
Google Search Console’s Discover Report can help you get answers to the following questions:
- How often is your website shown in a user’s Discover feed?
- How large is your traffic?
- Which part of your content worked well in Discover?
- How would your content perform when compared to conventional search results and Discover?
How To Use The Performance Report For Discover?
You can find the Performance Report for Discover right under the Search results Report present in Google Search Console. This shows you the metrics regarding your website’s performance in Google Discovers feed. By default, it will show you impressions, clicks, and the average click-through rate (CTR) on your content.
Why Should This Interest You?
Previously, the Discover report showed you mostly all the data regarding your Google Discover traffic. However, it missed data from Chrome browsers. With this update, you can now better understand how much traffic is coming from the app. This will further help you allocate and target your marketing efforts accordingly.
For instance, if you know your app is bringing you ‘X’ amount of traffic and the Discover feed is bringing you ‘Y’ amount of traffic, you can make smarter and more informed development and marketing decisions.
In Conclusion
To sum up, what has been stated in the blog, Discover can be an efficient way to promote your content along with conventional search engine results. This new update has made several webmasters and SEO experts happy as they can now see more visibility into Discovers performance. Most SEO companies have been quick to adapt to this new update and have already made use of it.