What Is Google Discover and How to Get Your Content Into It

I've worked on Discover optimization for a regional news site in South Bohemia, in the Czech Republic – from headlines to topic planning to the balance between breaking news and lifestyle stories. You'll find what we did below, in the section on regional media.

What is Google Discover

Google Discover is a personalized content feed that Google recommends to people based on their interests, behavior, and history. Unlike classic search, where people have to actively look for something, Discover hands them content on its own.

The main difference is that Discover doesn't run on keywords. Google picks content based on what a particular person might be interested in – which topics they follow, what they read, what they enjoy. That's why everyone's feed is different.

You'll find Discover mostly on mobile – in the Google app, on the Google homepage in a mobile browser, or on a new tab in Chrome. In 2025, Google also tested Discover on desktop, but mobile is still the main platform.

Why should you care? Because Discover brings you people who don't know you yet but are interested in the topics you write about. You don't have to rely only on someone finding you in search or sharing a link.

Google is open about one thing, though: traffic from Discover is less predictable than traffic from search. It's a bonus, not a channel your whole website should stand on.

How to get into Google Discover

You don't sign up for Discover or set anything up. According to Google, any page that Google has indexed and that meets the content policies for Discover can appear there automatically. Whether it actually does comes down to 3 areas – and none of them is enough on its own.

Visual appeal comes first

Discover is mostly visual. People scroll the feed the way they scroll Instagram or Facebook – quickly, on instinct, stopping at whatever catches their eye.

Your main image is your first (and often only) impression. Google recommends images at least 1,200 px wide, with more than 300,000 pixels in total and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Your site has to allow Google to show large previews – with the max-image-preview:large setting in the robots meta tag.

A large image isn't enough, though. Google explicitly advises against generic images, such as your logo, and images with a lot of text. You want an original photo that shows something specific from the article. People scrolling the feed easily skip a generic stock image.

For regional media, that might be a photo from a local event, a portrait of an interesting person from the area, or an atmospheric shot of a specific place. The same goes for other creators – the more authentic the image and the closer it is to the content, the better.

How to use it: Add the meta tag <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:large"> to your site's header. This lets Google show large previews of your images.

Timeliness and relevance

Google wants content in Discover that's timely in light of what people are interested in right now, tells a story well, or offers a unique perspective. That's why you'll often find articles there that came out a few hours or days ago.

React quickly to events and trends. When something interesting happens in your area or your field, write about it as soon as you can – whether it's a local event, a national story, or a seasonal topic.

According to an analysis cited by Seer Interactive, most articles get Discover traffic for only 3–4 days [1], with the most on the first or second day after publication. Then newer content takes their place. That's why it pays to publish regularly.

Evergreen content (articles that stay valid for a long time) works differently – update it regularly. Add new data and fix what has changed. When you update, make real changes, not just a new date.

Technical quality and a mobile-friendly site

Since people read Discover mostly on their phones, how your page behaves on mobile matters. If it loads slowly, is hard to read, or is covered by pop-ups, people leave quickly.

Focus on Core Web Vitals – metrics that measure loading speed, visual stability, and responsiveness. You don't have to be a technical SEO expert, but you should know whether your site is fast and works well on mobile.

A basic checklist:

• Fast page loading (compressed images, as few scripts as possible)
• A responsive design that works on every screen size
• A readable font, enough spacing, and easy navigation
• No pop-ups or ads that block the content

Article or NewsArticle structured data helps Google understand what an article is about and who wrote it. But Google doesn't require it for Discover – you don't need any special markup.

What changed in Discover in 2025 and 2026

Discover has changed more over the past year than in several years before that. For content creators, 3 changes matter.

A Discover-only update (February 2026). Google released a core update aimed specifically at Discover. According to Google, Discover should show more locally relevant content from websites based in the user's country, less sensationalism and clickbait, and more in-depth, original, and timely content from websites with expertise in the topic. It started with English-language users in the US and is set to expand to all countries and languages.

The Follow button (since September 2025). People can follow specific websites and creators in Discover and see their content in a dedicated section. At the same time, Google started adding YouTube videos (including Shorts) and social media posts, for example from X and Instagram, to Discover.

No more dedicated row for Web Stories. Since 2024, Web Stories no longer appear in their own carousel in Discover, only as a single card, and mostly in the US, India, and Brazil. You don't need to make them for Discover today.

What does this mean? Discover increasingly rewards websites that know their topic and cover it in depth. That's good news for anyone who builds their content around clear topics, and bad news for websites chasing clicks on anything.

What works in practice for different types of content

The same principles apply differently depending on the kind of content you create. Let's look at the 2 most common cases.

Regional media: play the local card

If you create regional content, you have a big advantage – local relevance. Google's February update explicitly counts on Discover showing more content from websites based in the user's country.

How to do it:

Mention the location in your headlines and text when it makes sense. “A new farmers' market opens in Galway…” or “5 quiet walks around York…” – both Google and the reader know right away which place it's about.

Focus on stories people won't find anywhere else. Local news, portraits of people from the area, events, traffic changes, travel tips. The more the content is tied to the region and the more original it is, the better.

From my experience: At the regional news site, we worked on 3 things. First, headlines: we wrote the H1, the page title (meta title), and the OG title separately, because each one shows up somewhere else – the H1 on the website, the meta title in search results, and the OG title in link previews when shared and with Discover in mind. Google's documentation doesn't say exactly where it takes the headline for Discover from, only that it should capture the essence of the content. Second, planning topics ahead instead of just writing about whatever comes along. And third, the balance between reacting to current events and lifestyle topics.

Keep track of what works in your region. In Google Search Console, you'll find the Discover report, where you can see which articles get impressions and clicks. Look for patterns – which topics work, and which headlines and images have the highest CTR.

Other creators: topic, usefulness, and an honest headline

Even if you don't create regional content, the principles are similar. Discover shows content that matches people's specific interests – whether that's a hobby, a profession, a lifestyle, or learning.

Write headlines that grab attention but don't mislead. Google recommends headlines that capture the essence of the content and explicitly warns against clickbait and sensationalism. A headline that promises more than the article delivers will hurt you in Discover – and since the February update, even more.

Bring in video. Discover now shows YouTube videos and Shorts, too. If you make videos on your topic, that's another way into the feed.

Build real expertise in your topic. Google assesses expertise topic by topic. A local news site with a dedicated gardening section can have established expertise in gardening, while a movie review site with a single gardening article most likely won't.

How to measure your performance in Discover

Discover isn't a one-off campaign. It's an ongoing process: you try, measure, learn, and adjust.

The Discover report in Google Search Console

In Google Search Console, you'll find the Discover report under Performance. It only appears once your pages reach a minimum number of impressions, though. If you don't see it, you're barely in Discover yet. The report shows:

• Impressions – how many times an article appeared in Discover
• Clicks – how many people clicked on it
• CTR – the ratio of clicks to impressions

Track these metrics regularly and look for patterns. Which articles have the most impressions? Which have the highest CTR? What do they have in common – the topic, the type of headline, the image, or the timing?

How to use it: Set up a simple spreadsheet of your successful articles: topic, headline type, headline length, image type, publication day, and how long the article stayed in Discover. After a few months, you'll see patterns you can repeat. Just watch out for small samples – 5 articles aren't enough to make a rule.

Test and adjust

Try different approaches and track what works:

• Different headline styles – sometimes a question works better, other times a specific claim or a number
• Different images for articles that have potential but haven't caught on yet
• Updates to older articles whose topic is still relevant
• Different publishing times – some topics do better in the morning, others in the afternoon

Don't expect instant results. Discover is largely a “black box” – Google doesn't say exactly how it chooses. What works best is consistency, quality, and a willingness to learn from the data.

What to do right now

If you want to get started with Discover, here's a plan for next week:

Discover as a long-term strategy

Google Discover isn't a magic wand that brings you thousands of visitors overnight. It's more of a marathon than a sprint – you need consistency, quality, and a willingness to learn.

The upside is clear, though: you reach people who aren't actively looking for you but are interested in the topics you write about. For regional media, it's a chance to get local content in front of a much wider audience. For other creators, it's a way to grow without paid advertising.

Start with the technical basics, focus on images and timely content, and then learn from the data. Every article that succeeds in Discover tells you something about what your audience cares about.

And remember – Discover is just one channel. Combine it with classic SEO, social media, and other traffic sources. I cover how search is changing with the rise of AI in my article on how SEO is changing because of AI. And if you want to build content that keeps bringing people in from both search and Discover, see how I build SEO and content strategy.

FAQ

What is Google Discover?

Google Discover is a personalized feed of articles and videos that Google shows people mainly on mobile – in the Google app and in Chrome. It picks content based on a person's interests, not on what they're searching for right now.

Do I need to set anything up or register for Discover?

No. Any page that Google has indexed and that meets the content policies for Discover can appear there automatically. It does help to allow large image previews with max-image-preview:large, though.

How long does an article stay in Discover?

Usually just a few days. According to an analysis cited by Seer Interactive, most articles get Discover traffic for 3–4 days, with the most in the first 2 days after publication.

Where can I see my traffic from Discover?

In Google Search Console, under Performance, in the Discover report. It appears once your pages reach a minimum number of impressions.