You might not have made much use of Google Discover yet, it’s a relatively new tool that uses AI to recommend content to users based on their online behaviour i.e interests and pages they’ve visited.
It’s been built for mobile users, so you’ll find it if you visit the Google Homepage on a smartphone or if you’ve entered the Google Search app or swipe right on your home screen if you’ve got a Google Play device.
Basically, it serves up highly personalised content and with 800 million monthly users, it’s a tool worth using. So, how can businesses use this to their advantage and bake the most out of Google Discover?
Ranking Content
Google doesn’t use the same algorithms to determine content on Discover that most marketers are used to in SEO strategy, so you can’t optimise in the same way you would with other content. Google is trying to match up content that it thinks users are interested in, so if your content matches a user’s interests then it’s likely to pop up.
If you’re reaching ‘meaningful visibility’ with your content and it’s getting viewed by users on Google Discover, you’ll be able to start tracking traffic, as you’ll get a new Discover tab under ‘Performance’ in Search Console.
Your report will tell you:
- Total traffic from Discover
- Your most successful content – what’s performing best?
- How often your content is showing on Discover
- Compare your organic traffic with your Discover traffic
Content Tips
Discover is all about providing content that users will interact with, so this can be new and trending topics. Evergreen content has more chance of being viewed if it matches up with user’s interests, but Discover provides a combination of both. There tends to be more of an emphasis on favourably ranking new content on Discover, because it’s about being on-trend, so if you’re not frequently creating content, you might miss out on valuable Discover spots.
There’s so many different topics and ‘cards’ on Google Discover that there’s a whole breadth of reasons you could pop up on someone’s homepage. Think about the type of searches people commonly make on their phones and how you can create content that taps into these interests e.g travel, weather, traffic, interior design, politics, food…they’re just some super popular ones, but there are certain searches people are more likely to make while they’re commuting and on the move, instead of on a tablet or laptop.
Design
It’s worth considering your image choices wisely too, with bigger images fairing better on Discovery and having better click through rates. Eye-catching images, with clear headlines and enticing meta-descriptions will help to encourage users to click on your content.
If users do interact with your content, make sure their user experience is a good one. Make site loading times quick (having AMP can help) and a decluttered site that’s easy to navigate. And make sure the content’s good quality too of course!
You can pay for more visibility on Discovery and this is on a CPC basis which targets interests and behaviours.
Make your site mobile friendly and create quality, interesting content and you’ll have a good chance of ranking well on Discovery and generating more traffic.
Get in touch with us here at DOWO for any content questions.