In Brief (TL;DR)
Discover the essential optimization strategies and techniques, such as using high-quality images and compelling headlines, to increase the chances of your content appearing in the Google Discover feed.
From high-quality images to structured data, we’ll explore winning techniques to maximize your presence in Google’s personalized news feed.
Learn how using high-quality images, compelling headlines, and structured data is crucial for increasing your chances of appearing in the Discover feed.
The devil is in the details. 👇 Keep reading to discover the critical steps and practical tips to avoid mistakes.
Google Discover represents one of the most significant evolutions in how users interact with online content. Unlike traditional search, which answers a specific question (query), Discover acts as a personalized feed that anticipates user interests, suggesting articles, videos, and news without any active search required. This tool, primarily accessible on mobile devices through the Google app or the Chrome homepage, relies on artificial intelligence to analyze browsing history, location, and past interactions, creating a tailored stream of information. For content creators in Italy and the European market, understanding and optimizing for Discover means accessing a potentially massive source of traffic, reaching a vast and diverse audience.
The Mediterranean cultural context, with its strong link between tradition and innovation, offers fertile ground for content aimed at Discover. Italian users show a keen interest in topics ranging from cooking to technology, from local crafts to the latest global trends. Leveraging this duality by creating stories that connect the past with the future is a winning strategy. An article about an ancient winemaking method rediscovered through new technologies, or the story of a historic village being reborn through digital tourism, are examples of content that can capture the attention of the algorithm and users. The goal is to offer value by telling unique and engaging stories that resonate with the audience’s latent interests.
What is Google Discover and Why It’s Different from Traditional Search
Google Discover marks a paradigm shift: from a “search engine” to a “discovery engine.” Its primary function is not to answer direct questions but to present relevant content based on the user’s interests and habits. While Google Search is reactive and waits for an input (a keyword), Discover is proactive. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze signals like web and app activity, location history, and followed topics to build a highly personalized feed of news, evergreen articles, and videos. This “queryless” nature makes it more similar to a social media feed than a classic search engine.
This fundamental difference directly impacts content strategy. Optimization for traditional search focuses on intercepting a specific search intent through keywords. For Google Discover, however, the goal is to create content that aligns with broader interests and passions. It’s not about ranking for “tiramisu recipe,” but about creating an article so interesting about the history and variations of tiramisu that it gets suggested to anyone who has shown an interest in Italian cuisine. Visibility on Discover is therefore less predictable but can generate significant and sudden traffic spikes, bringing even dated content to a new audience if it’s still considered relevant.
The Pillars of Optimizing Content for Discover
To increase the chances of content appearing in the Google Discover feed, it’s necessary to focus on a few fundamental pillars revolving around quality and presentation. Although there are no magic formulas, following Google’s guidelines and established best practices can make a big difference. The algorithm rewards content that offers an excellent user experience, from the relevance and reliability of the information to its visual impact.
Quality First: The Concept of E-E-A-T
Google emphasizes that Discover’s systems are based on the same principles as Search to identify useful, people-first content. This is where the concept of E-E-A-T comes in: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Content must demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the topic, come from credible sources, and offer reliable information. For the Italian market, this means highlighting recognizable authors, citing institutional sources, and building a strong editorial brand. Excellent SEO copywriting is essential to communicate these values effectively.
The Importance of High-Quality Images
Discover is a predominantly visual experience. Content “cards” are dominated by an image, which plays a crucial role in attracting the user’s click. Google explicitly recommends using high-quality, compelling images that are at least 1200 pixels wide. Blurry, small images, or company logos instead of relevant photos can seriously compromise performance. It’s also essential to enable large image previews via the `max-image-preview:large` setting or by using AMP pages. To ensure speed without sacrificing visual quality, it’s helpful to know how to compress images for the web optimally.
Headlines That Capture Attention (Without Clickbait)
The headline, along with the image, is the first point of contact with the user. It must summarize the essence of the content clearly and honestly, sparking curiosity. However, it’s crucial to avoid clickbait—sensationalist or misleading headlines that don’t deliver on the content’s promise. Google penalizes these practices because they undermine user trust. A good headline for Discover is direct, intriguing, and factual. For example, instead of “You’ll Never Believe What They Discovered in This Village,” a better headline might be “An Abandoned Village in Tuscany is Reborn Through Digital Art.”
Technical Strategies to Increase Visibility
Beyond content quality, certain technical aspects of the website are crucial for being considered by the Discover algorithm. These factors ensure that content is not only accessible and understandable to Google but also offers a smooth and fast browsing experience for the user—an essential requirement for a mobile-first platform.
Optimization for the Mobile-First Index
Google Discover is an almost exclusively mobile experience. Consequently, having a site perfectly optimized for smartphones and tablets is a non-negotiable prerequisite. This means adopting a responsive design, ensuring texts are readable without zooming, clickable elements are sufficiently spaced, and resources are not blocked for Google’s mobile spider. Adhering to the practices of the mobile-first index is crucial not only for Discover but for overall visibility on Google.
Implementing Structured Data (Schema.org)
Although Google states that structured data is not a mandatory requirement to appear in Discover, its implementation is a strongly recommended best practice. Using Schema.org markup, particularly for `Article`, `NewsArticle`, or `BlogPosting` types, helps Google better understand the context of the content: who the author is, the publication date, the exact title, and which main image to associate. Providing this information in a structured way can improve how the content is presented in the feed. The correct use of microdata and Schema.org is a signal of technical quality for the search engine.
Loading Speed as a Key Factor
Page speed is a known ranking factor for Google Search and is even more important in a fast-paced consumption context like Discover. Users expect content to load almost instantly. Slow pages cause frustration and increase the likelihood that the user will leave before even viewing the content. Optimizing Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) and minimizing server load times are essential steps. Tools like PageSpeed Insights can help identify and fix bottlenecks that slow down the site.
Content That Captivates the Italian Audience
To succeed on Google Discover in the Italian and European market, it’s not enough to apply technical rules; it’s essential to create content that speaks to the heart and mind of the audience. The Mediterranean culture, rich in history, traditions, and a strong sense of local identity, offers unique inspiration. The key is to know how to tell these stories in a modern and engaging way, creating a bridge between the past and the future.
Stories That Blend Tradition and Innovation
Storytelling is a powerful tool for capturing attention. Telling stories that create a dialogue between tradition and innovation can generate strong interest. Think of an article describing how a young chef reinterprets his grandmother’s recipes with molecular gastronomy techniques, or how a Sicilian ceramic artisan company is using e-commerce and social media to reach a global market. These narratives create an emotional connection and offer a unique perspective, an element that the Discover algorithm tends to reward.
Focus on Local Interests and Mediterranean Culture
Google Discover also personalizes content based on the user’s geolocation. Creating articles related to local events, festivals, regional traditions, or news that has a direct impact on a specific community can increase relevance for a segment of the audience. The rediscovery of ancient hiking trails in the Apennines, the celebration of a little-known PDO product, or an in-depth look at the customs of a patron saint’s festival are all examples of content that can resonate strongly with local and cultural interests, a pool from which Discover gladly draws.
The Importance of Evergreen Content
Unlike Google News, which focuses on current events, Discover can also bring “evergreen” content back to light—articles that remain valid and useful over time. How-to guides, tutorials, historical articles, or scientific deep-dives can be re-proposed to users even months or years after their publication if the algorithm deems them relevant to a new interest shown by the user. For a publisher, this means that investing in creating high-quality, timeless content can bring long-term benefits, generating traffic recurrently.
Monitoring Performance and Adapting Your Strategy
Gaining visibility on Google Discover is not a static achievement but a continuous process of analysis and adaptation. User interests change, and Google’s algorithm is constantly evolving. For this reason, it’s crucial to use the available tools to monitor performance and refine your editorial strategy based on the collected data.
Using Google Search Console to Analyze Data
The main tool for measuring success on Discover is the dedicated performance report within Google Search Console. This report, available for sites that reach a minimum impression threshold, shows crucial metrics like impressions, clicks, and Click-Through Rate (CTR) for each piece of content that appeared in the feed. Analyzing this data helps you understand which topics generate the most interest, which headlines and images work best, and how traffic varies over time. The complete guide to Google Search Console can help you make the most of this powerful tool.
Test and Learn: The A/B Testing Approach
Based on Search Console data, you can adopt an experimental approach. If an article received many impressions but few clicks, it could be a sign that the headline or image wasn’t compelling enough. You can then try changing these elements and republishing the article (or creating an updated version) to see if performance improves. Although not an A/B test in the strict sense, this iterative “test and learn” methodology allows you to better understand your audience’s preferences and progressively optimize your strategy to maximize CTR and traffic from Discover.
Conclusion
Appearing on Google Discover is a strategic opportunity for anyone producing quality content, especially in a context as rich with inspiration as Italy and Europe. It’s not about applying a simple SEO trick, but about adopting a holistic approach that centers on the user and their interests. The key to success lies in a balanced mix of high-quality content that respects the E-E-A-T principles, a strong visual impact guaranteed by excellent images, and solid technical optimization, particularly for mobile and loading speed.
For content creators operating in the Mediterranean market, the challenge and opportunity lie in skillfully narrating the richness of the region, blending tradition and innovation into stories that can generate curiosity and value. Constantly monitoring performance via Google Search Console and not being afraid to experiment allows you to refine your strategy over time. Ultimately, Google Discover doesn’t reward shortcuts, but a long-term commitment to quality, authenticity, and a deep understanding of your audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Google Discover is a personalized content feed that Google shows to users on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, without them having to perform an active search. The algorithm selects articles, videos, and news based on the user’s interests and browsing behavior. For a site or blog, appearing on Discover is important because it can generate a significant and rapid increase in traffic, reaching a broad audience interested in your topics who may not yet know your brand.
There’s no magic formula, but there are specific guidelines. First, your content must be indexed by Google and comply with its policies. The key factors are: creating high-quality, original, and useful content for the reader; using headlines that describe the essence of the article without being clickbait; and including high-quality images that are at least 1200 pixels wide. Additionally, your site must be optimized for mobile devices and have good loading speed (Core Web Vitals).
Yes, the concept of E-E-A-T is very important. The acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google uses these criteria to evaluate the quality and credibility of content and its author. For Discover, this means that content is rewarded if it demonstrates direct experience on the topic, is written by competent authors, and is published on sites considered authoritative and trustworthy. This is particularly crucial for sensitive topics like finance and health (YMYL).
You can monitor your performance on Google Discover through a dedicated report in Google Search Console. This tool shows you data like impressions, clicks, and CTR (Click-Through Rate) for articles that have appeared in the feed over the last 16 months. Analyzing this data is crucial: it allows you to understand which topics perform best, which headlines generate the most clicks, and which content has captured the algorithm’s interest, helping you replicate successful strategies.
Visibility on Discover can be unpredictable, and traffic can fluctuate. If your content isn’t appearing, there could be several reasons. The algorithm may not have yet identified your site as a relevant source for specific interests. Or, competition on certain trending topics might be very high, favoring larger, more established sites. Also, make sure to avoid mistakes like content that is too short, misleading headlines (clickbait), or an excessive number of ads that ruin the user experience.
Did you find this article helpful? Is there another topic you'd like to see me cover?
Write it in the comments below! I take inspiration directly from your suggestions.