Getting your content in Discover isn’t that different from regular SEO. All the basic principles apply, so practice structured SEO whatever you do. In general, there isn’t really anything you need to do specifically for Discover. You need to have great content, written for the right audience, plus you need to have a great website that offers a stellar user experience. Still, I’d like to highlight some things you need to keep in mind.

Make Great Content

Content should be the focal point for everything you do. But not just any old content, no awesome, high-quality content that answers the questions your readers might have. At Proventus Digital, we know the value of great content — it’s one of the reasons we’ve built an SEO-Content strategy that incorporates keyword research and structure. After all, search engines like Google look at your overall website and not just individual posts when deciding whether to feature or rank your pages. 

Improve Your Content Regularly

The best way to get into Discover is to write better content than everyone else. Of course, if you have branded content it might be easier to get in. But if your content is about general topics and you’re up against a lot of competition, you need to focus on quality. Research your audience, your competitors and your industry and write the best possible piece on a relevant topic.

Make sure that you know what kind of questions your customers are asking and answer these in a way that is easy to understand and a pleasure to read. You could also try your hand at storytelling. Combining this with good visuals might make you stand out — not just on Discover but on search as well.

As always, see what your competitors are doing. Is their content popping up in Discover? Try to find out how they did that. Did they do something special? Why do you think that that piece of content got in? Try to mimic their success — without copying, of course.

Take a look at your content. Does it have a powerful headline? Does it deliver on its promises? If you mention X in the title but never mention X in the article, it’s not going to work. Be truthful, genuine and authentic.

Create Dynamic and Trending Content Copy

Google Discover can uncover content at a moment’s notice and that also goes for news-worthy content. Post your content in a timely manner and it has a higher chance to do well in Discover. Look at trending topics or popular subjects in your niche or industry and write about those.

But it’s not just new stuff that pops up in Discover. High-quality, trending content can do well. Since Google Discover learns what your customers are doing, changes in their habits trigger new types of content. So, if your customers are swiping their feed and see trending information about Ireland, it might trigger them to buy whiskey in Irish winter. If you follow up on that with a search about Ireland or you follow the topic Ireland in Google Discover, you’ll get not only the latest on that topic but also evergreen content. This is content that has proven its worth and keeps valuable at all times. Maybe something like the top 10 whiskeys in Ireland?

Create Visually Appealing Content

One of the most important parts of optimising for Google Discover is the visual aspect. Google Discover is a visual medium. People scan a feed, swiping their way to content that looks and sounds appealing. One of the eye-catchers in Google Discover is the main image of your content. This is one of the first things that your customers will look

Make sure that your image stands out but keep it relevant. Use compelling, high-quality images in your content. Make sure they are large enough to appear properly in Discover. Your images need to be at least 1200 px wide and enabled by the max-image-preview: large setting. Don’t worry, Proventus Digital SEO adds this setting automatically for you. Of course, this also goes for video. If you have a great video on a topic, add it to the content. As video is getting more important by the day, having a way to make high-quality videos will pay dividends. Now, you don’t need a million-dollar set-up but make sure that your video content looks professional. Make them engaging!

Have a Responsive Website

As always, there’s not one thing that gets your content listed quickly. Producing awesome content comes first, of course, but there are a lot of other things to improve as well. If you’re aiming for Discover traffic, make sure that your site is perfectly usable on mobile. It has to offer an awesome user experience, plus it has to load quickly.

Responsive Website Design responds to the needs of the users and the devices they're using. The layout changes based on the size and capabilities of the device enabling your site visitors to access your content the way they love.

Try Google Web Stories

Discover is all about mobile. It’s the ultimate stream of content that helps you find whatever you weren’t thinking about at that moment. To reach these users, you have a new tool at your disposal: Web Stories. A Web Story is mobile visual storytelling at its best. It's Google’s take on the social media story format you all know from Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. But, this is open, findable in search — and in Google Discover.

Web Stories are a great fit for Discover. The snackable, mobile-oriented stories are easy to discover and quick to swipe through. Building stories for your content might get you an easy way into the Discover feed. They are easy to build and quite fun too. Try it!

Now, you have a couple of insights into how Google Discover works and what you can do to get in. I hope these insights help you make the most of your work. One thing you need to remember is that Google Discover is a living, breathing thing and fully built on what you feed it. What you see is different from what your friends see. That makes it difficult to predict success. Test, experiment and fine-tune your way to success!

To have an in-depth consultation regarding your Website Development, Search Engine Optimisation and Content Creation - Contact us at hello@proventus.ie