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Optimising for Google
Discover
Luci Wood // Blue Array Ltd
http://bit.ly/GoogleDiscover
@INCORGNITO_MODE
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Hi, I’m Luci Wood
(and this is Milo >)
@incorgnito_mode
Allow: /corgis
Allow: /archery
Disallow: /meat
SEO Director @ Blue Array
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“I would
congratulate you
darling but I’ve no
idea what you
actually do”
- My mum, 2019
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What is Discover?
Corgi illustrations by Radio
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Google Discover uses AI
to recommend content to
users based on their
interests and
interactions.
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Essentially Google snoops on
your activity to deliver you more
relevant content
@incorgnito_mode
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Where can I find Google
Discover?
Google homepage on mobile
Google Search app
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Sports scores
Entertainment news
Events
Videos
Brand updates
Stock prices
Weather & traffic info
Recipes
New products
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I don’t see
Discover in my
Search Console…
WTF?!
Corgi illustrations by Radio
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High performing
content in the
Discover feed
⏱ How frequently
your site appears
in Discover
Comparison of
data from Discover
to Traditional Search
Results
Total traffic
generated from
Discover
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‘The Discover report is
shown to websites
that have accumulated
meaningful visibility in
Discover.
http://bit.ly/search-console-discover
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Why should I
care about
Google
Discover?
Image by The Pawster
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Quick show of hands...
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode
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Who has bought
something on
Amazon
this month?
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode
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Who’s used
Google Discover
in the
last month?
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode
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197 million
Amazon.com
visitors
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800 million
Discover users
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More than
double
the US
population
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With Discover, you can
reach and influence
potential customers
before they’ve even
begun searching
@incorgnito_mode
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This is a big,
delicious
‘search pie’™
@incorgnito_mode
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How in the hell do
we optimise for this?
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode
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“The two best ways to
boost the ranking and
performance of your
Discover content are:
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“1.) To post
content that you
think users would
find interesting…”
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“2.) To use
high-quality
images in your
content.”
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Cool, done.
Corgi illustrations by Radio
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO
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No, but really. What do we do?
Corgi illustrations by Radio
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO
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How does Discover rank
content?
Content is ranked algorithmically
according to what Google thinks a user
would find most interesting
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A few tips
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Shift your
mindset from
keywords to
people
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Search volume is
out. Relevancy is in.
Keywords are out
(ish). Topics and
audiences are in.
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Learn all you can about
your audience’s lifestyles
and preferences
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YouGov profiler: bit.ly/YG-profiler
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Use Google Analytics
Affinity
Categories
Site Search
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Creating content
for Discover
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Create both fresh and evergreen
content to maximise reach
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No content
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Understand the different
stages of a customer
journey to guide your
content creation
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Why?
Discover can predict your
level of expertise on a
topic and will offer
content based on this.
bit.ly/search-journeys
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Let’s get specific
The stronger the match between your
article's content and your user's
interests, the better your chances of
ranking.
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Look at the SERPs
Featured snippets
PAAs
Search intent
Auto suggest
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Useful content tools
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Optimising for
click through rate
@incorgnito_mode
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Optimising for CTR (the good)
● Concise headline
● Clearly outlines
article content
● Eye-catching images
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Optimising for CTR (the good)
● Very closely aligned
to the user’s interests
and what’s important
to them
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Optimising for CTR (the bad)
● Headlines which are
too long and wordy
(or vice versa!)
● Potentially sensitive
or alienating
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Optimising for CTR
(the downright illegal-ish)
● Fake news
● Sensationalist or
misleading headlines
● Clickbait
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This is not cool people...
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What the
fluffing heck
hooman?!
DON’T THROW
CORGIS OUT OF
PLANES!
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Oh, iz snow.
Thank furk
for that!
...OR USE CLICKBAIT!
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Trustworthy, original,
authoritative content
only.
By order of Her Maj
#UltimateCorgiLady
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The visual
side of things
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Images should be at least
1,200 px wide
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Why?
When Discover cards feature
large images instead of
thumbnail images...
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Large image
Thumbnail
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5% increase in click through rate
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5% increase in click through rate
⌛ 3% increase in time spent on page
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5% increase in click through rate
⌛ 3% increase in time spent on page
3% increase in user satisfaction
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Happy
meals all
round.
bit.ly/discover-for-webmasters
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You’ll need to either use AMP or
complete an opt-in form to give
Google the rights to display your
hi-res images.
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Engagement
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Sites with content that
users have liked, shared
and interacted with
before are first in line
for visibility on Discover.
Engage your users
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Great user experience
Valuable content
How to build loyalty
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How to build loyalty
Rewards & points schemes
VIP exclusivity
Gamification
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Let’s get (a bit) technical
Satellite
receivers
Chicken
drummies
Shnack
detector
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Mobile friendly site
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Pages are indexed by
Google
(and meet Google News
content policies)
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No need for
structured
data markup
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AMP is
not required
(but it definitely
helps!)
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AMP Stories
Visually-driven, fast-loading,
immersive content, designed
for mobile (and ideal for
Discover!)
Example: bit.ly/discover-amp
How to create AMP Stories: bit.ly/create-amp-stories
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Final tip:
Review your Discovery
ads for performance
insights.
bit.ly/discovery-ads
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tl;dr
Let’s
recap
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO
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800 million
Discover users
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Rip up your
keyword planner,
Discover’s all
about audiences
and relevancy
It was the cat
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Personalisation
is at the heart
of Google
Discover
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Understand your
audience and their
individual journeys,
challenges and
values
Are we
there yet?
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800 million
Discover users
Write content that’s
new, and new for
users (trending,
seasonal, evergreen)
Can dogs
eat
pumpkin?!
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800 million
Discover users
Clear, concise
headlines,
authoritative
content and no
clickbait
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800 million
Discover users
Speedy site that
offers users a
great experience
on mobile
Fast &
Fur-ious
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800 million
Discover users
Hopefully with
these tips, you
can go forth and
discover!
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO
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That’s it from me
Read the blog:
https://www.bluearray.co.uk/news/author/luci/
Tweet: @incorgnito_mode
Work with me: bluearray.co.uk/jobs/
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Thank you!
P.S. - You can also follow Milo on
Instagram (@the_corgasaur)