This talk covers the latest developments in Google Discover and provides you with actionable tips to improve your chances of being visible in this rising new vertical of search. Delivered at BrightonSEO, BristolSEO and ReadingSEO 2019.

1. Optimising for Google
Discover
Luci Wood // Blue Array Ltd
http://bit.ly/GoogleDiscover
@INCORGNITO_MODE

2. Hi, I’m Luci Wood
(and this is Milo >)
@incorgnito_mode
Allow: /corgis🐕
Allow: /archery🏹
Disallow: /meat🥩
SEO Director @ Blue Array

4. “I would
congratulate you
darling but I’ve no
idea what you
actually do”
- My mum, 2019

5. What is Discover?
Corgi illustrations by Radio

6. Google Discover uses AI
to recommend content to
users based on their
interests and
interactions.

7. Essentially Google snoops on
your activity to deliver you more
relevant content
@incorgnito_mode

8. Where can I find Google
Discover?
Google homepage on mobile
Google Search app

10. Sports scores
Entertainment news
Events
Videos
Brand updates
Stock prices
Weather & traffic info
Recipes
New products

11. I don’t see
Discover in my
Search Console…
WTF?!
Corgi illustrations by Radio

12. 🏎 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

13. ‘The Discover report is
shown to websites
that have accumulated
meaningful visibility in
Discover.
http://bit.ly/search-console-discover

14. Why should I
care about
Google
Discover?
Image by The Pawster

15. Quick show of hands...
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode

16. Who has bought
something on
Amazon
this month?
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode

17. Who’s used
Google Discover
in the
last month?
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode

18. 197 million
Amazon.com
visitors

19. 800 million
Discover users

20. More than
double
the US
population

21. With Discover, you can
reach and influence
potential customers
before they’ve even
begun searching
@incorgnito_mode

22. This is a big,
delicious
‘search pie’™
@incorgnito_mode

23. How in the hell do
we optimise for this?
Corgi illustrations by Radio @incorgnito_mode

24. “The two best ways to
boost the ranking and
performance of your
Discover content are:

25. “1.) To post
content that you
think users would
find interesting…”

26. “2.) To use
high-quality
images in your
content.”

27. Cool, done.
Corgi illustrations by Radio
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO

28. No, but really. What do we do?
Corgi illustrations by Radio
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO

29. How does Discover rank
content?
Content is ranked algorithmically
according to what Google thinks a user
would find most interesting

30. A few tips

31. Shift your
mindset from
keywords to
people

32. Search volume is
out. Relevancy is in.
Keywords are out
(ish). Topics and
audiences are in.

33. Learn all you can about
your audience’s lifestyles
and preferences

34. YouGov profiler: bit.ly/YG-profiler

35. Use Google Analytics
Affinity
Categories
Site Search

36. Creating content
for Discover

37. Create both fresh and evergreen
content to maximise reach

39. Understand the different
stages of a customer
journey to guide your
content creation

40. Why?
Discover can predict your
level of expertise on a
topic and will offer
content based on this.
bit.ly/search-journeys

41. Let’s get specific
The stronger the match between your
article's content and your user's
interests, the better your chances of
ranking.

42. Look at the SERPs
📝 Featured snippets
🤔 PAAs
🔎 Search intent
💬 Auto suggest

44. Useful content tools

45. Optimising for
click through rate
@incorgnito_mode

46. Optimising for CTR (the good)
● Concise headline
● Clearly outlines
article content
● Eye-catching images

47. Optimising for CTR (the good)
● Very closely aligned
to the user’s interests
and what’s important
to them
��

48. Optimising for CTR (the bad)
● Headlines which are
too long and wordy
(or vice versa!)
● Potentially sensitive
or alienating

49. Optimising for CTR
(the downright illegal-ish)
● Fake news
● Sensationalist or
misleading headlines
● Clickbait

50. This is not cool people...

51. What the
fluffing heck
hooman?!
DON’T THROW
CORGIS OUT OF
PLANES!

52. Oh, iz snow.
Thank furk
for that!
...OR USE CLICKBAIT!

53. Trustworthy, original,
authoritative content
only.
By order of Her Maj 👑
#UltimateCorgiLady

54. The visual
side of things

55. Images should be at least
1,200 px wide

56. Why?
When Discover cards feature
large images instead of
thumbnail images...

57. Large image
Thumbnail

58. 🖱5% increase in click through rate

59. 🖱5% increase in click through rate
⌛ 3% increase in time spent on page

60. 🖱5% increase in click through rate
⌛ 3% increase in time spent on page
👍 3% increase in user satisfaction

61. Happy
meals all
round.
bit.ly/discover-for-webmasters

62. You’ll need to either use AMP or
complete an opt-in form to give
Google the rights to display your
hi-res images.

63. Engagement

64. Sites with content that
users have liked, shared
and interacted with
before are first in line
for visibility on Discover.
Engage your users

65. Great user experience
Valuable content
How to build loyalty

66. How to build loyalty
Rewards & points schemes
VIP exclusivity
Gamification

67. Let’s get (a bit) technical
Satellite
receivers
Chicken
drummies
Shnack
detector

68. Mobile friendly site

69. Pages are indexed by
Google
(and meet Google News
content policies)

70. No need for
structured
data markup

71. AMP is
not required
(but it definitely
helps!)

72. 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

73. Final tip:
Review your Discovery
ads for performance
insights.
bit.ly/discovery-ads

74. tl;dr
Let’s
recap
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO

75. 800 million
Discover users

76. Rip up your
keyword planner,
Discover’s all
about audiences
and relevancy
It was the cat

77. Personalisation
is at the heart
of Google
Discover

78. Understand your
audience and their
individual journeys,
challenges and
values
Are we
there yet?

79. 800 million
Discover usersWrite content that’s
new, and new for
users (trending,
seasonal, evergreen)
Can dogs
eat
pumpkin?!

80. 800 million
Discover usersClear, concise
headlines,
authoritative
content and no
clickbait

81. 800 million
Discover usersSpeedy site that
offers users a
great experience
on mobile
Fast &
Fur-ious

82. 800 million
Discover usersHopefully with
these tips, you
can go forth and
discover!
@incorgnito_mode
#BrightonSEO

83. 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/

84. Thank you!
P.S. - You can also follow Milo on
Instagram (@the_corgasaur)