What is Google Discovery, and How Do I Get My Content in Google Feeds?
Google Discovery ads are visually engaging, personalized ads that appear in Google’s feeds on the YouTube app, the Google app, and the Gmail app. They are meant to reach audiences in the moments when they’re ready to discover new products and services.
Google Discovery is the tech giant’s content recommendation engine that surfaces content based on users’ search history and other preferences. The feed automatically refreshes to give users fresh content throughout the day.
Google launched this content recommendation engine in September 2018. You may also know it as Google Feed or Google for You. Google Discover is mobile-first, so you will primarily see it on your smartphone.
Why Google Discovery Ads?
Google Discover brings together the best of rich media and machine learning to deliver a unique ad experience. As a result, brands can more efficiently connect with their target audience.
How Does Google Discover Work?
Google Discovery ads are automated and rely on machine learning to determine the best time to show your ad.
Google Discover Ads can push your business straight to the front of consumers’ eyes. They don’t have to search for you by showing up on their device because Google “reads their minds” and suggests your content/products if and when they likely need it. It is hard to resist.
This ad strategy works similarly to Google display ads because they use the same ad groups and audience targeting options.
The difference is where they appear: Google discovery ads will show in the YouTube home feed, Gmail social/promotional tabs, and the Google Discover feed.
Google discovery ads are ideal for remarketing efforts. You get an improved ability to reach users who have interacted with your business before. You will also be able to reach everyone who’s shown an interest in topics related to your business.
You can use Google Discovery Ads to supplement your remarketing efforts through search and display.
For example: if you’re selling a specific product range, you can set up a remarketing list for those users who added these products to their baskets but didn’t follow through with a purchase. Next, create a discovery campaign and target this audience directly.
When to use Google discovery ads
- When you need top of mind awareness for your brand
- When you have products that are not well known
- When you have new products that you want to promote
- When you have a sizeable fragmented audience
Discovery ads can be a powerful tool for driving brand awareness, particularly for niche products or those with high awareness levels.
How Do You Get Your Content Into Google Feeds?
Unfortunately, you can’t just ask the algorithm to put your website on the feed. You will need to optimize content and make it better than your competitors’.
Make sure your content is relevant to user interests. This is pretty basic stuff but also very important. No one wants to open their Google Feed and see articles about gardening if they don’t like gardening or have no interest in it whatsoever. Relevant content is a must!
Be sure your content is high quality. If you want Google Discover to pick up your posts and feature them on the feed, ensure they’re high quality! Don’t use images that aren’t optimized or that don’t load properly (this will cost you visitors!).
Write with clarity and add lots of value to every word written. On the other hand, don’t waste anyone’s time or effort by publishing low-quality pieces of work. These will not get featured anywhere near a top spot because users won’t click through from them anyway due to poor user experience offered elsewhere on-site, so don’t bother trying.
Checklist: How to Optimize Content For Discover
Remember that Google Discover is like the mobile version of Google News. This is the best place to target your audience.
The following tips will help you optimize your content for discovery:
- First, use keywords in the content that are relevant to major topics.
- Post articles within Google News publications.
- Use high-quality images with your posts to be featured in top news articles.
- Finally, write short and concise paragraphs, as most users don’t have time to read lengthy articles on mobile devices.
Best Practices For Google’s Discover
As you optimize your site for Google Discover, you should keep a few practices in mind.
Mobile Optimization – Ensure that your site is optimized for mobile devices.
Video Optimization – Add videos to your page to be eligible for the entertainment carousel on Google Discover.
Image Optimization – Use engaging images to increase the likelihood of people clicking through to consume your content.
Personalization – Data from users helps determine what type of content will show up on their feed, so make sure you provide a personal experience that encourages people to engage with your content and visit your site multiple times.
Content Visibility – Make sure that there aren’t any elements on the page hiding important content, as this will cause a drop in traffic and impressions.
SEO Optimization – Do everything you can to ensure that each piece of content is easily discoverable by search engine crawlers; use multiple keywords, create compelling titles and descriptions, link between pages, etc.
How it Affects SEO
The rising importance of Google Discover means that your SEO strategy should be at the core of your content marketing. As you design your content, make a reasonable faith effort to:
Optimize Meta titles and descriptions (a seemingly small factor but essential).
Make user needs a priority when writing headlines.
Focus on high-quality content—not just clickbait or “SEO-friendly” pieces designed to game Google’s algorithm. Quality always wins out in the end.
You also need to make sure Google indexes your content regularly. That means publishing quality content consistently (at least once a week), submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console, and optimizing for mobile.
Once you have those basics set up and maintained, it may take some time for Discover to begin displaying your content on phones. However, you can speed things along by using the markup tags introduced by Google.
Get Discovered First Thing in the Morning
When customers use their phones for the first time of the day—this is when you make a significant impact. By setting up Google Discover Ads, your content can be displayed in front of your customer’s eyes in a way no other brands can achieve.
Even if you don’t want to invest much time in optimizing for Google Discover (Google Feeds), we recommend that you at least take a few key steps to improve your visibility there.
You can do this by adding better images and ensuring that your content has the proper metadata — like titles and descriptions — to optimize for Google Discover (Google Feeds).
Let Us Help You
If you’re interested in getting help with your Google Discover efforts, look no further than SEOinc. We have a team of experts who have proven results in paid search and search engine optimization.
Our strategies constantly evolve to keep up with Google’s feature updates and overall shifts in consumer behavior.
We provide our clients with a personalized experience that caters to their unique needs and goals. Reach out today to learn more about our services!
