Google Découvrir SEO

TL;DR — Google Découvrir is a feed — the cards of articles and videos vous voir in the Google app and on Chrome’s mobile home screen. Google pushes it to personnes fondé on leur interests, so there’s aucun search and aucun keyword to rank pour. Vous pouvez’t optimize pour a Découvrir requête parce que là isn’t un. Ce que vous peut do is faire votre content eligible: obtenir it indexé, follow Google’s content rules, écrire honest titles, and give it a big high-quality image.

Ce que Google Découvrir en réalité is

La plupart SEO is à propos de search: someone types a requête, and vous essayer to rank pour it. Découvrir fonctionne the autre façon autour. It’s a feed of articles and videos que Google montre personnes avant ils search anything — in the Google app, on the Chrome mobile Nouveau Tab page, and on google.com — fondé on ce que Google thinks chaque person is interested in. Google’s propre words: Découvrir “montre personnes content connexe to leur interests, fondé on leur Web and App Activity.” Quand Google launched it back in 2018, the tagline was literally “no query required.”

Que un fact changements everything. There’s aucun keyword to target, aucun position to climb, aucun SERP to analyze. So si vous came ici looking pour “Google Découvrir ranking factors,” the honest réponse is que là isn’t a ranking-factors liste the façon là is (loosely) pour search. There’s eligibility à la place.

How vous obtenir in (eligibility, pas ranking)

The bon news is que there’s aucun special setup. Google dit content is automatically eligible to apparaître in Découvrir une fois it’s indexé and it follows Discover’s content policies — “no special tags or structured data are required.” Being eligible isn’t a promise you’ll apparaître, but vous don’t have to do anything technical to qualify.

The choses que genuinely aider, per Google:

• Don’t utiliser clickbait. Titles and images que over-promise or hide ce que the content is en réalité à propos de fonctionner contre vous ici.
• Écrire honest headlines que capture ce que the piece is really à propos de.
• Skip sensationalism — outrage-bait and shock tactics are choses Google actively tries to suppress in Découvrir.
• Utiliser big, high-quality images. Grand, relevant images are the unique la plupart visible Découvrir lever — a great image is ce que rend a card worth tapping. (Plus on the exact size in the Avancé tab.)
• Give personnes a bon page experience — fast, mobile-friendly, facile to lire. Découvrir is a mobile surface premier and foremost.

The chose la plupart personnes obtenir incorrect

Découvrir trafic comes and goes, and that’s normal. A unique article peut suddenly send vous a flood of visits from Découvrir pour a few days and alors drop back to almost nothing — permanently. Que isn’t a penalty and it usually doesn’t mean vous did anything incorrect. Google dit it directement: treat Découvrir as supplemental trafic, pas something to construire votre business autour. Si vous obtenir a spike, enjoy it, but don’t rebuild votre whole content plan autour chasing the suivant un.

Vouloir the exact image specs, le contenu policies, and ce que the February 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour modifié? Switch to the Avancé tab.

TL;DR — Découvrir is a feed, pas a requête réponse — there’s aucun keyword to target, seulement eligibility. Content is eligible automatically une fois indexé and policy-compliant; aucun special markup is requis. The documented levers: éviter clickbait/sensationalism, utiliser honest titles, ship grand high-quality images (≥1200px wide, >300k pixels, 16:9, with max-image-preview:large + og:image/schema.org), and deliver a bon page experience on a mobile-first surface. Content policies (ads disclosure, aucun misleading previews, transparency/ bylines) are the enforcement couche and peut trigger a Discover-specific manual action. Trafic is spiky and non-recurring by design — Google calls it supplemental. The Feb 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour (a premier) targeted clickbait, local relevance, and topic-by-topic expertise. There’s aucun public “Découvrir algorithm” — be honest à propos de the opacity.

Découvrir is a feed, pas a SERP

I vouloir to plant ce flag avant anything sinon, parce que it reframes the whole article: Découvrir n’est pas une réponse to a requête. There’s aucun search box in the loop. Google decides, fondé on a person’s Web & App Activity, que a piece of content pourrait interest les, and it puts a card in leur feed. Que signifie là is nothing to rank pour in the traditional sense — aucun keyword, aucun position, aucun SERP. Quelconque article vous lire que hands vous a numbered liste of “Discover ranking factors” is, at meilleur, describing correlations someone inferred, pas documented mechanics. Garder que distinction in votre head and la plupart of the confusion autour Découvrir disappears.

Ce is the même framing our news SEO hub uses, and it’s worth restating: vous optimize pour search by targeting requêtes; vous faire yourself eligible pour Découvrir and alors hope the feed picks vous.

How content becomes eligible

Google is refreshingly clair ici: “Content is automatically eligible to apparaître in Découvrir si it is indexé by Google and meets Discover’s content policies. Aucun special tags or données structurées are requis. Remarque que being eligible to apparaître in Découvrir n’est pas a guarantee of appearing.” And parce que Découvrir is partie of Search, “Découvrir rend utiliser of nombreux of the même signals and systems utilisé by Search to determine ce que is utile, people-first content.”

So the prerequisites are simplement: (1) obtenir indexé, and (2) don’t violate the policies. Everything sinon is à propos de improving votre odds of being affiché, pas unlocking a gate.

The levers Google en réalité documents

Google’s propre recommended-practices liste is the closest chose to an optimization checklist que exists. It dit to éviter clickbait and misleading previews, utiliser titles and headlines que capture the essence of le contenu, éviter sensationalism, provide content that’s timely or offers unique insight, inclure compelling high-quality images (“surtout grand images que are plus probable to generate visits from Découvrir”), utiliser og:image or schema.org markup to specify que grand image, and “provide an overall great page experience.” Let me pull out the parts que en réalité déplacer the needle.

Images are the big un. Découvrir is a visual feed, and the image is ce que earns the tap. Google’s spec: “Au moins 1200 px wide; Élevé resolution of plus que 300 000 total pixels…; 16x9 aspect ratio.” But the image seulement montre up grand si you’ve unlocked grand previews with the max-image-preview:large robots directive (aussi enabled automatically by AMP). Si votre pages send max-image-preview:standard or none, Découvrir ne peut pas montrer a grand image aucun matter how bon it is — so ce un robots meta setting is a genuine hard gate on the la plupart important lever. Google adds practical cropping advice aussi: it tries to auto-crop pour landscape utiliser, so “be certain votre images are well-cropped and positioned pour landscape usage,” “éviter en utilisant generic images (Par exemple, votre site logo),” and “pour meilleur results, éviter en utilisant text-heavy images.”

Titles que match le contenu. The recommendation is to “utiliser page titles and headlines que capture the essence of le contenu” — pas to écrire the la plupart tantalizing chose vous pouvez. Qui flows straight into the anti-clickbait rule.

Aucun clickbait, aucun sensationalism. Google noms ces explicitly, twice — une fois in the best-practices doc (“Éviter clickbait…by en utilisant misleading or exaggerated details in preview content” and “Éviter sensationalism tactics que manipulate appeal by catering to morbid curiosity, titillation, or outrage”) and à nouveau, plus pointedly, in the February 2026 core mettre à jour (ci-dessous). Short-term engagement bait points in the opposite direction of ce que Découvrir rewards.

Page experience and mobile. The dernier documented bullet is simply “provide an overall great page experience.” Découvrir lives almost entirely on phones, so mobile experience isn’t a nice-to-have ici. Plutôt que re-explain Core Web Vitals or mobile-first indexation, I’ll point vous to ceux — the point is que the même page-experience and mobile-friendliness fonctionner you’d do pour search is exactly ce que Découvrir leans on.

Un plus, on freshness: Découvrir isn’t seulement pour breaking news. Google dit older content peut apparaître “si it’s utile and relevant to individuals fondé on leur interests.” So pendant que content freshness and timeliness clearly aider, evergreen pieces are eligible aussi — don’t assume vous besoin to be a news site.

Le contenu policies — the enforcement couche

Separate from the best-practices page, there’s a distinct Découvrir content policies document, and ce is the partie a lot of competing content skips. To be eligible, content “doit pas violate Recherche Google’s overall policies, Recherche Google’s spam policies,” or a named liste of fonctionnalité policies (dangerous content, deceptive practices, harassing content, medical content, sexually explicit content, and so on). Three of ces are worth appel out parce que they’re concrete:

• Ads & sponsored content doit be disclosed: “Advertising and autre paid promotional material on votre pages ne doit pas exceed votre content… Sponsorship… devrait be clearly disclosed to readers.”
• Misleading content is banned: “We don’t autoriser preview content que misleads utilisateurs to engage with it by promising details qui aren’t reflected in the underlying content.”
• Transparency is a named Découvrir policy, pas a vague E-E-A-T gesture. News sources devrait provide “Clair dates and bylines; Information à propos de the authors, publication, and publisher; Information à propos de the company or network behind the content; Contact information.”

Que transparency requirement is the cleanest, la plupart literal lien entre Découvrir eligibility and E-E-A-T — authorship and bylines aren’t simplement quality-rater folklore ici, they’re written policy. And the policies have teeth: “Quand we trouver content or behavior que violates ces policies, we may supprimer le contenu from Découvrir… Si votre site violates un or plus Découvrir content policies, Découvrir manual actions may apparaître in votre Search Console sous Security & Manual actions.” A Discover-specific manual action is a réel chose vous pouvez recevoir.

Pourquoi Découvrir trafic spikes and disappears

Ce is the partie every publisher eventually learns the hard façon, so let me be blunt à propos de it up front — it’s normal. Google’s propre docs: “Trafic from Découvrir is moins predictable or dependable quand comparé to keyword-driven search visits. Donné its serendipitous nature, vous devez considérer trafic from Découvrir as supplemental to votre keyword-driven search trafic.”

Google listes three raisons the trafic moves autour, and none of les are “vous got penalized”: modification interests (as people’s interests shift, the feed montre les autre choses), content types (Google adjusts qui kinds of content the feed emphasizes), and updates to Recherche Google (since Découvrir is an extension of Search, a Search mettre à jour peut déplacer Découvrir trafic — and, notably, “it may be que there’s nothing vous devez do après an mettre à jour”).

The reps have said the même chose pour années, plus vividly. John Mueller: “the trafic tends to be very on or off… suddenly vous obtenir a lot of trafic from Découvrir. And alors our algorithms pourrait at some point dire it doesn’t faire sense to montrer it que beaucoup in Découvrir anymore and alors the trafic goes away.” His advice: “si vous do voir a lot of visibility from Google Découvrir, I think that’s fantastic. I simplement voudrait faites attention and kind of realize que ce is something que peut modifier fairly quickly.” Gary Illyes put the practical conclusion la plupart sharply back in 2019: “I simplement hope personnes realize que ce may go away overnight and ils don’t construire leur whole business model autour it.”

So: a bon article spiking alors dropping to near-zero is the attendu behavior of an interest-based feed. It n’est pas, by itself, a penalty signal.

The February 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour

The freshest raison ce topic matters correct now: on February 5, 2026, Google announced the February 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour — notably the premier core mettre à jour Google has ever announced as spécifique to Découvrir plutôt que to Search généralement. (Normal core updates affecter Découvrir aussi; ce was the premier un framed as a Découvrir mettre à jour.) Google said the mettre à jour voudrait améliorer the experience by:

• “Showing utilisateurs plus locally relevant content from websites fondé in leur country”
• “Reducing sensational content and clickbait in Discover”
• “Showing plus in-depth, original, and timely content from websites with expertise in a donné area”

The la plupart utile partie pour publishers is Google’s framing of expertise as topic-by-topic, with a concrete exemple: “a local news site with a dedicated gardening section pourrait have established expertise in gardening, même though it covers autre topics. In contrast, a movie examiner site que wrote a unique article à propos de gardening voudrait probable pas.” The takeaway is que les deux narrow-niche and broad sites peut qualify — but on the strength of demonstrated depth in a topic, pas simplement publishing volume.

Google said the rollout pourrait prendre up to two weeks and was launching to English- language US utilisateurs premier, expanding to autre languages and countries “in the months ahead.” As with any core update, “some sites pourrait voir increases or decreases; nombreux sites may voir aucun modifier at tout.” Publisher reaction in the Moteur de recherche Roundtable thread was the usual mixed picture — some reporting ils were “90-95% down” and others que leur site “did start showing up again on Discover” — but treat ceux as anecdotal forum comments, pas données. The volatility ils décrire is exactly ce que Google warns à propos de ci-dessus.

Ce que vous pouvez’t do — and being honest à propos de the opacity

A few choses are worth stating plainly so vous don’t waste effort:

• Vous pouvez’t target keywords. There’s aucun requête. Keyword targeting is a search concept que doesn’t map onto a feed.
• There’s aucun special schema trick. Aucun données structurées is requis pour eligibility. The seulement markup-adjacent lever que matters is max-image-preview:large (a robots directive, pas schema) plus optional og:image/schema.org image markup to hint qui image Découvrir devrait préférer.
• The Follow/RSS fonctionnalité is gone. Google utilisé to let utilisateurs “Follow” a site’s feed à l’intérieur Découvrir, and site owners pourrait specify a preferred feed. Google has supprimé que guidance parce que the Follow fonctionnalité is ne … plus affiché in Découvrir — don’t construire an RSS/<link> tactic autour it.
• Là is aucun public “Discover algorithm.” Unlike, dire, the documented Core Web Vitals thresholds, Google has jamais publié ranking-factor-style documentation pour Découvrir. Ce que exists is an eligibility/best-practices page and a content- policies page. Anyone selling vous “the 11 Discover ranking factors” is inferring from correlation. I’d plutôt tell vous que que pretend sinon.

Monitoring votre Découvrir performances

Vous pouvez voir votre Découvrir données in Search Console. Google: “Si vous have content on Découvrir, vous pouvez monitor votre performances en utilisant the Performances report pour Découvrir. Ce report montre impressions, clicks, and CTR pour quelconque of votre content que has appeared on Découvrir in the dernier 16 months… The Découvrir performances report inclut trafic from Chrome, and entièrement tracks a site’s Découvrir trafic à travers tout surfaces.” Remarque que the Découvrir filter seulement montre up in Search Console une fois you’ve had suffisant Découvrir impressions to cross the reporting threshold — aucun données doesn’t necessarily mean aucun eligibility, simplement pas suffisant volume yet. I’m pas going to re-teach the report mechanics ici; the closest existing sibling on ce site is the general Performances report write-up, and a dedicated Discover-report deep dive is the correct home pour the 16- month window, impression counting, and Discover-specific filtering quand it’s construit.

Devrait vous optimize pour Découvrir at tout?

Pour publishers, the stakes are réel. Chartbeat données on 565 US/UK publishers, reported by Moteur de recherche Land, trouvé que “Discover is now the primary driver of Google referrals” pour que cohort, with traditional Search referrals bas to roughly 19% of Google-driven trafic by July 2025. So Découvrir isn’t a novelty — pour nombreux news sites it’s the principal event.

But that’s exactly pourquoi the “supplemental, can vanish overnight” warning matters plus, pas moins, the plus Discover-dependent vous become. My honest lire: do the fonctionner que overlaps with everything sinon vous devez déjà be doing — genuinely bon content, honest titles, strong original images, fast mobile pages, clair authorship — and treat quelconque Découvrir trafic as upside. Don’t chase Découvrir- spécifique gimmicks, and don’t let a Découvrir spike lull vous into thinking you’ve construit a durable channel. Diversify so que the day Découvrir moves on (and pour quelconque donné article, it va) you’re pas left with nothing.

A remarque on Bing: Microsoft has a rough equivalent, Microsoft Commencer (the feed on Edge’s Nouveau Tab page, MSN, and the Microsoft Commencer app). It’s pas a surface la plupart personnes optimize pour directement, and Microsoft doesn’t publish detailed technical guidance comparable to Google’s Découvrir docs — but the même general principles (quality, aucun clickbait, clair authorship, strong images) transfer si vous publish news.

AI summary

A condensed prendre on the Avancé version:

• Découvrir is a feed, pas a requête réponse. Aucun keyword to target, aucun SERP position — seulement eligibility. It’s pushed to personnes fondé on Web & App Activity in the Google app, Chrome mobile Nouveau Tab, and google.com.
• Eligibility is automatic une fois une page is indexé and policy-compliant. “Aucun special tags or données structurées are requis.” Eligible ≠ guaranteed to apparaître.
• Documented levers: éviter clickbait and sensationalism; écrire honest titles; ship grand high-quality images (≥1200px wide, >300k pixels, 16:9) with max-image-preview:large + og:image/schema.org so Découvrir peut montrer a grand thumbnail; provide a bon page experience on a mobile-first surface. Evergreen content is eligible aussi, pas simplement news.
• Content policies are the enforcement couche: ad/sponsorship disclosure, aucun misleading previews, and transparency (bylines, author/publisher/contact info). Violations peut trigger a Discover-specific manual action in Search Console.
• Trafic is spiky and non-recurring by design. Google calls it supplemental and “less predictable or dependable” que search; Mueller describes it as “on or off”; Illyes warned pas to construire a business model on it. A spike-then-drop is normal, pas a penalty.
• Feb 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour (a first-of-its-kind) targeted clickbait/ sensationalism, local relevance, and topic-by-topic expertise.
• Be honest à propos de opacity: there’s aucun public “Discover algorithm,” aucun keyword targeting, aucun schema trick, and the Follow/RSS fonctionnalité is gone. Monitor in Search Console’s Découvrir filter.

Documentation officielle

Primary-source documentation from Google. Discover-specific guidance is thinner que Search guidance by design — ce is essentially the whole official définir.

Google — Découvrir

• Découvrir and votre website — the core doc: eligibility, recommended practices, image specs, pourquoi trafic changements, and the Performances report pointer.
• Découvrir content policies — the enforcement couche: ads/sponsorship, misleading content, transparency, and manual actions.
• Google’s February 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour — the premier Discover-specific core mettre à jour announcement (clickbait reduction, local relevance, topic-by-topic expertise).
• Introducing Google Découvrir (2018 launch) — the original “no query required” framing and the “800 million people” figure.

Connexe Google docs (cross-surface levers)

• Robots meta tag & max-image-preview — the directive que unlocks grand image previews in Découvrir.
• Search Console — Performances report — où the Découvrir filter lives.

Quotes from the source

On-the-record statements from Google. Chaque lien is a deep lien que jumps to the quoted passage on the source page.

Google — ce que Découvrir is and how eligibility fonctionne

• “Discover is a part of Google Search that shows people content related to their interests, based on their Web and App Activity.” — Découvrir and votre website, Recherche Google Central. Jump to quote
• “Content is automatically eligible to appear in Discover if it is indexed by Google and meets Discover’s content policies. No special tags or structured data are required. Note that being eligible to appear in Discover is not a guarantee of appearing.” Jump to quote
• “As part of Google Search, Discover makes use of many of the same signals and systems used by Search to determine what is helpful, people-first content.” Jump to quote

Google — the recommended practices (images, titles, clickbait, page experience)

• “Include compelling, high-quality images in your content that are relevant, especially large images that are more likely to generate visits from Discover.” Jump to quote
• “At least 1200 px wide; High resolution of more than 300,000 total pixels (for example, a 16:9 image that’s 1280x720 pixels would have 921,600 total pixels and satisfies this specification); 16x9 aspect ratio.” Jump to quote
• “Google tries to automatically crop the image for use in Discover… avoid using generic images (for example, your site logo)… For best results, avoid using text-heavy images.” Jump to quote

Google — trafic volatility

• “Traffic from Discover is less predictable or dependable when compared to keyword-driven search visits. Given its serendipitous nature, you should consider traffic from Discover as supplemental to your keyword-driven search traffic.” Jump to quote

Google — le contenu policies

• “We don’t allow preview content that misleads users to engage with it by promising details which aren’t reflected in the underlying content.” — Découvrir content policies, Recherche Google Aider. Lire the policy

John Mueller, Google — on/off trafic (via Moteur de recherche Journal’s reporting of the Feb 5, 2021 SEO Office Hours)

• “the traffic tends to be very on or off… suddenly you get a lot of traffic from Discover. And then our algorithms might at some point say it doesn’t make sense to show it that much in Discover anymore and then the traffic goes away.”
• “if you do see a lot of visibility from Google Discover, I think that’s fantastic. I just would be careful and kind of realize that this is something that can change fairly quickly.” Lire the coverage Relayed source — Mueller’s spoken remarks as reproduced by Moteur de recherche Journal; confirmer contre the original office-hours recording avant treating as final.

Gary Illyes, Google — don’t bet the business on it (via Moteur de recherche Roundtable’s reporting of a Nov 8, 2019 tweet)

• “I just hope people realize that this may go away overnight and they don’t build their whole business model around it.” Lire the coverage Relayed source — a tweet reproduced by Moteur de recherche Roundtable; confirmer contre the original post avant treating as final.

John Mueller, Google — the Feb 2026 core mettre à jour, topic-by-topic expertise

• “Since many sites demonstrate deep knowledge across a wide range of subjects, our systems are designed to identify expertise on a topic-by-topic basis. So whether a site has expertise in multiple areas or has a deep focus on a single topic, there’s equal opportunity to show up in Discover.” — Google’s February 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour, Recherche Google Central Blog. Lire the announcement

Découvrir mistakes — and Que faire à la place

The la plupart courant Découvrir myths, chaque paired with pourquoi it’s incorrect and ce que to en réalité do. La plupart of ces come from treating Découvrir comme search.

❌ “There’s a Discover algorithm / ranking-factors list I can reverse-engineer.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: Google has jamais publié ranking-factor documentation pour Découvrir the façon it has (loosely) pour Search. Ce que exists is an eligibility/meilleur- practices page and a content-policies page. Numbered “Discover ranking factors” listes are industry inference, pas confirmed mechanics. Do à la place: Follow the documented eligibility levers and content policies, and hold everything sinon as an unproven hypothesis.

❌ “You optimize for Discover with keywords.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: There’s aucun requête in Découvrir. Keyword targeting is a search concept que doesn’t map onto a feed. Do à la place: Optimize le contenu, the title’s honesty, the image, and lune page experience — pas a target term.

❌ “A Discover traffic drop means I got penalized.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: Google (and Mueller) décrire fluctuation as the normal behavior of the feed — driven by modification utilisateur interests, feed-composition changements, or unrelated Search updates. A spike-then-drop is attendu. Do à la place: Confirmer it’s a Discover-wide pattern (vérifier the Search Console Découvrir filter) avant assuming a quality problem; souvent there’s nothing to fix.

❌ “Special schema/structured data gets me into Discover.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: Aucun special tags or données structurées are requis pour eligibility. Do à la place: Définir max-image-preview:large (a robots directive) so a grand image peut montrer at tout, and optionally utiliser og:image/schema.org image markup to hint the preferred image. That’s the seulement markup-adjacent lever que matters.

❌ “Clickbait or a viral, sensational headline will get me picked up.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: Google explicitly noms avoiding clickbait and sensationalism as recommended practices, and the Feb 2026 core mettre à jour specifically targeted reducing les. Engagement bait points the incorrect façon. Do à la place: Écrire a headline que honestly captures the piece, and let a strong, relevant image do the “make me tap” fonctionner.

❌ “Once I’m in Discover, I’ll stay in Discover.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: Les deux the docs and Mueller’s “on or off” description dire the opposite — visibility peut disappear “fairly quickly,” and that’s attendu. Do à la place: Treat Découvrir as supplemental; diversify so aucun unique article’s Découvrir spike is load-bearing pour votre trafic.

❌ “RSS / the Follow feature is how I grow a Discover audience.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: The Follow fonctionnalité has been supprimé from Découvrir, and Google aucun plus long documents it as a Découvrir lever. Do à la place: Ignore Follow/RSS as a Découvrir tactic; it’s history.

❌ “Discover is only for breaking news, so evergreen content is pointless.” Pourquoi it’s incorrect: Google dit older content peut apparaître “si it’s utile and relevant to individuals fondé on leur interests.” Do à la place: Don’t withhold evergreen pieces from votre Découvrir thinking — a genuinely utile evergreen article with a strong image is eligible aussi.

”I’m not getting Discover traffic (or I lost it) — where do I start?”

Fonctionner top-down. La plupart Découvrir problems are soit an eligibility gate (image directive, policy problème) or the normal volatility of the feed — pas something exotic.

Découvrir eligibility checklist

A rapide réussir to confirmer you’re eligible and giving yourself the meilleur odds:

• Clé pages are indexé (eligibility prerequisite #1).
• Aucun Découvrir manual action in Search Console > Security & Manual actions.
• max-image-preview:large is définir (or lune page uses AMP) — the hard gate on grand images.
• Chaque article has a grand, relevant, original image: ≥1200px wide, >300k total pixels, 16:9 — specified via og:image or schema.org.
• Images are pas votre logo, pas text-heavy, and cropped/positioned pour landscape.
• Titles are honest — ils capture the essence of le contenu, aucun clickbait or exaggerated preview details.
• Aucun sensationalism (outrage/shock/titillation bait).
• Ads/sponsorship disclosed and pas exceeding le contenu.
• Transparency présent: clair dates, bylines, author/publisher info, and contact information.
• Page is fast and mobile-friendly (Core Web Vitals) — Découvrir is mobile-first.
• You’re monitoring the Découvrir filter in Search Console’s Performances report.
• You’re treating Découvrir trafic as supplemental, pas the foundation of votre trafic plan.

SOP: New-article Découvrir readiness réussir

A repeatable pre-publish vérifier to run on every article que pourrait plausibly earn Découvrir trafic. Takes a few minutes and closes the gaps que en réalité gate eligibility.

1. Confirmer the article va be indexable. Aucun noindex, pas blocked in robots.txt, canonical points to itself. Si it can’t be indexé, it can’t be eligible pour Découvrir.

2. Vérifier the large-image directive. Vérifier que lune page (or site-wide par défaut) sends max-image-preview:large. Ce is the most-missed gate — sans it, Découvrir can’t montrer a grand thumbnail regardless of image quality.

3. Ship a Discover-grade image. Un relevant, original image ≥1200px wide, >300k total pixels, 16:9, referenced in og:image (and/or schema.org). Pas the logo, pas text-heavy, cropped pour landscape. Ce is the unique la plupart visible lever.

4. Sanity-check the headline. Fait the title honestly capture the piece? Strip anything que over-promises, withholds the point, or trades on outrage/shock. Si it reads comme bait, rewrite it.

5. Confirmer transparency signals. Visible publish date, a réel byline lié to a meaningful author bio, and site-level publisher/contact info. Ces are named Découvrir content policies, pas optional polish.

6. Run the mobile/page-experience vérifier. Charger it on a phone (or run Core Web Vitals). Découvrir is mobile-first; a slow or clumsy mobile page undercuts everything ci-dessus.

7. Log a baseline, alors leave it alone. Après publishing, remarque the date so vous peut plus tard attribute quelconque Découvrir spike or drop in the Search Console Découvrir filter. Don’t tweak reactively on day un — Découvrir volatility is normal.

Recurrence: run steps 1–6 on every publish; run step 7 as a weekly glance at the Découvrir filter pour anything que spiked.

Prompts pour a Découvrir readiness examiner

Audit a draft card and article

Paste the headline, dek, draft corps, proposed og:image URL and dimensions, and the robots meta valeur. Expect an evidence-based readiness examiner, pas a prediction que the article va apparaître in Découvrir.

Review this article for Google Discover readiness using only these documented levers:
- The page must be indexed and comply with Search and Discover content policies.
- The headline and preview must accurately reflect the article, without clickbait,
  withheld details, sensationalism, or outrage bait.
- The proposed image should be relevant, high quality, at least 1200 px wide, more than
  300,000 total pixels, suitable for a 16:9 landscape crop, and not generic or text-heavy.
- Large previews require max-image-preview:large; og:image or image markup identifies
  the preferred image.
- The page should clearly show dates, bylines, author/publisher information, ownership,
  contact details, and sponsored-content disclosure where applicable.

Return pass, review, or fail for each item and quote the supplied evidence. Separate hard
eligibility/policy problems from best-practice improvements. Flag claims or image facts
that require a human to verify. Do not invent a Discover score, keyword target, ranking
factor, or guarantee of traffic.

[PASTE HEADLINE, DEK, ARTICLE, IMAGE DETAILS, ROBOTS VALUE, AND TRANSPARENCY ELEMENTS]

Comparer headline promise with article delivery

Paste several headline/corps pairs from un topic. Expect mismatch flags plus editorial questions; the model ne doit pas rewrite unsupported facts.

Check each supplied Google Discover headline against its article body.

For every pair, identify the central promise made by the headline and preview, show where
the body fulfills it, and flag exaggerated, withheld, or sensational details that the
article does not support. Also note whether the article adds timely or original insight
rather than merely repackaging the topic.

Return a table with: accurate as written, needs clarification, or misleading; the exact
evidence; and the smallest truthful headline adjustment. Preserve the supplied facts and
tone. Do not add urgency, certainty, names, numbers, or conclusions absent from the body.

[PASTE HEADLINE/BODY PAIRS]

Mental models pour Google Découvrir

1. Feed, pas SERP. Découvrir pushes cards from inferred interests; it ne fait pas réponse a requête. Là is aucun keyword position to target, so conventional rank-tracking logic fait pas décrire the opportunity.

2. Eligibility n’est pas distribution. Indexé, policy-compliant content is automatically eligible, but eligibility jamais guarantees an impression. Technical and policy checks ouvrir the door; an opaque personalized feed decides si and quand a card is affiché.

3. Hard gates versus probability levers. Indexability and policy compliance are gates. max-image-preview:large contrôle si a grand preview peut be utilisé. Honest headlines, strong images, original insight, topic expertise, and mobile page experience améliorer the conditions sans becoming public ranking-factor guarantees.

4. A spike is an episode, pas an annuity. Interests, content mix, and Search systems modifier. Evaluate Découvrir as supplemental, volatile distribution and éviter turning un article’s burst into a durable trafic forecast.

5. Expertise is topic-shaped. The February 2026 mettre à jour’s exemple rend depth dans a topic the utile unit. A broad publisher peut demonstrate expertise in a well-developed section; a one-off article outside its pattern ne fait pas establish the même signal.

Découvrir readiness référence

Image and preview requirements

Eligibility, optimization, and reporting

Ne faites pas confuse ces surfaces

• Search: query-driven; keywords and ranked results exist.
• Découvrir: personalized, queryless feed; trafic peut switch on and off.
• Google News / Top Stories: news eligibility and ranking, with différent policy and distribution mechanics.

Vérifier the live Découvrir image gates in DevTools

Ouvrir the article, alors paste ce into le navigateur’s DevTools Console. It reports the robots preview directives, resolves the og:image, loads it, and checks the documented width, pixel-area, and approximate 16:9 criteria. Ce is une page-output vérifier, pas proof que Google va select the image or distribute the article.

(() => {
  const robots = [...document.querySelectorAll('meta[name]')]
    .filter((meta) => /^(robots|googlebot)$/i.test(meta.getAttribute('name') || ''))
    .map((meta) => ({
      name: meta.getAttribute('name'),
      content: meta.getAttribute('content') || '',
    }));

  const preview = robots
    .flatMap((meta) => meta.content.split(',').map((part) => part.trim().toLowerCase()))
    .find((part) => part.startsWith('max-image-preview:')) || 'not declared';

  const rawImage = document
    .querySelector('meta[property="og:image"], meta[name="og:image"]')
    ?.getAttribute('content');

  if (!rawImage) {
    console.table({
      maxImagePreview: preview,
      largePreviewAllowed: preview === 'max-image-preview:large',
      ogImage: 'missing',
    });
    return;
  }

  const imageUrl = new URL(rawImage, document.baseURI).href;
  const image = new Image();
  image.onload = () => {
    const width = image.naturalWidth;
    const height = image.naturalHeight;
    const pixels = width * height;
    const ratio = width / height;
    console.table({
      maxImagePreview: preview,
      largePreviewAllowed: preview === 'max-image-preview:large',
      ogImage: imageUrl,
      dimensions: `${width}×${height}`,
      widthAtLeast1200: width >= 1200,
      pixelsOver300k: pixels > 300000,
      approximately16by9: Math.abs(ratio - 16 / 9) < 0.08,
    });
  };
  image.onerror = () => console.error('The og:image could not be loaded:', imageUrl);
  image.src = imageUrl;
})();

The ratio vérifier uses a petit tolerance parce que a landscape image peut be cropped; inspect the réel composition yourself to confirmer the subject survives a 16:9 crop and que the asset is neither generic nor text-heavy.

Outils pour Découvrir card preflight and reporting

• Ouvrir Graph & Social Preview — récupérer a live page, vérifier its Ouvrir Graph image and dimensions, and preview how the headline/image pair renders à travers card surfaces. Utiliser it to catch manquant or unsuitable og:image output; it ne peut pas tell vous si Découvrir va select or distribute lune page.
• Navigateur DevTools — run the script in the Scripts lens on the live article to inspect max-image-preview and the resolved image dimensions in rendered output.
• Recherche Google Console Découvrir Performances report — the source of Découvrir impressions, clicks, and CTR une fois the property has suffisant impressions pour the report to apparaître. Absence of the report n’est pas proof que content violates eligibility rules.
• Recherche Google Console Inspection d’URL — confirmer lune page is indexé and inspect the rendered output quand eligibility is in doubt; Découvrir has aucun separate submission outil.
• Search Console Manual Actions — vérifier pour a Découvrir policy action quand a site-wide visibility loss coincides with an réel policy notice, plutôt que assuming every trafic drop is a penalty.

Ongoing Découvrir performances metrics

Découvrir is volatile, so segment by article, topic, and publish cohort and comparer with the property’s propre history. A manquant Découvrir report peut simply mean the reporting threshold has pas been reached.

Découvrir impressions

• Metric: Impressions reported in Search Console’s Découvrir Performances report.
• Ce que it indique vous: How souvent eligible content was en réalité distributed as a Découvrir card; it measures feed exposure, pas keyword rank.
• How to pull it: Search Console → Performances → Découvrir, segmented by page and date; export by topic or publishing cohort quand comparing editorial patterns.
• Benchmark / realistic range: Establish the property’s propre baseline. Parce que interests and feed mix modifier, aucun universal impression target or stable article curve is defensible.
• Cadence: Weekly pour editorial examiner and monthly pour topic/cohort trends; interpret individual spikes as volatile leading exposure plutôt que recurring trafic.

Découvrir clicks

• Metric: Clicks from Découvrir cards in the même Search Console report.
• Ce que it indique vous: The visits generated by feed distribution après a card is affiché.
• How to pull it: Search Console → Performances → Découvrir → Clicks, grouped by page, date, and topic; garder it separate from query-driven Web Search clicks.
• Benchmark / realistic range: Comparer articles with similaire impression opportunity and topic context contre votre propre historical cohorts. Ne faites pas forecast a permanent run rate from a short burst.
• Cadence: Weekly pendant que stories are active and monthly in the broader channel examiner; ce is an outcome of impressions and card appeal.

Découvrir CTR

• Metric: Click-through rate reported pour Découvrir impressions.
• Ce que it indique vous: How souvent affiché cards earn a click, reflecting the combined headline, image, topic, and audience context—pas a unique isolated ranking factor.
• How to pull it: Search Console → Performances → Découvrir → Average CTR, reviewed by page and topic alongside impression volume.
• Benchmark / realistic range: Utiliser medians from comparable pages on the même property. Low-volume CTR is unstable, and là is aucun honest cross-site Découvrir target.
• Cadence: Monthly or by completed article cohort; éviter optimizing daily noise or turning CTR into permission pour clickbait.

Testez vos connaissances: Google Découvrir SEO

Five rapide questions on how Découvrir fonctionne and how to be eligible. Pick an réponse pour chaque, alors vérifier.

Ressources utiles

My connexe writing

• The Beginner’s Guide to SEO technique — où publisher-specific surfaces comme Découvrir sit relative to the technical foundation every site nécessite.

My speaking

• How Search Fonctionne (SlideShare) — my walkthrough of exploration, rendering, indexation, and ranking; utile background since Découvrir reuses Search’s signals. (My standing disclaimer s’applique: “This is my understanding of systems… not going to be 100% complete or accurate.”)

From autour the industry

• Découvrir and votre website (Recherche Google Central) — the principal source pour eligibility, image specs, and pourquoi trafic changements.
• Découvrir content policies (Recherche Google Aider) — the enforcement couche la plupart guides skip.
• Google’s February 2026 Découvrir core mettre à jour (Recherche Google Central Blog) — the premier Discover-specific core mettre à jour, in Google’s propre words.
• Google’s John Mueller Explique Inconsistent Découvrir Trafic (Moteur de recherche Journal) — the “on or off” quotes on pourquoi Découvrir trafic vanishes.
• Google Warns: Don’t Construire Votre Business Autour Google Découvrir Trafic (Moteur de recherche Roundtable) — Gary Illyes’ “may go away overnight” warning.
• Ce que is Google Découvrir? A complet guide pour publishers & SEOs (Moteur de recherche Land) — a fuller publisher-oriented guide (lire its “ranking factors” claims as industry inference, pas confirmed mechanics).
• Google trafic to news publishers is steady, but it isn’t traditional Search (Moteur de recherche Land) — Chartbeat/PressGazette données on how dominant Découvrir has become pour publishers.