Google has updated the help document on Google Discover. It has been almost completely revamped but one of the more interesting areas of the update is the section added to E-A-T. I mean, we know Google Discover can be impacted by Core updates in a big way but still.
This was first noticed by Kenichi Suzuki on Twitter.
The new section in the help document reads "Our automated systems surface content in Discover from sites that have many individual pages that demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T). Those looking to improve E-A-T can consider some of the same questions we encourage site owners to consider for Search. While Search and Discover are different, the overall principles for E-A-T as it applies to content within them are similar."
Yes, that link references Google's Core update advice.
Just a reminder, Google does not explicitly measure EAT in search. But it does align the other signals around EAT on some level.
Here is the content Google had before on this page (OLD CONTENT):
Optimize your content for Discover:Google can present a summary of your page as a card shown to users in Discover, which is a scrollable list of topics that users can browse on their mobile devices. Tapping a card will send the user to the page that is the source of the Discover entry.
Discover shows users a mix of content based on their interactions with Google products or content that they choose to follow directly. And we're not limited to what's published today — if we think that a user would find earlier content interesting, then Discover will show it.
Discover also features videos, sports scores, entertainment updates (such as a new movie release), stock prices, event information (such as the nominees for a major award ceremony, or the lineup of an upcoming music festival), and more. Discover is a content hub for all of your interests.
Optimize your content for Discover:
Discover content is algorithmically ranked by what Google thinks a user would find most interesting. Content ranking is powered by the strength of the match between an article's content and a user's interests, so there aren't any methods for boosting the ranking of your pages other than posting content that you think users will find interesting.
We strongly encourage you to follow Google's Webmaster Guidelines to make sure your pages are indexed correctly and easily accessible to users. Your pages are eligible to appear in Discover if they are indexed by Google and meet Google News content policies. No special tags or structured data are required.
The two best ways to boost the ranking and performance of your Discover content are (1) to post content that you think users would find interesting and (2) to use high-quality images in your content. Publishers experience a 5% increase in clickthrough rate, a 3% increase in time spent on their pages, and a 3% increase in user satisfaction when Discover cards feature large images instead of thumbnail images.
To enable large images in your Discover results:
- Use large, high-quality images that are at least 1,200 px wide, and
- Ensure that Google has the rights to display your high-quality images to users, either by using AMP or by filling out this form to express your interest in our opt-in program.Monitor your performance on Discover:
If you have content on Discover, you can monitor your performance using the Performance Report for Discover. This report shows impressions, clicks, and CTR for any of your content that has appeared in on Discover in the last 16 months, as long as your data reaches a minimum threshold of impressions.
Here is the new version (NEW):
Google Discover and your website:Google Discover shows users content related to their interests, based on their Web & App Activity.
How Discover is different from Search:
With Search, users enter a search term to find helpful information related to their query, but Discover takes a different approach. Instead of showing results in response to a query, Discover surfaces content primarily based on what Google's automated systems believe to be a good match with a user's interests. The content in Discover changes regularly based on newly published web content or evolving user interests.
Given the serendipitous nature of Discover, traffic from Discover is less predictable or dependable when compared to Search, and should be considered supplemental to your Search traffic. This means that you might create and optimize content to fulfill specific search needs for search engine traffic, but there is no way to create content that explicitly targets Discover's interest matching.
How content appears in Discover:
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. Please note that being eligible to appear in Discover is not a guarantee of appearing.
To increase the likelihood of success, ensure that you are posting outstanding and engaging content that you think users would find interesting. Especially consider the following:
- Having page titles that capture the essence of the content, but in a non-clickbait fashion.
- Avoiding tactics to artificially inflate engagement by using misleading or exaggerated details in preview content (title, snippets, images) to increase appeal, or by withholding crucial information required to understand what the content is about.
- Avoiding tactics that manipulate appeal by catering to morbid curiosity, titillation, or outrage.
- Having content that’s timely for current interests, tells a story well, or provides unique insights.
- Providing clear dates, bylines, information about authors, the publication, the publisher, company or network behind it, and contact information to better build trust and transparency with visitors.
- Including compelling, high-quality images in your content, especially large images that are more likely to generate visits from Discover. Large images need to be at least 1200 px wide and enabled by the max-image-preview:large setting, or by using AMP. Avoid using a site logo as your image.Our automated systems surface content in Discover from sites that have many individual pages that demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T). Those looking to improve E-A-T can consider some of the same questions we encourage site owners to consider for Search. While Search and Discover are different, the overall principles for E-A-T as it applies to content within them are similar.
Monitor your performance on Discover:
If you have content on Discover, you can monitor your performance using the Performance Report for Discover. This report shows impressions, clicks, and CTR for any of your content that has appeared in on Discover in the last 16 months, as long as your data reaches a minimum threshold of impressions.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: A few days later, Google tweeted about it:
We’ve updated our publisher support content related to Discover, including guidance around article titles, enabling high-quality large images and having timely, engaging content. More here: https://t.co/OkWTbH32Xv
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 16, 2020
