In this comprehensive guide, we'll unveil the 15 crucial steps you need to follow to secure a prominent spot on the Google Discover feed and drive a surge of traffic to your website. From optimizing your images and meta tags to crafting engaging content and leveraging RSS feeds, we'll cover everything you need to know to stay ahead of the competition on both mobile and desktop platforms.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Google Discover
Google Discover, a personalized feed showcasing news, articles, web stories, and videos based on user interests, has not only been limited to mobile devices but is also making its debut on desktop platforms. With the potential for driving significant traffic, it's crucial for website owners to understand the strategies to secure a spot on Google Discover. By following the 15 essential steps, website owners can position themselves to capitalize on the enormous traffic potential from Google Discover.
High-Quality, Wide Images
Optimizing Image Dimensions
Your web page should feature high-quality images with a width of at least 1200 pixels, ensuring that the images are of good quality and well-suited to the content. While there are no specific guidelines for image height, it is essential to ensure that the images are not distorted or disproportionate.
Optimizing the max-image-preview Meta Tag
The max-image-preview meta tag plays a crucial role in determining how your web page's images are displayed in the Google Discover feed. By setting the max-image-preview to 'large', you enable Google to use a large, full-width image from your web page in the Discover feed, increasing the visibility of your content to users. Here's how you can ensure that your website is optimized for the max-image-preview meta tag:
Understanding the max-image-preview Options
The max-image-preview meta tag offers three options: 'none', 'standard', and 'large'. When set to 'none', Google won't display your images in the preview, affecting their visibility on search results pages and rich results. Setting it to 'standard' allows Google to use a small image, while 'large' permits the use of a full-width image in the Google Discover feed.
Checking and Adjusting the Setting
For WordPress Users: If you use a WordPress website, you can easily adjust this setting through your SEO plugin, ensuring that the max-image-preview is set to 'large' for enhanced visibility on Google Discover.
For Other Platforms or Custom-Coded Websites: If your website is on a different platform or custom-coded, it's essential to work with your developer to ensure that the max-image-preview meta tag is correctly set to 'large' for all pages intended for display in the Google Discover feed.
Proper Use of Your Website's Logo
Your website's logo is a vital element of your brand identity, and its usage can impact how your content is perceived on social media and in the Google Discover feed. By following best practices for utilizing your website's logo, you can enhance the appeal and click-worthiness of your content. Here's how to ensure the proper use of your website's logo:
Optimizing Logo Placement
Ensure that your website's logo is used appropriately and sparingly across your web pages. It should be primarily featured in the header and used as a small element in graphics, avoiding excessive use in social sharing cards, footers, sidebars, and page content.
Enhancing Discover Feed Quality
By refraining from using oversized logos in the Google Discover feed, you contribute to creating an exciting and visually appealing feed that entices users to click and engage with your content. Limiting the display of logos in the Discover feed can enhance the overall quality and appeal of your content to users.
Crafting Accurate and Engaging Titles
The title of your page plays a crucial role in capturing the user's attention and driving clicks from the Google Discover feed. It's essential to ensure that the title accurately reflects the content of your page to maintain user satisfaction. Additionally, avoiding exaggerated claims and sensationalism in titles is vital for building trust with your audience and fostering long-term engagement.
Matching Title with Content
Align the title of your page with the actual content to ensure that users find the information they expect upon clicking. This helps in establishing credibility and trust with the audience, ultimately leading to higher user satisfaction and engagement.
Avoiding Exaggerated Claims
Steer clear of sensationalism and clickbait tactics in titles, meta descriptions, and thumbnails. By maintaining authenticity and accuracy in your titles, you can build a loyal audience base and foster sustained engagement with your content.
Embracing Creativity
Utilize creativity to make your titles interesting without resorting to exaggeration or sensational claims. Engaging and creative titles can capture the audience's attention while maintaining accuracy and authenticity.
Strive to strike a balance between intriguing and accurate titles, leveraging creativity to pique the interest of users without compromising on the integrity of your content.
Creating Interesting and Trending Content
Delivering captivating and timely content is essential for capturing the attention of users browsing through the Google Discover feed. By focusing on the latest trends or providing unique and valuable information, you can enhance the visibility and click-worthiness of your content in the Discover feed.
Staying Updated with Trends
Develop content that aligns with current trends to attract users scrolling through the Discover feed. By offering valuable insights on trending topics, you can increase the likelihood of users engaging with your content.
Offering Unique and Valuable Information
Provide content that offers unique and insightful information, catering to the diverse interests of users browsing through the Discover feed. By presenting compelling and valuable content, you can attract clicks and engagement from a broad audience base.
Enabling and Optimizing Your RSS Feed
To ensure visibility in the Google Discover feed, website owners must enable and optimize their RSS feed. Here are key steps to consider:
Ignoring Currently Not Indexed Feed URLs
Google crawls but does not index RSS feed URLs as the content is the same as the page. In the Search Console's "currently not indexed" section, it's essential to ignore these feed URLs, as there is no loss in doing so.
Avoid Blocking RSS Feed URLs
Do not block or disallow RSS feed URLs from robots.txt, as this prevents Googlebot from visiting and reading the content, impacting its visibility in the feed.
Ensure that caching plugins do not cache the feed URLs, maintaining their updated status for optimal performance.
Providing a Follow RSS/Atom Feed Option
It's crucial to offer a convenient way for users to follow the RSS feed or Atom feed on your website. By incorporating this feature, you can enhance user engagement and ensure seamless access to your latest content.
Ensuring Proper Title and Link Elements in RSS Feed
When optimizing your website for visibility in the Google Discover feed, it's essential to ensure that the RSS feed includes proper title and link elements. These elements play a crucial role in how your content is presented and accessed by users and Googlebot. Here's how you can verify and optimize the title and link elements in your RSS feed:
Verifying Title and Link Element Visibility
Open the feed URL on your website and check if the title and link elements are visible. The presence of these elements is vital as they determine how your content is displayed in the Discover feed and ensure that users are directed to the actual page when clicking on the feed thumbnail.
Disclosing Sponsored Content and Links
It is essential to clearly disclose all sponsored content on your website to ensure transparency and build trust with your audience. Clearly marking sponsored content allows users to differentiate between sponsored and organic content, providing them with a transparent understanding of the content's origin. Additionally, all sponsored links on your page should be labeled with a sponsored attribute, clearly indicating their nature. Utilizing the sponsored tag for links is crucial for ensuring that Google Discover can accurately recognize and attribute sponsored content, enhancing the visibility and credibility of your website.
Transparency for Political Content
When hosting political content on your website, it is imperative to provide clear and transparent disclosures regarding any affiliations with political parties or biases in favor of a specific political party. Clearly mentioning affiliations or memberships with political parties within the content of your page contributes to transparency and fosters trust with your audience, ensuring they are informed about the political stance of the content they are engaging with.
Providing Clear Information About Your Website
Clear information about the author, publisher, and website is crucial for establishing transparency and building trust with the audience. Here's how you can effectively provide this information:
Author Profile and Social Media Links
Include a detailed profile of the author, showcasing their expertise and background to establish credibility.
Add the author's social media links to facilitate direct engagement and interaction with the audience.
Publisher Details
Provide clear information about the publisher, particularly if it is your website, to offer transparency regarding the source of the content.
About Us and Contact Information
Include comprehensive details about the website's mission, vision, and values in the 'About Us' section to offer insight into the website's purpose and objectives.
Publish updated contact information on the 'Contact Us' page, ensuring it is easily accessible in the primary menu and footer for user convenience.
Displaying Up-to-Date Contact Information
As an organization, your website should maintain updated contact information to facilitate communication with readers, viewers, and potential advertisers. Here's how you can ensure the effective display of contact information:
Primary Menu and Footer Placement
Ensure that the 'Contact Us' page is prominently featured in the primary menu and footer of your website, making it easily accessible to users navigating the site.
Conclusion: Putting it All Together
By implementing the 15 essential steps to optimize your website for the Google Discover feed, you can significantly enhance the visibility and traffic potential of your web pages. With a focus on high-quality imagery, accurate and engaging content, optimized RSS feeds, transparent disclosures, and up-to-date author and publisher information, your website can secure a prominent position in the Google Discover feed. By adhering to these strategies, website owners can position themselves for increased visibility and engagement, ultimately driving significant traffic to their web pages.