Skip to an example discussing how Google Discover interest graph look alike works or why writing experience based content can help get more traffic from Google Discover or an example article showing what should be included in an experience based article to make it more authoritative so that it get more visibility in Google Discover or what is contextual writing about trending topics which also works really well for eCommerce sites to get in Google Discover (hey I have done this across multiple eCom clients of mine)
Google Discover is just a feed created by Google based upon your previous search history and your interest across all the Google services, which involves YouTube, your Play Store activity, and your search activity for the most part.
This means that whatever you are doing across Google surfaces is something that Google is trying to use to understand what you might be interested in knowing or what audiences that look like you might be interested in.
For example, if you are an adult aged 18 to 25, and if most of the people who are using Google services in your age range are interested in, let’s say, football, it might be possible that Google shows you football related content in your Discover feed, even if you are not searching for or interacting with any football-related content across any Google surface.
So, this is how Google Discover works and it’s mostly based upon the interest graph
Now, one of the key points to know is that it’s not only based upon one’s interest graph.
It’s based upon the overall interest graph and the look alike audience (Google users who have some similarities with each other)
For example Gagan Ghotra (yeap me)
I’m always interested in knowing about what’s happening in SEO. That’s why, using Google Search, I mostly search for things like recent SEO news, SEO updates and other queries like this.
From that Google might understand that okay
Gagan is interested in SEO.
But at the same time, Google might choose to show me content related to marketing because, in the overall data that Google has of so many people using their services, it might be possible that there are so many people who are searching for SEO (& related keyword) and at the same time are looking for content related to general marketing as well.
So, this is how Google Discover might end up showing you
not only the content that you are actually interested in but also the content that is similar to your interests, like for me, SEO and general marketing and other topics like that.
But as a site owner, how you can optimize for this really
– depends upon the topic of your site
– how you are writing
– what you are writing. .
I call this editorial strategy for Google Discover. This is the most important part of your strategy to get more visibility in Google Discover.
Now there are a lot of things that need to be made sure to get visibility in Google Discover, but the starting point is making sure that you are aligned with the basic Google Discover guidelines that Google has put out and at the same time your site is not violating any of Google Discover content policies.
These are some of the technical guidelines, including using images in a certain format. This is just the basic.
Ensuring that your basics are done right does not in any way guarantee that you will end up getting visibility in Google Discover.
Let alone getting millions of clicks every day.
But if your basics are done right, and on top of that, your editorial strategy is aligned with the interest graph of your targeted audience, that’s how you can end up getting millions of clicks every week from Google Discover.
Here are some tips to ensure that your editorial strategy is aligned with something that Google might choose to show in Google Discover. These are the two main points that I generally discuss with my clients or the prospective publishers that I talk with every week. There are a lot of specific editorial things which can be improved on sites but based upon my recent conversations with couple of publishers these are my key recommendations to better align the editorial strategy with interest graph of your potential audience
Write not just information but Experience
Whenever talking about something, not just share generic information about it but on top of that talk about your experience of doing or using it (if its a product). Like a simple example for this that I shared with some publishers is this recent article from Android Authority.
First of all the headline of this article “I switched to a new Android voice assistant, and Google Gemini now feels outdated”
– Headline clearly communicates that its someone’s personal experience of using A & B then choosing one
– Multiple side by side comparisons of A vs B (evidence by showing screenshots that’s something which matters a lot specifically for Google Discover – its almost like just saying isn’t enough – present the evidence) and added commentary to explain what author liked vs not
– For users engagement adding a kind of QA and users can select the option that they like
– Based upon experience of using A & B talking about why A is better
– Again based upon experience of using A & B talking about why some still should use B but I (author) prefer using A
Putting all together, I think writing experience based articles showing evidence backing that experience and at the same time providing specific points what was experienced or done are the type of articles that Google Discover wanna show more often. And I think aligning the editorial strategy of site with this will increase chances of getting more visibility in Google Discover.
And speaking of another thing about Google Discover
Cover trending social topics but make them contextually relevant to your site’s main topic
A lot of discussion nowadays is happening on social media platforms like X, which was previously known as Twitter.
Instagram is also one of the things that is really, really popular, especially amongst the Gen Z or young generation.
Many Reel videos go really, really viral. And of course TikTok is well known, everyone uses it.
What happens nowadays is that sometimes someone may post something which is really, really unique.
Either it be a news kind of video, a product review of something, or anything—like anything can go viral nowadays.
Even simple memes can go viral.
But what you as a site owner can do is keep an eye on these trending topics across all these different social media platforms that I mentioned.
Then think of ways in which you can create content related to what is trending on these socials and create content about those topics such that it’s contextually relevant to the main topic of your site.
A simple example can be, which I have exactly done for many e-commerce sites and it has worked out really, really well to get good visibility from Google Discover, is creating content related to famous personalities, especially from Bollywood.
So let’s say there is a new show or some sort of event happening and many famous personalities are going there. Then you can create content about what outfit they are wearing and if your clothes can be used to create similar outfits for people.
It’s almost like if some specific kind of dress is being worn by let’s say Taylor Swift, you can write a commentary on it. You can explain what the dress is and how to get it or create similar kind of outfit and link to your products from those blog posts.
Conclusion
So write experiences and about topics which are being discussed by people on socials – seems simple but need to be done strategically to get more visibility and traffic from Google Discover.
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