Published on: March 11, 2025 / update from: March 11, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Google News & Google Discover SEO - The Champions League of search engine optimization - advice, support & optimization - Image: Xpert.digital
Digital visibility newly thought: Use potential of Google Discover
Google News & Google Discover SEO - The Champions League of search engine optimization
In the digital world, the search behavior of the users has changed fundamentally. While the classic Google search still plays a central role, Google News and Google Discover have developed into important traffic sources that offer enormous potential for websites-especially for publishers and news portals. Similar to the Champions League, where the elite of European football measures, these platforms represent the premier class of digital content distribution. If you want to be successful here, you have to develop special strategies and meet the highest quality standards. In this report, we analyze how websites can significantly increase their visibility and organic traffic through targeted optimization for Google News and Google Discover.
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Basics of Google News
Google News was introduced by Alphabet in 2002 as a vertical search engine and has since developed into a central point of contact for the latest news. The system compils news content and presents you both in the desktop search and on mobile devices in a prominent position within the organic search results. In the case of searches with high up-to-date reference, relevant news articles are particularly highlighted, which can provide the participating websites considerable traffic advantages.
However, the inclusion in the Google News ecosystem is linked to strict requirements. Websites must meet both technical and qualitative criteria and officially be included in the news program for publisher by Google. The basic requirements include reporting on current events, the creation of original content instead of copied materials as well as transparency regarding authorship and contact information. Compliance with these standards is crucial because websites that are represented in Google News usually benefit from a significantly higher traffic than conventionally indexed websites.
Special algorithms apply to the ranking of the URLs within Google News, which differ from the classic search engine algorithm. The topicality and authority of the source in particular play an outstanding role here. Mobile news pages are often displayed as an amp (accelerated mobile pages) in the search results, which optimizes the charging speed and thus improves the user experience.
Basics of Google Discover
Google Discover is a further development in the area of information procurement. In contrast to the classic search, in which users have to actively search for information, Google Discover automatically presents content based on the individual search behavior, interests and location data of the user. This strongly personalized feed appears on smartphones and tablets when opening the Google app or visiting the Google Home page.
The system uses advanced machine learning algorithms to identify content relevant to the user. An essential feature is the continuous improvement through user feedback - the more Google Discover is used, the more precise the content suggestions. Originally, the service was only available on Android devices, but has now been extended to iOS devices, which has increased its reach considerably.
Google Discover can be seen as a further development of the former Google News Feed, but differs in essential points. While Google News primarily presents the latest messages, Discover shows a broader spectrum of content that could match the interests of the user - from messages to blog posts to videos and product recommendations. The information is presented in a visually appealing format with large images, headings and short descriptions, which increases the interaction rate.
The fact that Google Discover works without an active search query makes it a mixture of search engine and social network, whereby personalization is in the foreground. Users can adapt their feed by defining their interests in the settings or giving direct feedback on individual content, for example “Show more of it” by the option.
Differences between Google News and Google Discover
Although Google News and Google Discover have similarities at first glance, there are fundamentally different concepts and areas of application. Google Discover is basically a further development of Google News and offers users significantly more individually tailored content. While Google News primarily focuses on daily messages, discover presents a broader spectrum of content formats that correspond to the personal interests of the users.
A significant difference is in the temporal dimension of the content presented. Google News mainly focuses on brand new reports, whereas discover articles can be older-but usually not older than five days. This enables websites with Evergreen-Content, which is not directly bound to daily events, also to benefit from the platform.
There is also a significant difference in terms of availability: Google Discover can only be used on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, while Google News is available both mobile and on the desktop. This restriction of discover to mobile use underlines the increasing importance of mobile-first strategies in search engine optimization.
Personalization achieves a significantly higher level at Google Discover than on Google News. The system not only analyzes the search history, but also the course of the browser, the location, the apps used and other data points in order to create the exact possible interest profile. This profound personalization means that two users with different interests are completely displayed different discover feeds-a phenomenon that is less pronounced with Google News.
SEO optimization for Google News
Search engine optimization for Google News requires specific measures, some of which differ from conventional SEO. It is particularly important to optimize the content, with headlines and teaser playing a crucial role. These elements decisively decide whether an article is read in its entirety - both in the analog and digital news business.
A professional design of title, description and H1 heading is therefore particularly relevant. The content of individual items should be described in a short but detailed manner, contained relevant keywords and encourage the user to click.
Whether you are: The meta-tag “News_Keywords” for use in Google News, which could be filled with relevant keywords, is no longer up to date. Before that, the number of keywords was limited to 5 to 10.
With regard to the scope of the text, the content of Google News is recommended for a minimum length of 125 words for headlines and at least 200 words for further messages. This ensures that sufficient context and depth of information are offered to meet quality requirements.
The technical implementation of structured data also plays a central role. The elements of an article must be made optimal for search engines and should therefore be awarded scheme.org/newsarticle and for blog posts with scheme.org/blogposting. The identification of the headline, the article image, the publication date, the article description and the author as structured data are particularly important.
Another technical aspect is the creation of a special Google News-Sitemap. The conventional XML siteemap of a website is not sufficient for Google News. Instead, a dedicated Google News-Sitemap is required, which provides information in a specific format and thus optimizes indexing the message content.
In general, it is assumed that the title should be extended for a maximum of 55 characters long and fully. Most titles in the organic search results are between 45 and 55 characters long. However, a shorter title that contains keywords and possibly a number can draw attention to your listing.
Xpert.digital has a different opinion. We do not go into this in more detail here. Just so much:
- Supposedly titles between 40 and 60 characters have the highest click rate, but this cannot be proven empirically. The topic is far too complex for this and does not go into account the various search intentions. See also suitable items below.
- Allegedly, titles below 30 characters are frequently rewritten.
- Mobile search results often allow longer titles.
- There are no strict SEO penalty for longer titles, but they could be cut off.
- Shorter titles can stand out from the crowd because most titles are between 45 and 55 characters long.
- A short, concise title with keywords and possibly a number can draw attention to your search result.
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SEO optimization for Google Discover
The optimization for Google Discover is fundamentally different from the classic keyword-based SEO strategy. With Google Discover, direct optimization on keywords is simply impossible because content is played out, although or precisely because users are not looking for anything. Instead, the individual interest and the previous interactions of the users play the crucial role.
High quality and easy-to-read content comes first when optimizing discover. In contrast to general search engine optimization, the content for Google Discover should primarily focus on the interests of users and provide you with information on a topic far beyond your search terms. This means that the content must match the interests of the users and offer real added value.
The image optimization is particularly important on Google Discover, since the visual elements significantly decide on the attention of users. Large, high quality images with a minimum size of 1200px width and an aspect ratio of 16: 9 or 4: 3 are recommended. These visually appealing elements increase the likelihood that users interact with the content.
The EAT principle (expertise, authoritativeness, trusting) plays an outstanding role in Google Discover. Websites that demonstrate their expertise as authorities are perceived in their field and enjoy trust have significantly better chances of being prominently placed in the discover feed. This underlines the importance of a transparent representation of authorship, sources and editorial standards.
Headings should be meaningful and encourage users to interact with the content, but without falling into clickbaiting. You should arouse curiosity, but at the same time keep what you promise. Numbers or questions can help to arouse interest and increase the click rates.
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The Champions League strategy: football pages and Google News/Discover
For football sites and clubs, Google News and Discover offer particularly attractive opportunities to increase their reach and to open up new target groups. The analogy to the Champions League is quite suitable - if you want to be successful here, you have to offer first -class performance and act strategically.
For example, Google has implemented a special Champions League Experience in Google News, which from September to May offers current updates, game results, previews and video highlights for every game. Users can follow the Champions League theme and then automatically receive preliminary and follow-up reports and live updates for all games. In addition, you can dive deeply in club and player messages, including constellations, game statistics, analyzes, injury reports and much more.
A special challenge for football clubs lies in the changing fan behavior. Modern fans are increasingly identifying with individual players instead of just with clubs, which also affects the buying behavior in merchandise products. Football clubs can react to this trend through targeted SEO strategies, for example by introducing “shop-by-player” sites, attractive player profiles and categories for club history and player legends. Categories such as “Hall of Fame”, “club legends” or “History”, in which the work of particularly well -deserved players is recognized.
Live blogs have proven to be an extremely effective instrument to generate considerable traffic from Google during games or tournaments. People typically search on Google when a much attention is due or a played game expected. These search trends are increasing significantly when a played game is closer. Google also tends to tend in live blogs higher than normal news articles.
When implementing live blogs, it is important that they are integrated natively as part of the article and not as embedded third-party software so that the content of the live blog can be properly indexed by Google. This integration makes it possible to react to the game in real time and at the same time benefit from the SEO advantages.
Success measurement and analysis
The success measurement and analysis of performance in Google News and Google Discover is crucial to identify optimization potential and continuously improve the content strategy. The Google Search Console offers special reports that provide detailed insights into the performance.
For Google Discover there is a separate area in the Search Console, which shows the most important KPIs (key performance indicators). This report visualizes the traffic that comes to the website via discover and enables a differentiated analysis according to various metrics. Based on this data, future content can be specifically optimized by analyzing which types of articles generate most traffic and how they are structured.
The evaluation of the click rates and impressions over time is particularly revealing. This data provides information about which topics are particularly well received by the target group and which content formats achieve the highest engagement rate. The continuous analysis of these metrics can be refined and adapted to the specific requirements of Google Discover.
Similar metrics are relevant for measuring success in Google News. Here it is also worth taking a look at the performance of individual subject areas and news formats. The analysis can provide information about whether, for example, background reports, urgent reports or analyzes should be better performed and accordingly more weight in content planning.
The integration of the knowledge gained into the editorial workflow is of crucial importance. TakeValue emphasizes the importance of optimizing the editorial workflow in order to operate current demand in Google News. This not only includes the technical SEO, but also organizational aspects such as the time planning of publications and the resource allocation for various content formats.
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This is how you optimize your content for Google Discover and Google New
Google News and Google Discover have developed into significant columns in the digital ecosystem and, to a certain extent, represent the Champions League of Content Distribution. Websites that specifically optimize your content for these platforms can achieve considerable traffic increases and improved visibility.
The differences between the two systems are significant and require specific optimization strategies. While Google News primarily focuses on the latest messages and is available on both desktop and mobile devices, Google Discover offers a more personalized approach that works exclusively on mobile devices. These differences must be taken into account in the development of a comprehensive content strategy.
The continuous analysis of performance using Google Search Console is essential to refine the content strategy and to adapt to the constantly developing algorithms. Websites that consistently optimize your content and take into account both technical and content aspects will benefit in the long term from improved visibility and higher user interaction.
In the always changing digital landscape, Google News and Google Discover will continue to play a central role in the future. Websites that consider these platforms as an integral part of their content strategy and optimize accordingly will secure a decisive competitive advantage in the Champions League of search engine optimization.
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Konrad Wolfenstein
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