Google News & Google Discover SEO – The Champions League of Search Engine Optimization – Consulting, Support & Optimization – Image: Xpert.Digital
Digital visibility reimagined: Leveraging the potential of Google Discover
Google News & Google Discover SEO – The Champions League of Search Engine Optimization
In the digital world, user search behavior has fundamentally changed. While classic Google search still plays a central role, Google News and Google Discover have become significant traffic sources, offering enormous potential for websites – especially publishers and news portals. Similar to the Champions League, where the elite of European football compete, these platforms represent the pinnacle of digital content distribution. Those who want to succeed here must develop specific 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 launched by Alphabet in 2002 as a vertical search engine and has since become a central hub for breaking news. The system compiles news content and presents it prominently within organic search results on both desktop and mobile devices. For highly topical search queries, relevant news articles are highlighted, which can provide participating websites with significant traffic benefits.
However, inclusion in the Google News ecosystem is subject to strict requirements. Websites must meet both technical and quality criteria and be officially accepted by Google into the News program for publishers. Basic requirements include reporting on current events, creating original content rather than copied material, and transparency regarding authorship and contact information. Adherence to these standards is crucial, as websites featured in Google News typically benefit from significantly higher traffic than traditionally indexed websites.
Google News uses special algorithms to rank URLs, which differ from the classic search engine algorithm. The timeliness and authority of the source play a particularly important role here. Mobile news pages are often displayed as AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) in the search results, which optimizes loading speed and thus improves the user experience.
Basics of Google Discover
Google Discover represents a significant advancement in information retrieval. Unlike traditional search, where users actively search for information, Google Discover automatically presents content based on the user's individual search behavior, interests, and location data. This highly personalized feed appears on smartphones and tablets when the Google app is opened or when visiting the Google homepage.
The system uses advanced machine learning algorithms to identify content relevant to the user. A key feature is continuous improvement through user feedback – the more Google Discover is used, the more precise the content suggestions become. Originally available only on Android devices, the service has since been expanded to iOS devices, significantly increasing its reach.
Google Discover can be seen as an evolution of the earlier Google News Feed, but it differs in key aspects. While Google News primarily presents current news, Discover displays a broader range of content that might match the user's interests – from news articles and blog posts to videos and product recommendations. The information is presented in a visually appealing format with large images, headlines, and concise descriptions, which increases engagement.
The fact that Google Discover works without an active search query makes it a hybrid of search engine and social network, with personalization at its core. Users can customize their feed by defining their interests in the settings or providing direct feedback on individual pieces of content, such as through the "See more of this" option.
Differences between Google News and Google Discover
Although Google News and Google Discover may appear similar at first glance, they have fundamentally different concepts and areas of application. Google Discover is essentially an evolution of Google News and offers users significantly more personalized content. While Google News primarily focuses on current news, Discover presents a broader range of content formats that correspond to users' personal interests.
A key difference lies in the temporal dimension of the presented content. Google News focuses primarily on breaking news, whereas Discover articles can be older – though generally no more than five days old. This allows websites with evergreen content, not directly tied to current events, to also benefit from the platform.
There is also a significant difference in terms of availability: Google Discover is exclusively available on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, while Google News is available on both mobile and desktop computers. This limitation of Discover to mobile use underscores the increasing importance of mobile-first strategies in search engine optimization.
Personalization in Google Discover reaches a significantly higher level than in Google News. The system analyzes not only search history, but also browsing history, location, used apps, and other data points to create the most accurate interest profile possible. This in-depth personalization means that two users with different interests will see completely different Discover feeds – a phenomenon that is less pronounced in Google News.
SEO optimization for Google News
Search engine optimization for Google News requires specific measures that differ in some respects from conventional SEO. Content optimization is particularly important, with headlines and teasers playing a crucial role. These elements largely determine whether an article is read in its entirety – both in print and online news.
Therefore, professional design of the title, description, and H1 heading is particularly important. The content of individual articles should be described briefly but in detail, contain relevant keywords, and encourage users to click.
Obscure: The meta tag “news_keywords” for use in Google News, which could be populated with relevant keywords, is no longer valid. Previously, the number of keywords was limited to 5 to 10.
Regarding text length, Google News-optimized content should ideally have a minimum length of 125 words for headlines and at least 200 words for in-depth news articles. This ensures sufficient context and depth of information to meet quality standards.
The technical implementation of structured data also plays a crucial role. The elements of an article must be optimally accessible to search engines and should therefore be marked up using schema.org/NewsArticle and, for blog posts, schema.org/BlogPosting. Particularly important here is the marking of the headline, the article image, the publication date, the article description, and the author as structured data.
Another technical aspect is the creation of a special Google News sitemap. A website's standard XML sitemap is insufficient for Google News. Instead, a dedicated Google News sitemap is required, which provides information in a specific format and thus optimizes the indexing of news content.
It's generally recommended that the title be a maximum of 55 characters long and use the full character count. Most titles in organic search results are between 45 and 55 characters long. However, a shorter title that includes keywords and possibly a number can draw attention to your listing.
Xpert.Digital has a different opinion on this. We won't go into that in more detail here. Suffice it to say:
- It's claimed that titles between 40 and 60 characters have the highest click-through rate, but this can't be empirically proven. The topic is far too complex and doesn't adequately consider the various search intents. See also the related article below.
- Allegedly, titles with fewer than 30 characters are frequently rewritten by Google.
- Mobile search results often allow longer titles.
- There is no strict SEO penalty for longer titles, but they could be truncated.
- Shorter titles can stand out from the crowd, as 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
Optimizing for Google Discover differs fundamentally from a classic keyword-based SEO strategy. Direct keyword optimization is simply impossible with Google Discover, as content is displayed even though, or perhaps precisely because, users aren't actively searching. Instead, individual user interests and previous interactions play the decisive role.
High-quality, easily readable content is paramount for Discover optimization. Unlike general search engine optimization, content for Google Discover should primarily focus on user interests and provide them with information on a topic that goes far beyond their search terms. This means that the content must align with users' interests and offer genuine added value.
Image optimization is particularly important in Google Discover, as visual elements significantly influence user attention. Large, high-quality images with a minimum width of 1200px and an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 4:3 are recommended. These visually appealing elements increase the likelihood that users will interact with the content.
The EAT principle (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) plays a crucial role in Google Discover. Websites that demonstrate their expertise, are perceived as authorities in their field, and enjoy trust have a significantly better chance of being prominently placed in the Discover feed. This underscores the importance of transparently presenting authorship, sources, and editorial standards.
Headlines should be informative and encourage users to interact with the content without resorting to clickbait. They should spark curiosity while delivering on their promise. Numbers or questions can help to generate interest and increase click-through rates.
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The Champions League strategy: Football websites and Google News/Discover
For football websites and clubs, Google News and Discover offer particularly attractive opportunities to increase their reach and tap into new target groups. The analogy to the Champions League is quite apt – those who want to be successful here must deliver top-notch performance and act strategically.
For example, Google has implemented a dedicated Champions League experience in Google News, offering up-to-the-minute updates, scores, previews, and video highlights for every match from September to May. Users can follow the Champions League topic and automatically receive pre- and post-match reports, as well as live updates for all games. Additionally, they can delve into club and player news, including lineups, match statistics, analyses, injury reports, and much more.
A particular challenge for football clubs lies in the changing behavior of fans. Modern fans increasingly identify with individual players rather than just clubs, which also affects their purchasing behavior regarding merchandise. Football clubs can respond to this trend with targeted SEO strategies, such as introducing "shop-by-player" pages, attractive player profiles, and categories dedicated to club history and legendary players. Categories like "Hall of Fame," "Club Legends," or "History," which honor the contributions of particularly deserving players, are especially well-suited for this purpose.
Live blogs have proven to be an extremely effective tool for generating significant traffic from Google during games or tournaments. People typically search more frequently on Google when a high-profile event or a highly anticipated game is about to take place. These search trends increase significantly as a highly anticipated game approaches. Google also tends to rank live blogs higher than regular news articles.
When implementing live blogs, it's crucial that they are natively integrated as part of the article and not embedded as third-party software, so that the live blog content can be properly indexed by Google. This integration allows for real-time reactions to the game and simultaneously benefits from the SEO advantages.
Performance measurement and analysis
Measuring and analyzing performance in Google News and Google Discover is crucial for identifying optimization potential and continuously improving content strategy. Google Search Console offers specialized reports that provide detailed insights into performance.
Google Discover has a separate section in Search Console that displays the most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). This report visualizes the traffic coming to the website via Discover and allows for a detailed analysis based on various metrics. This data can be used to optimize future content by analyzing which types of articles generate the most traffic and how they are structured.
Analyzing click-through rates and impressions over time is particularly insightful. This data reveals which topics resonate best with the target audience and which content formats achieve the highest engagement rates. Continuous analysis of these metrics allows content strategies to be refined and tailored to the specific requirements of Google Discover.
Similar metrics are relevant for measuring success in Google News. Here, it's also worthwhile to look at the performance of individual topic areas and news formats. This analysis can reveal whether, for example, background reports, breaking news, or analyses perform better and should therefore be given more weight in content planning.
Integrating the insights gained into the editorial workflow is crucial. Takevalue emphasizes the importance of optimizing the editorial workflow to cost-effectively meet current demand in Google News. This includes not only technical SEO but also organizational aspects such as scheduling publications and allocating resources to different content formats.
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Here's how to optimize your content for Google Discover and Google New
Google News and Google Discover have become significant pillars in the digital ecosystem, representing, in a sense, the Champions League of content distribution. Websites that specifically optimize their content for these platforms can achieve significant increases in traffic and improved visibility.
The differences between the two systems are significant and each requires specific optimization strategies. While Google News focuses primarily on breaking news 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 considered when developing a comprehensive content strategy.
Continuous performance analysis using Google Search Console is essential for refining content strategy and adapting to constantly evolving algorithms. Websites that consistently optimize their content, considering both technical and content-related aspects, will benefit in the long run from improved visibility and increased user engagement.
In the ever-changing digital landscape, Google News and Google Discover will continue to play a central role. Websites that consider these platforms 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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