ONPAGE · SEO GLOSSARY

Google Discover

Google's personalised content recommendation feed — shown in the Google app and Chrome on mobile — that surfaces articles based on a user's search history and interests, without a search query.

Definition

Google Discover is a content feed shown on the Google app homepage and in Chrome on Android and iOS. Unlike search results (which are triggered by a user query), Discover proactively surfaces content based on Google's model of the user's interests, built from their search history, location data, and content engagement. Publishers can appear in Discover without users searching for their content — a page that ranks for a search query and also appears in Discover can earn significantly more clicks than search alone. Discover is predominantly a mobile experience. Content eligible for Discover must: (1) be indexed by Google; (2) have a large, high-quality image (at least 1200px wide, enabled via `max-image-preview:large` in the robots meta tag or Open Graph `og:image`); (3) have an accurate, engaging title that represents the content; (4) cover a topic that aligns with users' interests. News, timely articles, and evergreen deep-dives all appear in Discover, though the algorithm is not fully transparent.

Why it matters for SEO

Discover can be a substantial traffic driver for content publishers — some sites report 20–50% of their mobile organic traffic coming from Discover. Unlike search, Discover traffic is less predictable: a single article can spike massively if Discover picks it up, then drop to zero. The key signals for Discover eligibility overlap with good SEO practices: high-quality images with proper metadata, E-E-A-T signals (authorship, expertise, trustworthiness), page experience (Core Web Vitals passing), and accurate, non-clickbait titles. The `max-image-preview:large` robots meta directive is often the most actionable fix — without it, Google won't use large images for Discover cards, significantly reducing click-through.

How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this

The audit checks the primary Discover-eligibility signals: (1) `max-image-preview:large` directive in robots meta tag (required for large image cards in Discover — flagged if missing); (2) Open Graph `og:image` presence and minimum dimension (1200×630px recommended); (3) Core Web Vitals pass/fail (Google has stated Discover uses page experience signals); (4) robots meta tag `noindex` check (noindexed pages don't appear in Discover). If GSC is connected, Discover performance data (impressions and clicks from Discover) appears separately from search performance in the report.

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GLOSSARY

onpage

Open Graph Tags

Meta tags that control how a page appears when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, and other platforms that read OG metadata.

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technical

Robots Meta Tag

An HTML `<meta name="robots">` tag that tells crawlers whether to index a page, follow its links, or display snippets — more granular than robots.txt.

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performance

Core Web Vitals

Three Google metrics — LCP, INP, and CLS — that measure real-user loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

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onpage

Content Freshness

How recently a page was meaningfully updated — a ranking signal for queries where recency matters, such as news, product comparisons, and time-sensitive guides.

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onpage