If you call up the Google search engine on your tablet or smartphone, you will usually find a series of messages with large pictures under the search field, often from news sites. These Google Discover messages are known as “maps”. If you click it, you will be redirected to a new website with the corresponding content.
We clarify what differences and similarities there are between conventional Google search and Discover, for which websites search engine optimization makes sense for Google Discover, what you should attach particular importance to in SEO in this context, and what special role images play in this.
What is Google Discover?
Google Discover is a service from Google with which users of smartphones or tablets can get the latest news. These are located below the search field and each contains a large image, a headline, and a teaser or description.
Google Discover is a further development of the old Google News Feed, whereby Discover can take into account content from all websites, not only from news sites. Originally, Google Discover only worked on Android devices, but now Google Discover can also be used on Apple’s iOS devices.
Google Discover vs. Traditional Google Search: What Are the Differences?
The conventional Google search function and Discover complement each other but are different concepts based on the same technical principles. Theoretically, all content from websites that have been indexed by the Google search engine can be considered for Google Discover. Both with the search and with Google Discover, the focus is on the benefit for the user: Users should always be presented with the content that serves the most.
While users actively enter one or more search terms when searching, Google Discover works the other way around: With this function, Google actively suggests content that might be of interest to users. Basically, Discover works in the same way as other news feeds, for example in social media, except that here the Google algorithm makes a decisive contribution to the content of the feed and active user input is not absolutely necessary.
Also in connection with Google Discover, the big question is what criteria Google uses to suggest what content to which users and at what time. Since Google keeps its algorithms and the number, type, and weighting of the individual parameters secret and continuously adapts them, no generally applicable answer can be given. It is a fact that Google relies primarily on data from search, location data, and voluntary information from users when assessing user interests for Discover.