News & Google Discover

In one line

News and Discover SEO earns visibility in Google's Top Stories and the Discover feed, driven by timeliness, authority, strong engagement signals, and compelling titles and images rather than classic keyword targeting.

How to do it

  • Publish timely, genuinely newsworthy or interesting content
  • Build topical authority and E-E-A-T (Discover favours trusted sources)
  • Use compelling, accurate titles and high-quality large images
  • Add NewsArticle schema and keep the site fast and mobile-friendly
  • Follow Google News policies; consider a news sitemap for news sites

Why it matters

Discover surfaces content to users who aren't searching yet, and Top Stories captures breaking-interest traffic, both can drive large, spiky visits. Unlike search, Discover is interest-based, so engagement and trust signals matter more than keywords.

Frequently asked

How do I get into Google Discover?

There's no opt-in, publish timely, engaging, trustworthy content with strong titles and large images, and build authority. Discover picks it up based on user interest.

Do I need to be a news site?

No, Discover surfaces evergreen and interest content too, though timeliness and authority help a lot.

Put this into practice

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Related

What is E-E-A-T?
Google's Experience-Expertise-Authority-Trust quality lens, and how to prove it.
What is schema markup?
Structured data that tells machines what your content actually means.