Google has added a new report to Search Console that will track a site’s traffic and impressions from Discover.
“To provide publishers and sites visibility into their Discover traffic, we’re adding a new report in Google Search Console to share relevant statistics and help answer questions…”
Data in the Discover report includes:
- How often a site is shown in Discover
- Amount of traffic generated from Discover
- Top performing pieces of content in Discover
- Whether content performs differently in Discover compared to traditional search results
Not available for everyone. Limited data.
Search Console’s new Discover report is only shown to websites that have accumulated “meaningful visibility” in Discover.
So if you don’t see the new report in your Search Console dashboard, it’s possible your content is not showing up often enough in Discover.
If you do have the report, you will only see data back to 2019.
Is your content not showing up in Discover?
To be clear, Discover is the feed that shows up underneath the search bar in the Google app and mobile home page.
Content is curated based on information in a user’s Google account and their personal web browsing habits.
Both new and old content is eligible to appear in Discover.
Although, from my experience of checking Discover several times a day, it’s uncommon to see old content appear in the feed.
New content seems to be prioritized in the Discover feed. So if you’re not publishing on a regular basis you may not be generating “meaningful visibility.”
Another reason why your content might not be showing up in Discover is that you’re not using high quality images.
Google’s guide on optimizing content for Discover emphasizes the importance of large images:
“Publishers experience a 5% increase in clickthrough rate, a 3% increase in time spent on their pages, and a 3% increase in user satisfaction when Discover cards feature large images instead of thumbnail images.”
Google recommends using images that are at least 1,200 px wide.
Lastly, you need to opt-in to allow Google to display your high quality images in Discover.
