Google Discover is by no means a new feature, but it is one that is being used by more and more affiliates and brands to improve their content strategy and drive traffic. Connecting with audiences outside of Search is very important and with the help of Google Discover, you can do exactly that.
Optimising your content for Google Discover is slightly different from Search so you need to think carefully about your content strategy for 2021. We’ll give you some pointers below.
What is Google Discover?
If you are unfamiliar with Google Discover, then you need to start at the beginning. This feature revolves around content that is matched with a user’s interests. This is more similar to a Facebook or Instagram feed, rather than direct results in relation to a query.
The content that a user sees changes as they adapt their interests online and as new content is published. According to an article posted by The Drum, Google has admitted that Discover traffic is much less predictable and harder to manage.
Importance of E-A-T
Google may not often comment on E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness and trust) but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. In fact, any affiliates should be incorporating E-A-T into their content strategies already for Search.
Interestingly, it was recently revealed just how important E-A-T is when it comes to Google Discover. This comes from the documentation within Discover that notes that the “overall principles for E-A-T” apply to both Search and Discover.
So, in this case, it is clear that E-A-T should be a priority regardless of whether you are working on a content strategy for Search or one for Discover. But, in reality, you should be focusing on both as we move into 2021.
Adapting your content strategy
When you are creating your content strategy for Google Search as we move into 2021, you must also consider how Discover will affect this. The good news is that any content that is indexed by Google will start showing up in Discover right away. This is, of course, as long as the content meets the policies set out by Google.
It doesn’t appear that there are any policies to suggest iGaming content is banned. However, there are rules on ‘ads and sponsored content’ which affiliates should be aware of.
Some of the things that you will want to address when optimising your content for this channel include:
- Using high-quality images of at least 1200px wide
- Creating engaging headlines that avoid click-bait
- Showing publication dates, network branding etc
- Keeping content fresh and accurate to offer valuable insights
It might be worth taking some time to look at Google Discover to see how content is shown. This way, you’ll learn more about what works and what doesn’t, and you can use this to adapt your content strategy for 2021.
Additionally, you can track your performance within Google Analytics for Discover. Use this information to get valuable insights into how you can improve each month.
Any affiliates hoping to refresh their content strategy in 2021 should be aiming to appear on those all-important Discover pages!
