Google Discover guidance
Google Discover guidance,
as documented
What Google says about Discover eligibility, content, images and traffic, in its own words. Verified from Google's pages on 2026-10-07.
Google describes Discover as a part of Google Search that shows people content related to their interests, based on their Web and App Activity. This page lists what Google's guidance page says, with the wording taken from that page and each point linked to it.
What makes content eligible, and what Google recommends
Google says no special markup is needed. These are the points it lists for content and titles.
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | “Content is automatically eligible to appear in Discover if it is indexed by Google and meets Discover's content policies.”Google adds that no special tags or structured data are required. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| No guarantee | “being eligible to appear in Discover is not a guarantee of appearing.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Same signals as Search | “Discover makes use of many of the same signals and systems used by Search to determine what is helpful, people-first content.”Google points readers to its advice on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Policy violations | “If your site violates one or more Discover content policies, Discover manual actions may appear in your Search Console under Security and Manual actions.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Clickbait | “Avoid clickbait and similar tactics to artificially inflate engagement by using misleading or exaggerated details in preview content (title, snippets, or images) to increase appeal, or by withholding crucial information required to understand what the content is about.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Titles and headlines | “Use page titles and headlines that capture the essence of the content.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Sensationalism | “Avoid sensationalism tactics that manipulate appeal by catering to morbid curiosity, titillation, or outrage.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Content | “Provide content that's timely for current interests, tells a story well, or provides unique insights.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Page experience | “Provide an overall great page experience.”Google links its page experience help page for more advice. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
Images
Google recommends large images and gives three specifications.
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Images in general | “Include compelling, high-quality images in your content that are relevant, especially large images that are more likely to generate visits from Discover.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Width | “At least 1200 px wide”One of three specifications Google lists for the images it recommends. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Resolution | “High resolution of more than 300,000 total pixels”Google gives 1280x720 (921,600 pixels, 16:9) as an example that satisfies this. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Aspect ratio | “16x9 aspect ratio”Google says it tries to automatically crop the image, and that if you crop yourself you should keep the important details in the cropped version and avoid automatically applying an aspect ratio. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Large preview setting | “Enabled by the max-image-preview:large setting, or by using AMP”Listed by Google beside the large-image specifications. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Specify the image | “Use either schema.org markup or the og:image meta tag to specify a large image that's relevant and representative of the web page, as this can influence which image is chosen as the thumbnail in Discover.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Generic images | “Avoid using generic images (for example, your site logo) in the schema.org markup or og:image meta tag.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Text-heavy images | “For best results, avoid using text-heavy images in the schema.org markup or og:image meta tag.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
Traffic, filtering and reporting
Google describes Discover traffic as unlike keyword-driven search traffic.
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Unpredictable traffic | “Traffic from Discover is less predictable or dependable when compared to keyword-driven search visits.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Supplemental | “you should consider traffic from Discover as supplemental to your keyword-driven search traffic.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Changing interests | “If someone is no longer as interested in a particular topic”Google: a decline in someone's interest, reflected for example by less searching for the topic, can change what their feed shows and so change traffic for publishers. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Not always about quality | “sites may see changes in their traffic that are unrelated to the quality or publishing frequency of their content.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Filtered content | “Discover might not recommend job applications, petitions, forms, code repositories, or satirical content without any context.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Performance report | “This report shows impressions, clicks, and CTR for any of your content that has appeared on Discover in the last 16 months, as long as your data reaches a minimum threshold of impressions.”This is the Discover Performance report in Search Console. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
Rules to remember
- Google says content is automatically eligible if it is indexed and meets Discover's content policies, with no special tags or structured data, and that eligibility is not a guarantee.
- Google says to avoid clickbait and to use titles and headlines that capture the essence of the content.
- Google says to treat Discover traffic as supplemental to keyword-driven search traffic.
What this page cannot tell you
- Whether any particular page will appear in Discover. Google gives no formula, and says eligibility is not a guarantee.
- Anything Google has not written on the page we read, such as exact ranking factors for Discover.
- How Discover changes after the date above. Re-read Google's page before relying on this.
Questions
Do I need structured data to appear in Discover?
No. Google says content is automatically eligible if it is indexed by Google and meets Discover's content policies, and that no special tags or structured data are required. It also says eligibility is not a guarantee of appearing.
Can I submit a page to Discover?
The page we read describes no way to submit content to Discover. It says eligibility comes from being indexed and meeting the content policies.
How big should Discover images be?
Google recommends images at least 1200 px wide, with more than 300,000 total pixels, at a 16x9 aspect ratio, and says large images are more likely to generate visits from Discover. It links the max-image-preview:large setting (or AMP) beside these specifications and recommends specifying the image with schema.org markup or the og:image meta tag.
Is Discover traffic reliable?
Google says Discover traffic is less predictable or dependable than keyword-driven search visits and should be treated as supplemental to them. It adds that traffic changes can be unrelated to the quality or publishing frequency of content.
Does this page promise Discover traffic?
No. Nothing here guarantees that any page appears in Discover. It lists what Google says on its page, and Google does not publish a formula.
Where do I see my Discover traffic?
Google points to the Discover Performance report in Search Console, which shows impressions, clicks and CTR for content that appeared on Discover in the last 16 months, once data reaches a minimum threshold of impressions.
How current is this page?
Every quote was read from Google's page on 2026-10-07. The page showed "Last updated 2026-03-09 UTC". Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.
Sources
- Get on Discover (Google Search Central), read on 2026-10-07
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