Zero-Keyword-SERPs

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The many faces of Google Discover
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Android Web (U.S. only) iOS

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Discover recommends content
based on the users interests.
Entities-profiles connect
relevant content to the users.

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Properties of a (named) entity
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Strings of things
1. can be abstract (e.g. love or economy) or
have a physical existence (a person, a
product, a place, an event …)
2. have the same ID in every language:
/m/0gfps3 => Economy, Wirtschaft, Economía
3. combine different keywords into one concept:
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge ó kate ó
kate middleton

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How interests connect to the user
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Following entities explicitly and implicitly
• Push „follow“ in search results and Discover
• Select more or less of something
• Click and consume something on Discover
• Search something on Google or YouTube

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A users Discover profile
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
The part Google shows us
Your interests
https://www.google.com
/preferences/interests/yourinterests
My Activity
https://myactivity.google.com
/myactivity

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How Discover works
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Possible ranking factors according to Patent US 9,679,018 B1
• user interests in conjunction with the frequency of those interests in a
set of recent documents
• documents that are about entities of interest that are rarely mentioned
• interesting news articles with uncommon subject matter

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Some more observations
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Stuff you might want to know
• Every user sees a completely different feed
• Most (if not all) content is newly published
• Most (if not all) videos are YouTube videos
• keywords not needed in headline (but on page)
• Discover might send traffic to completly different articles
• uses the same technology as full coverage in Google News (Google Blog)

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Hidden in plain sight
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Discover Card Categories
• WEBKICK_STORY_GENERAL
• RECENTLY_FOLLOWED_INJECTION_HERO_STORY
• WEBKICK_STORY_LOCAL_PERSONALIZED
• WEBKICK_STORY_LOCAL_UNPERSONALIZED
• BROAD_INTEREST_STORIES_MID_PERSONALIZED
• WEBSITE_UPDATE
• CORE_PANOPTIC_STORY
• WEBKICK_SWELL_STORY
• FRESH_VIDEO
• … https://bit.ly/32llFbE

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BEST PRACTISES
• images at least 1200px wide
• max-image-preview: large
• fascinating images
• AMP (or fill out a form)
• use schema.org
• publish date
• write enticing teasers

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Possibilities and limits
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Mileage may vary – depending on your device
• title-length about 100 characters (3 lines)
• description around 155 characters (2 lines)
• 16:9 aspect ratio for hero images
• Bonus: try white to simulate transparency

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How to monitor Discover performance
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Google Search Console & Analytics Real-time
Discover performance report Look at the full referrer

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Discover traffic sustainability
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
normalized data
day-3 day-2 day-1 Peak day+1 day+2 day+3
Average Median
• Discover sends traffic for about
24 hours
• no longer than 3 days
• Daily traffic from Discover may
vary wildly

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Recommendations
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
How to find topics to write about
1. Analyze your GSC Discover performance report
2. Focus on your topics your users expect from you
3. Use Google Trends to find trending topics
4. Take a cue from your social network hits

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Next
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Prediction on what‘s coming
• Google News in Discover
• More evergreen content
• Ads
• Products

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Thank you!
Valentin Pletzer | SMX Munich 2020
Questions?
Valentin Pletzer
Head of SEO @ BurdaForward / FOCUS Online
https://valentin.app/
https://twitter.com/VorticonCmdr
https://g.co/kgs/qRoGdn