How to Get Into Google Discover: Eligibility, Images, Content Policies and the Discover Report

What Is Google Discover?

Google Discover is a feed within Google Search that shows people content related to their interests, without them typing a query.

Google describes it as “a part of Google Search that shows people content related to their interests, based on their Web and App Activity” (Google). Because it is part of Search, Google says it “makes use of many of the same signals and systems used by Search to determine what is helpful, people-first content.” Older content can appear if it is relevant to someone's interests. Discover traffic is reported separately from web search in Search Console, and Google advises treating it “as supplemental to your keyword-driven search traffic.”

There is no form, feed or tag that enrols a site. Everything below improves eligibility and the likelihood of appearing; none of it guarantees appearance.

How to Get Into Google Discover at a Glance

Time: an afternoon to audit templates and images; ongoing for content (our estimate). Tools: Google Search Console, your CMS, an image editor. Cost: none beyond your time. Skill level: beginner to intermediate (template edits for meta tags).

What You Need Before Starting

• A verified Search Console property for the site (see how to verify your site in Search Console).
• Access to the page template's <head>, to set the robots meta tag and og:image.
• Original images you have the rights to show at large size.
• Visible bylines and publication dates, and an About and contact page.
• Any sponsored or affiliate content identified, so it can be labelled.

Step 1: Confirm Your Pages Are Indexed

Inspect a sample of your important pages in the URL Inspection tool and confirm they are indexed.

Why: indexing is the first of the two eligibility conditions Google states. A page that is not indexed cannot appear in Discover. Expected result: the tool reports the URL is on Google. How to verify: check the canonical Google selected matches the URL you expect, because Discover data is credited to the canonical URL. Common mistake: diagnosing Discover when the real problem is indexing; if pages sit unindexed, start with how to check whether a page is indexed.

Step 2: Check Content Against Discover's Content Policies

Review your content against Google's Discover content policies and check the Manual actions report in Search Console.

What the policies cover: Discover content must not violate Google Search's overall policies, its spam policies, or Search-feature policies on dangerous, deceptive, harassing, hateful, manipulated, medical, sexually explicit, violent extremist and violent or gory content and vulgar language. Discover adds three of its own:

• Ads and sponsored content: advertising “should not exceed your content”, and sponsorship, “including, but not limited to, ownership or affiliate interest, payment, or material support, should be clearly disclosed to readers.” Our explainer on sponsored content in Discover covers this rule.
• Misleading content: Google does not allow “preview content that misleads users to engage with it by promising details which aren't reflected in the underlying content.”
• Transparency: news sources should provide clear dates and bylines, information about authors, publication and publisher, information about the company or network behind the content, and contact information.

Consequence of violations: Google may remove content from Discover, and with repeated or egregious violations a site “may no longer be eligible for Discover”. Discover manual actions appear in Search Console under Security & Manual actions (Manual actions report). Expected result: no conflicts and no manual action. Common mistake: unlabelled affiliate or sponsored articles.

Step 3: Write Titles That Capture the Content Without Clickbait

Write page titles and headlines that state what the article delivers, and make sure the preview image and snippet match the page.

Google's guidance (Get on Discover): avoid clickbait and tactics that inflate engagement “by using misleading or exaggerated details in preview content (title, snippets, or images)” or by withholding information needed to understand what the content is about; “use page titles and headlines that capture the essence of the content”; and avoid sensationalism that plays on “morbid curiosity, titillation, or outrage.” The February 2026 update was described as “reducing sensational content and clickbait in Discover” (Google).

Expected result: a reader who clicks gets exactly what the title promised. How to verify: read the title, then the first paragraph; the answer should be there. Common mistake: curiosity-gap headlines such as “You won't believe what happened next”.

Step 4: Add a Large, Relevant Image and Allow Large Previews

Give each article a large, relevant image, name it as the preferred image in og:image or schema.org markup, and allow large image previews with the robots meta tag.

Google's specification (Get on Discover): images “at least 1200 px wide”, more than 300,000 total pixels (a 1280x720 image has 921,600), 16x9 aspect ratio, enabled by max-image-preview:large or AMP. Google says large images “are more likely to generate visits from Discover”. It tries to crop automatically; if you crop yourself, keep the important detail in the 16x9 version.

<meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:large">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/story-1600x900.jpg">

Rules: the robots meta tag documentation defines large as “a larger image preview, up to the width of the viewport” (Google, robots meta tag). Google's image guidance says you can influence the Discover preview image through schema.org primaryImageOfPage, an image on the main entity, or og:image, and to avoid a generic image such as your logo, or an image with text (Google Images SEO). How to verify: view the page source for both tags; open the image URL and check its pixel dimensions. Common mistake: the site logo as the default og:image on every article.

Step 5: Show Who Is Behind the Content

Put a byline and a publication date on every article, link the byline to an author page, and publish About and contact pages that say who owns the site.

Why: Discover's transparency policy asks for exactly this from news sources, and Google's helpful content guidance asks whether bylines “lead to further information about the author” (Google). See how to create an author page. Expected result: a reader can tell who wrote each piece, when, and who publishes the site. Common mistake: anonymous or fabricated authors, which Google treats as deceptive.

Step 6: Publish Timely or In-Depth Work Where You Have Expertise

Focus on content that is timely, tells a story well or offers unique insight, on topics your site covers in depth.

Why: Google recommends content “that's timely for current interests, tells a story well, or provides unique insights” (Google). Its February 2026 announcement said Discover would show “more in-depth, original, and timely content from websites with expertise in a given area”, judged topic by topic, so a site with a dedicated section can have expertise in that topic even if it covers others (Google). The same update aimed to show more locally relevant content from websites based in the user's country. What Discover may not recommend: job applications, petitions, forms, code repositories, or satire without context; it also uses SafeSearch and filters content that might be seen as shocking (Google). Common mistake: one-off articles far outside the site's usual subjects.

Step 7: Monitor the Discover Performance Report

Open Search Console and check the Performance report for Discover for impressions, clicks and CTR by page, country, appearance and date.

How the report works (Search Console Help): it is “visible only if your property has reached a minimum number of impressions in Discover”; an impression is counted when a Discover item is scrolled into view, once per result per session; metrics are assigned to the canonical URL; the default range is the last three months. Google's Discover page adds that the report covers content that appeared in Discover in the last 16 months and includes traffic from Chrome (Google). Expected result: the report appears once you have enough Discover impressions. Common mistake: looking for Discover traffic in the Search results report; it has its own report.

How to Verify It Worked

• Discover report present: the Discover entry appears under Performance in Search Console. Its absence means your property has not reached the impression threshold.
• Page rows: the Pages table lists individual URLs with impressions and clicks.
• Tags in place: page source shows max-image-preview:large and an og:image of at least 1200 pixels wide.
• No manual actions: the Manual actions report shows none for News and Discover.

How to Choose Where to Focus

For news publishers, how to set up Google News Publisher Center covers the separate News setup. For traffic changes after updates, see what happens in a Google core update.

Common Problems and Fixes

What Not to Do

• Do not use clickbait or misleading previews. Consequence: Discover's misleading content policy and its 2026 update target it. Correction: titles that capture the content.
• Do not hide sponsorship. Consequence: removal from Discover and, if repeated, loss of eligibility. Correction: clear disclosure.
• Do not use the logo or text-heavy graphics as the preview image. Consequence: Google advises against both. Correction: a relevant photo or illustration.
• Do not plan revenue around Discover traffic. Consequence: Google says it is less predictable or dependable than search. Correction: treat it as supplemental.
• Do not look for a submission form or Discover tag. Consequence: wasted effort or paid offers that cannot deliver. Correction: eligibility comes from indexing and policy compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and Methodology

This guide is built from Google documentation read on October 9, 2026: the Get on Discover page (last updated March 9, 2026), Discover content policies, the Performance report (Discover) help page, the robots meta tag and Google Images documentation, the Manual actions report help page, the February 2026 Discover core update announcement and its Search Status Dashboard entry. We did not run tests on Discover or measure traffic. Google does not publish the impression threshold for the Discover report or how Discover ranks content beyond the guidance quoted here. Time estimates are ours.

1. official Google Search Central, Discover and your website (Get on Discover). Read October 9, 2026.
2. official Google Search Help, Discover content policies. Read October 9, 2026.
3. official Search Console Help, Performance report (Discover). Read October 9, 2026.
4. official John Mueller, Google Search Central Blog, Google's February 2026 Discover Core Update, February 5, 2026. Read October 9, 2026.
5. official Google Search Status Dashboard, February 2026 Discover update (February 5–27, 2026). Read October 9, 2026.
6. official Google Search Central, Robots meta tag specifications (max-image-preview). Read October 9, 2026.
7. official Google Search Central, Google Images SEO best practices (preferred image). Read October 9, 2026.
8. official Search Console Help, Manual actions report. Read October 9, 2026.
9. official Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. Read October 9, 2026.