How to Dramatically Increase the Reach of Your Blog Posts with Google Discover

What is Google Discover?

Officially, Google Discover is what used to be known previously as Google Feed. In short, it is a Google function that is based on offering content to the user without asking for it (that is, it does not rely on any search intention) based on different sources. Google Discover is only available on mobile devices and does not collect defined themes. However, in my opinion, Discover has ended up turning into something else. Basically it is Google’s “official clickbaiting platform”. As we have indicated, it is not based directly on search intent, so the best way to get traffic is to attract the attention of mobile users through eye-catching headlines and current content. “Discover is not SEO, but nevertheless we have managed to use the platform to our advantage to boost the traffic of informational content on client blogs with a minimal investment. Do you want to know how?”

How to integrate Discover into an SEO strategy?

To carry out an action of this type you only have to memorize three simple steps:

Post a blog post.
Post an organic tweet with a link to this blog post.
Boost your tweet through a paid campaign to maximize its reach.

We will delve into each point separately to execute the strategy without errors.

Post a blog post

To do it correctly, the following steps must be followed:

Choose the theme: It is very important to know the trends of Google Discover during the days surrounding the publication to be able to target the content (remember that the content is not for SEO, it is for Discover).
Define an eye-catching headline: The goal should always be capturing the attention of a user who is not looking for your content.
Find an attractive image: The image must be 1200px wide.
Write the post and do not publish it yet: The blog post should include interlinking to the main pages of the project (either informational or conversion) to take advantage of referral traffic.

Before continuing with step 2, you should coordinate with the Paid Social department. A good time to get old friends back!

Post an organic tweet with a link to this blog post

This second step is divided into three phases:

Define an attractive copy: As in the blog post itself, the goal is to capture the attention of as many users as possible, in this case through Twitter.
Keep the link to the entry handy: The tweet should include the exact URL of the post, without using URL shorteners like Bit.ly
Post the tweet right after the entry has been published on the blog: There is no time to waste, which is why coordination between departments is so important.

Boost your tweet through a paid campaign to maximize its reach

In turn, this last step is also divided into 3 phases:

Set the budget for the outreach campaign: In our experience, a budget of around 500 euros is more than enough to achieve the goal.
Launch a paid campaign with micro influencers right after the organic tweet is published: Between 500 and 10,000 followers per influencer is more than enough. They should concentrate the revitalization of the publication in a short period of time, no more than 4-5 hours. To contact influencers and facilitate the management of the campaign, you can trust online platforms such as Social Publi.
Wait for the post to appear organically in the Discover feed: And don’t forget to follow the performance in the search console.

Summary of some key aspects

If you want the action to go really well, you must focus on two basic objectives:

Maximize reach.
Concentrate all social investment in the shortest possible time.

Once Google detects these signs of interaction and engagement, it will show our post in the Discover news feed, being able to reach a large number of potentially interested users. As far as we know, if a CTR of 10% is exceeded in Discover, the post can stay for several days and get even more traffic. Go for it! To give you an idea, we have achieved with just one post about 360,000 impressions (only in Google Discover, discarding the rest of channels) with just 500 euros of investment. Do you know a better offer?