Google Discover serves personalized content to hundreds of millions of users directly on their mobile home screens and in the Google app — without them ever typing a search query. For publishers and content-driven websites, Discover can generate massive traffic surges that dwarf traditional organic search.
But not every website qualifies. Google applies a set of technical and content quality requirements before a site can appear in Discover feeds. In this guide, we break down the 13 signals that determine Discover eligibility and explain how to measure your site's readiness.
What Is Google Discover?
Google Discover is a content recommendation feed that appears on the Google mobile app, the Google homepage on mobile Chrome, and on Android home screens. Unlike Search, users do not enter a query — Google selects content based on their interests, browsing history, and engagement patterns.
Discover favors fresh, high-quality content with strong visual elements. Articles, how-to guides, news, product pages, and video content all appear in Discover feeds. The key difference from traditional SEO is that Discover traffic is interest-driven rather than intent-driven.
The Three-Tier Readiness Model
Discover eligibility follows a tiered model. Tier 1 signals are gate requirements — if any of these fail, a site is automatically disqualified. Tier 2 signals carry the most weight in the scoring model. Tier 3 signals are supplemental factors that can push a borderline site over the threshold.
Tier 1: Gate Requirements (Must Pass All)
These four signals are non-negotiable. Failing any one of them blocks Discover eligibility entirely.
1. HTTPS
Google requires HTTPS for all content that appears in Discover. Sites served over plain HTTP are excluded. This has been a ranking signal since 2014 and is now table stakes for any modern website.
2. Mobile-Friendly Design
Since Discover is exclusively a mobile experience, the site must pass Google's mobile-friendliness requirements. This means responsive design, readable text without zooming, properly sized tap targets, and no horizontal scrolling. A viewport meta tag is the minimum technical requirement.
3. Crawlable
The site must allow Googlebot to crawl its content. A restrictive robots.txt that blocks important pages or sections will prevent those pages from appearing in Discover. Check that your robots.txt does not contain broad Disallow rules that block content pages.
4. Indexable
Pages must be indexable — no noindex meta tags or X-Robots-Tag headers that prevent indexing. If a page cannot appear in Google Search results, it cannot appear in Discover either.
Tier 2: High-Impact Signals (65 Points)
Once the gate requirements are met, these signals carry the most weight in determining Discover readiness.
5. Structured Data (Schema.org)
Google uses structured data to understand page content and select appropriate Discover cards. Article, NewsArticle, BlogPosting, Product, and HowTo schemas are particularly valuable. Pages with rich structured data are significantly more likely to appear in Discover with enhanced card formats.
6. High-Quality Images
Discover is a visually-driven feed. Google recommends images at least 1,200 pixels wide, enabled via the max-image-preview:large robots meta tag. Sites without large images or with the image preview restricted to small or standard sizes are at a significant disadvantage.
7. Core Web Vitals
Page experience signals including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) all factor into Discover eligibility. Sites with poor Core Web Vitals are less likely to surface in the feed. Google provides these metrics through the PageSpeed Insights API and Chrome User Experience Report.
8. Content Freshness
Discover favors recently published or updated content. A regular publishing cadence with timestamps in structured data signals to Google that the site produces timely content. Evergreen content can also appear, but it needs clear publication dates and periodic updates.
9. Content Depth
Thin content pages are unlikely to appear in Discover. Google looks for substantive, original content that provides genuine value. Long-form content with clear structure (headings, sections, supporting media) tends to perform better.
Tier 3: Supplemental Signals (35 Points)
10. Open Graph Tags
Open Graph meta tags (og:title, og:description, og:image) provide Google with additional metadata for Discover cards. While not strictly required, they improve how content is displayed in the feed and increase click-through rates.
11. Canonical URLs
Proper canonical URL implementation prevents duplicate content issues and ensures Google attributes signals to the correct page. Sites with inconsistent or missing canonicals may have their Discover eligibility diluted across duplicate URLs.
12. XML Sitemap
An up-to-date XML sitemap with lastmod dates helps Google discover and prioritize fresh content. For Discover, the sitemap signals which pages are actively maintained and when content was last updated.
13. RSS/Atom Feed
RSS feeds provide another channel for Google to discover new content quickly. Sites with active RSS feeds can have new content indexed and surfaced in Discover faster than sites relying solely on crawling.
Checking Your Discover Readiness Score
Manually auditing all 13 signals is time-consuming. WhatStack's Discover Readiness checker automates this analysis and produces a single 0–100 readiness score. The scanner evaluates every signal, groups results by tier, and highlights exactly which requirements your site passes or fails.
The score uses a weighted formula: Tier 1 gates must all pass (otherwise the score is capped at 10), Tier 2 signals contribute up to 65 points, and Tier 3 signals add up to 35 supplemental points. A score of 80 or above indicates strong Discover readiness. Scores between 50 and 79 suggest specific areas for improvement. Below 50 means fundamental requirements are likely missing.
Improving Your Score
Start with the gate requirements. If your site fails any Tier 1 signal, fix those first — no amount of optimization on Tier 2 or 3 signals will help until the gates are cleared. Once gates pass, focus on the highest-impact Tier 2 signals: add structured data, enable large image previews, and address Core Web Vitals issues.
For Tier 3 signals, implement Open Graph tags, set canonical URLs, and ensure your XML sitemap is current. These are relatively simple technical changes that can push a borderline score above the readiness threshold.
Monitoring Discover Traffic
Google Search Console provides a dedicated Discover report showing impressions, clicks, and CTR for pages that appear in Discover. This data is available under the "Discover" tab in the Performance section. Use this alongside WhatStack's readiness score to track how technical improvements correlate with actual Discover traffic.
Run a free scan on WhatStack to check your Discover readiness score, and explore the Discover Readiness page for a detailed breakdown of all 13 signals.