Google Discover Update: Strategy Guide | 561 Media

Google Just Changed How Discover Works. Here’s What You Need to Know.

On February 5th, Google did something they’ve never done before. They rolled out a core algorithm update that only affects Discover.

Not Search. Not Ads. Just the Discover feed.

If you’re not familiar with Discover, it’s the feed that shows up on your phone when you open Chrome or swipe right on your Android home screen. Google serves you articles, videos, and content based on your interests and browsing behavior. No search query required. The content just finds you.

And for a lot of businesses and publishers, Discover traffic is a big deal. Some sites get more visitors from Discover than they do from organic search. So when Google announces a core update that specifically targets how content shows up in that feed, it’s worth paying attention to.

Here’s what changed, what it means for your business, and what you should do about it.

What the Update Actually Does

Google outlined three main goals for this update. Each one sends a clear signal about where Discover is heading.

1. More Local, Less Global

The update prioritizes content from websites based in the user’s country. If you’re in the U.S., you’re going to see more content from U.S.-based publishers.

Google’s reasoning is pretty straightforward. Local publishers tend to understand regional context better. They cover stories that are actually relevant to where you live. They write with cultural awareness that international content farms just can’t replicate.

This is a big shift for publishers outside the U.S. who were pulling significant Discover traffic from American audiences. That traffic could drop during this initial rollout.

For U.S.-based businesses, though? This is a good thing. You just got a home-field advantage.

2. Less Clickbait, More Substance

Google is cracking down on sensational headlines and misleading previews. They specifically called out content that uses “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.”

In plain English: if your headline promises something your article doesn’t deliver, Discover is going to push you down. If your thumbnail is designed to shock rather than inform, same deal.

This has been a long time coming. Anyone who has scrolled through Discover knows it’s been flooded with “You Won’t Believe What Happened Next” style content for years. Google is finally drawing a hard line.

3. Expertise Over Everything

This is the most important change, and the one most businesses should focus on.

Google is now evaluating expertise on a topic-by-topic basis, not just at the site level. Their own example makes this clear: a local news site with a dedicated gardening section could rank well for gardening content in Discover, even if the site also covers sports, politics, and weather. But a movie review site that published one random gardening article? Probably not.

What Google wants to see is depth. Consistent publishing in your area of knowledge. Original insights. Content that was clearly written by someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Sound familiar? It should. This is E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) applied directly to the Discover feed.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Here’s the thing a lot of people are missing about this update. Google has always bundled Discover changes into broader core updates that affected Search results too. This is the first time they’ve separated them.

That means your Discover traffic can now shift independently from your search rankings. You could see a drop in Discover while your organic search performance stays exactly the same, or vice versa.

If you’re not tracking Discover traffic separately in Google Search Console, you need to start. Today. Otherwise you’ll see a dip in overall numbers and have no idea where it’s coming from.

What You Should Do Right Now

You don’t need to panic. But you do need to pay attention. Here’s a practical checklist.

Check Your Discover Traffic

Log into Google Search Console and look at the Discover report specifically. Compare the two weeks before February 5th to the two weeks after. Look for any meaningful changes in clicks, impressions, or CTR.

If you don’t see a Discover tab in Search Console, it means your site isn’t currently generating enough Discover impressions to trigger the report. That’s a separate problem, but it also means this update doesn’t affect you yet.

Audit Your Headlines

Go through your recent content and ask yourself: does the headline accurately describe what the article covers? Is there any gap between what the title promises and what the content delivers?

If you’ve been using attention-grabbing headlines that stretch the truth, it’s time to fix that. You can still write compelling titles. You just can’t write misleading ones.

Google recommends headlines between 40 and 60 characters that “capture the essence of the content.” That’s a useful benchmark.

Double Down on Your Expertise

This is the biggest opportunity in the update. If your business has genuine knowledge in a specific area, now is the time to prove it through content.

Write about what you actually know. Publish consistently in your areas of expertise. Go deep instead of wide. Add author bios with real credentials. Include original data, real examples, and firsthand experience wherever you can.

The businesses that will win in Discover are the ones that stop trying to cover everything and start owning their niche.

Use High-Quality Images

Discover is a visual feed. Google has said that images at least 1,200 pixels wide perform best because they can fill the full-width card format. Low-resolution or generic stock images won’t cut it.

Invest in original photography, custom graphics, or at minimum, high-quality images that add real value to the content.

Keep Publishing on a Consistent Schedule

Discover rewards freshness and consistency. Sites that publish regularly in their topic areas build the kind of topical authority that this update is designed to surface.

You don’t have to publish every day. But you do need a rhythm. A well-researched article twice a week beats ten thin posts that don’t say anything new.

What This Tells Us About Where Google Is Heading

If you zoom out, the pattern is clear. Google keeps raising the bar for what counts as quality content. They want original thinking, real expertise, and honest presentation. And they’re building separate systems to enforce those standards across different surfaces.

Discover is just the latest example. But don’t be surprised if Google continues to roll out surface-specific updates for things like Google News, AI Overviews, and other features that sit outside of traditional search.

The businesses that invest in genuine expertise and honest content creation are building something that will hold up across every algorithm change, no matter which surface it targets.

The Bottom Line

Google’s February 2026 Discover Core Update is rewarding the right behavior. If you’ve been publishing quality content from a place of real expertise, you’re probably in good shape. If you’ve been leaning on clickbait headlines and thin content to grab attention in the feed, the clock just ran out.

The update is rolling out over the next two weeks for English-language users in the U.S., with global expansion planned in the months ahead. Track your Discover traffic, audit your headlines, and keep doing the hard work of creating content that actually helps people.

That’s always been the winning strategy. Now Google is just making it more obvious.

561 Media helps businesses build content strategies and digital marketing systems that perform across every channel Google throws at you. If you want help making sure your content is set up to win in Search, Discover, and beyond, let’s talk.

Google’s February 2026 Discover Core Update