Google’s Newly Launched Discover Feed Enhances Intuitive Searching Functions
Google’s recent debut of the intuitive search feed, Discover, for U.S.-based mobile users comes fresh off of the heels of the company’s 20th-anniversary announcement detailing a wide range of future innovations. Embodying a bold paradigm shift, Google’s Discover delivers customized content explicitly geared to users’ unique interests including tailored news feeds, sports scores, local weather and much more. Although in the infant stages, this predictive algorithm may be the first step in a myriad of upcoming enhanced AI-assisted tools aimed at transforming the nature of how netizens search for, and discover, information.
Google Discover Offers an Enhanced User Experience Via Tailored Content Discovery
Aptly named, Google Discover offers dynamic searching that incorporates a wide range of information about a user to predict and display content which they may find valuable, insightful, entertaining or actionable. This tool can also surface content which is not necessarily newly hosted to a site, but may suddenly become extremely relevant based on a user’s specific interests and search history. This content may include:
- Articles, videos, blogs and more related to unique interests and hobbies
- Sports scores and related content for favorite teams
- Travel information for upcoming trips
- Local area weather, news, traffic and more
This predictive searching function, in theory, may assist users with rapidly locating fresh and relevant content which they have yet to discover based on previous queries. While it is currently only available to U.S.-based mobile users (on both iOS and Android devices), this new feature will likely make an appearance on the desktop version of Google as well as international sites within the weeks or months to come.
How Does the Predictive Function Locate Relevant Content?
Google Discover bases unique content recommendations on a predictive algorithm that accesses information about a user including:
- Previous search queries and web activity
- Interactions conducted within an app
- Location history
- Device information and more
Google’s AI-fueled predictive analysis tools remain at the core of these capabilities. At a deeper level, this AI tool may gauge a particular user’s level of expertise and experience with a topic and then intelligently recommended content which would be of interest to them. Discover even allows users to tweak the tool’s internal settings to fully customize the content they see.
SMBs Continue to Capitalize on Optimized Content Which Offers Value to Users
On the surface, this seemingly radical shift in the search engine landscape courtesy of Google portends major changes for SMBs hoping to capitalize on SEO opportunities. However, despite the proliferation of AI and predictive tool sets, some of the central tenets will remain the same for businesses hoping to attract leads and generate interest in products and services. Namely, hosting high-quality content, paying close attention to mobile-first indexing and optimizing websites for mobile device access, are all strategies that will likely continue to yield growth opportunities and generate leads for SMBs for years to come.