A few days ago, I had the pleasure of attending the last talk of the year by Google, the annual closing event usually held in Zurich where the entire team participates: the Google Search Central Live. This session, organized mainly by Martin Splitt, Google Developer Relations, and John Mueller, Search Relations Lead, featured participation from many other members of Google’s search and product teams. Topics included analytics, Google Trends, and new Search Console features, but if you’ve made it this far, you’ll likely be interested in everything they discussed and shared about the algorithm behind Google Discover.
Additionally, I had the pleasure and honor of giving a brief talk on the power of optimizing Google Discover for websites beyond news media, which I titled: “From Newsrooms to E-commerce: The Google Discover Strategy You’re Not Using (Yet).” In it, I shared very practical insights on the key points to start optimizing this channel if you’re not a newsroom. I want to once again thank the Google team for the opportunity to share it with the audience in Zurich, and the presentation—which, of course, I also want to share with you—can be found at the end of this article.
So, after reviewing my notes on everything discussed at the Google Search Central Live in Zurich 2025 and winding down from the last presentations and trips of the year, I’m sharing my personal summary of the event with you. I’m completely open to discussing this with you and hearing your opinions on the topic, and I would appreciate it if you find it interesting enough to share with your network of contacts and SEO colleagues. Let’s dive in!
Since no agenda of topics and speakers had been published for this edition of Google Search Central Live in Zurich, Google surprised us with each of their topics as the day progressed. Obviously, one of the topics that those of us working with media or content were expecting was precisely the updates that the Search team anticipates for Google Discover following Google’s recent announcements about the inclusion of social media posts and more content creator presence in the feed.
Google chose to explain the updates to Google Discover from a “Trust and Safety” perspective, making it very clear from the start that, for them, the future and rethinking of how this product should be will rely on the quality of content and the authoritative sources behind the information, aiming to move away from the criticism received for the appearance of clickbait and low-quality content since the company launched it in 2019.
Speaking of Google Discover, from a Trust and Safety perspective
The person responsible for explaining the latest updates and clearing doubts on the topic was Andy Almeida from Google’s Trust and Safety team. In his presentation “Uncovering Quality on Discover,” he aimed to make very clear the guidelines that Google defends for this channel and opened his talk with: “I work on the trust and safety team for Discover and I’m here to talk to you today about how we think about quality, how we try to encourage quality and discourage policy violations and low quality content.”
He explained that the department primarily aims to improve the product by taking into account reviews and feedback from readers and users, and that Discover’s main mission remains the same: “Discover more of what you love. Stay on top of your interests. Keep up to date on what matters most to you.” Almeida detailed the work carried out by his team to achieve this goal, which they do in three ways:
- Proactive and reactive content reviews, “relying on robust systems to identify and mitigate problematic content,” based on lessons learned from content moderation cases, for example.
- Improving the product with new protection features already implemented
- Helping “our publishing partners maintain that compliance.”
Precisely, according to Almeida, this last lever “is probably the most important” because it generates the “flywheel,” the virtuous circle where “the more we help ensure policy compliance, the more we can focus on emerging abuse issues, further refine products, engage with more publishers, optimize moderation from the console, and so on.”
“AI Slop,” low-quality AI-generated content that circulates unchecked on Google Discover
Almeida emphasized the need to maintain quality across all Google products and ensure that all content complies with their policies. He also added that generative AI is a great opportunity for the entire web, but they don’t want it to become an entry point for more spam, which is why they will be more vigilant than ever to prevent this from happening.
During the Google Search Central Live in Zurich, this type of low-quality AI-generated content was precisely dubbed “AI Slop.” Almeida noted that this deteriorates the user experience across the web and that “what happens in Discover affects the entire web ecosystem.” “AI Slop is taking over the world,” he said while showing a playful spam mascot. “Although it looks cute, it’s the villain.”
“AI-generated junk is taking over the world, and Discover is not immune.” The Trust and Policy team is aware of the numerous criticisms received regarding feed content in the press, especially in Europe, and they take, he said, “this issue very seriously.”
What to do if we receive a manual penalty in Discover? Google’s advice for appealing and how the quality check works
During his talk, he directly appealed to publishers, recalling a scene from the movie Jerry Maguire (1996), in which Tom Cruise asks Cuba Gooding Jr., his only loyal client as an American football player, to give him a chance to prove his worth, with the famous line : “Help me, help you.” Almeida said: “I’m American and I grew up in the ’90s, so I can’t go five minutes without quoting Jerry Maguire. So please: Help me help you. If you have penalties and it’s possible to appeal in Search, please do so promptly. Make a good-faith effort to improve and stay compliant with policies. And lastly, be patient. If you are appealing a penalty, you are probably talking to me or one of my colleagues, and we have a lot of work on our plate.”
They also reminded that users, who often complain about the type of content circulating in the feed, can give their feedback through the “Report this” survey, quickly indicating what they don’t like about the content they are seeing, as well as by submitting a feedback form with a free-text explanation. This option “allows us to understand their experience with the feed, whether it’s related to the content or the user interface.”
Next, these reports are reviewed and grouped into problem categories, and according to Almeida, very likely, “they are then translated into OKRs that lead to truly significant product improvements.” One point Almeida emphasized is that “also, if at least one user reports a piece of content for any reason, it is reviewed within our content moderation workflows quite quickly.”
Something that hadn’t been openly communicated yet is that outside the United States, they are struggling to get feedback through these forms on Google Discover, and they encouraged a room full of SEO professionals in Zurich, many of whom came from different parts of Europe, to report more because “sometimes, issues outside the U.S. get stuck and we don’t have enough reports to prioritize them.”
It’s important to remember here that the United States is one of the countries with the least Google Discover traffic for publishers, as I mention in the book “Manual de instrucciones SEO para medios”, due to the fact that the market share of the Android operating system (where Discover is integrated on the device) is smaller than iOS, which is not the case in Europe or other countries around the world. The U.S. doesn’t even rank among the top 30 countries for Discover traffic for publishers, according to Chartbeat data (July 2025).
How to Optimize for Google Discover in 2026? New and Old Ranking Factors
We all know the main ranking factors that remain important for Google Discover (two chapters in the book cover this, or you can review my presentation on this topic that I gave at the same conference, which you’ll find later in this article), after several years of study, some of which overlap with factors relevant for Search.
Even so, with recent algorithm changes, we could say that the screws have been tightened, and we need to be much more precise in our content strategy to capture traffic through this channel, whether we are a general news outlet, a local or niche media, or a brand or creator using a blog channel to create content for their audience or potential clients.
Google made it clear that, based on this, they know that users “look for high-quality, inspiring, and authoritative content,” “niche recommendations generate excitement, especially when well personalized,” and added that “users recognize low-quality content when they see it, they don’t want to see it and will not use the service if they feel they are not being offered quality content.”
The Trust and Policy team argued that “the Search quality team is very good at combating spam; it’s practically in their DNA,” but the problem is that “the signals we use to identify spam become obsolete if a website doesn’t appear in Search results.” In this way, if Discover isn’t linked to Search results, those signals remain outdated, and the team lacks the tools to assess whether a website is better or worse than it actually is.
That’s why even minimal alignment with Search ranking, Google assures, provides the necessary tools to combat emerging abuses at scale and with high precision. This suggests thinking about and planning content and SEO strategies in Search as well, since continuing to optimize with quality content in Search will help ranking in Discover, as well as avoid volatility and strengthen a sustained presence in the feed, turning us into a “trusted publisher.”
AI-Generated Content for Google Discover: Yes or No?
It’s not an easy question to answer, but in Zurich, they gave us some insight into how publishers should approach and use generative AI in their daily content creation. As we always say in SEO, everything “depends,” and it’s not all black or white. So, below I’ve gathered some of the points mentioned during the event regarding the type of content in Google Discover that deserves to be there and the content that Google will try to avoid showing.
What Google does NOT want to see (and will not show) in Google Discover:
- AI-generated content that could put the user at risk for various reasons: for example, financial or medical advice entirely generated by language models, with very low-quality images and produced at scale. “That is what worries us the most.”
- Very similar but less harmful content: AI-generated recipes or low-risk fake news produced en masse by these models. This is “lighter” content, which some people may consider to lack value.
- Images generated in article thumbnails: Google says they are reviewing the use of generative tools for images as well, since this “puts users off” and “is being discouraged.”
What Google DOES want to see in Google Discover:
- Speaking of AI-generated content, Google considers routine content about weather, sports, or finance—daily publications, something useful—to be interesting and of high quality for things like AI-generated summaries or models that can understa
- Other topics and categories, as long as they are high-quality and articles are honestly attributed.
- High-quality, authoritative, niche, and inspiring content is what attracts users, helping them stay up to date with their interests, no matter how specialized. “We have found that niche recommendations are highly valued, especially when well personalized. And we are making many improvements in personalization over the coming months.”
- Highly specialized content with authoritative sources.
And to close this section, trying to answer a bit more clearly the question: “Can we create AI-generated content for Google Discover?”, I share this perspective: “We are completely focused on promoting quality content, whether human-generated, partially AI-generated, or of any other type; we just want it to be good.” So, the conclusions are yours.
The Focus on UGC and Video in Google Discover
Almeida clarified that the platform’s latest changes, which now include content from YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or X published by content creators, are part of a strategy to help feed users discover, follow, and engage more with their information sources and creators. The video format can expand publishers’ reach, something media outlets should already be incorporating into their SEO strategies in 2026. This was also highlighted by John Mueller, Google’s Search Relations Lead, in his closing remarks, before the Q&A with Martin Splitt, Google Developer Relations, and the rest of the speakers, adding that the future of Discover will rely on personalization.
Google Discover for E-commerce as Well: My Talk at the Google Search Central Live in Zurich 2025
As I mentioned, I had the pleasure of giving, together with three other speakers—Crystal Carter, Dany Leitner, and Corina Burri—a lightning talk on the opportunities of optimizing Google Discover as a new channel to drive traffic for brands, e-commerce, or even content creators. Titled “From Newsrooms to E-commerce: The Google Discover Strategy You’re Not Using (Yet),” I aimed to showcase each of the tools offered as a Swiss Army knife to activate and leverage this channel—a small set of very powerful tools if applied and used correctly. Below is the presentation, and if you have any questions, you can email me.
Upcoming Changes for Google Discover in 2026
Google has repeatedly highlighted the upcoming changes to Google Discover, especially regarding deeper personalization. In recent updates and discussions, the message has been consistent: the way Discover displays content is evolving, and publishers need to be prepared. John Mueller emphasized a key point: publishers cannot rely on getting 90% of their traffic from a single source, also issuing a warning to the industry about the risks of depending almost entirely on Discover and stressing the need to diversify traffic sources.
We will continue to monitor how the latest Google core update, rolled out on December 11, 2025, plays out, which will likely close a chaotic year full of changes for the entire industry and especially for SEOs. Even so, my thoughts and prediction for 2026 are that this is just the beginning and that “SEO is no longer just SEO,” and that optimization for Search or Discover will need to expand, incorporating other channels, departments, and strategies, with a much stronger focus on omnichannel approaches and the inclusion of new formats and platforms, as well as all the opportunities to diversify media monetization sources.
But above all, and most importantly, it will be about addressing the needs of our audience, understanding them, and offering what they truly seek, creating community and a product that our users want to consume today but also encourages them to return tomorrow. Happy holidays and best wishes for 2026!