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CyberLab.Team

Google Discover

What Google Discover Rewards and What Keeps You Out

A Google Discover audit is a one-time review of a site against Google's Discover and News eligibility signals, done for publishers. You get a written report and a fix list in priority order, and no retainer.

Audit of your content and technical base for Google Discover: what the feed rewards and what blocks you. For news sites and blogs.

Google Partner · Working since 2015 · CyberLab.Team OÜ (EU, GDPR) · Fixed price, report + walkthrough call
Get the express review See Pricing

Packages

Start €900 Professional €1,200 Expert €1,550
See details →
90+
news sites audited
2015
working since
1 day
to reply to your enquiry

90+ news sites checked in Discover and News audits since 2015. One business day is how fast we reply to a request; the audit itself is delivered on the schedule of the package you choose.

Only a handful of specialist providers focus on this channel, and most work exclusively with large publishers. We work with any news site.

What we solve

Content optimization for Google Discover
We analyze and optimize your content to meet Google Discover visibility requirements: topics, freshness, engagement signals.
Technical SEO barriers removal
Site speed, mobile optimization, Core Web Vitals, structured data, everything that affects Discover eligibility.
Traffic drop analysis
We identify the causes of Discover traffic loss and build a recovery plan with clear action items.
Google Partnership strategy
Strategic guidance and best practices for sustainable Discover visibility and audience growth.

Every package has a fixed price agreed before the work starts. What the audit finds is yours: implement it with us, with your own developer or with any other agency.

Recognize yourself?

These are real problems our clients come to us with. If at least one sounds familiar, we can help.

Your site doesn't appear in Google Discover, but competitors get thousands of visitors
Google Discover is a personalized recommendation feed on mobile devices. It shows content without a search query, based on user interests. Without the right technical and content signals, your site never enters the feed at all.
Google News traffic dropped or disappeared completely
Google periodically changes requirements for news sites. One violation and your site drops from the News index. We find the cause and name which fixes are in your hands.
Articles are indexed with delays: you lose the first-mover advantage
In news, speed is everything. If your content is indexed in hours instead of minutes, competitors capture the bulk of the early-spike traffic. The cause is usually in technical site settings (XML News Sitemap, IndexNow, server response times).
You create quality content but Google ignores it
Content quality is necessary but not sufficient. Google evaluates dozens of technical and content signals: structured data, image quality, mobile-first, E-E-A-T. Without the right technical foundation, even the best content won't reach Discover.
You don't understand how Discover optimization differs from regular SEO
Regular SEO = keywords and search queries. Discover = audience interests and trends. These are fundamentally different algorithms. A strategy that works for search may be useless for Discover.
Ad revenue is dropping because traffic is dropping
For news sites and portals, traffic = money (CPM, subscriptions, sponsored articles). Loss of visibility in Google News and Discover is a direct revenue loss.
Your site was de-indexed from Google News
The audit identifies which signals triggered the de-indexing and which fixes carry the most weight in a Publisher Center reconsideration. Whether the site comes back is Google's decision, and we say plainly when the chances are low.
You launched a news site but don't know how to get into Google News
Registration in Google News Publisher Center is only the first step. You need proper technical structure, XML News Sitemap, data markup, and an editorial strategy.

Audit Pricing

The express review is free: up to twenty minutes on a call, up to three main problems named, no written report. Each audit is individual, with no templates.

The Start audit costs €900 and covers Discover eligibility, the Google News feed as a second channel, the technical layer and the top of the article. Professional (€1,200) keeps all of that and adds Publisher Center, the Discover traffic drop analysis, engagement and headline quality, and the search audit. Expert (€1,550) keeps all of Professional and adds ad policy and paywalls, the backlink profile audit and a comparison with competitors in the feed. Every price is on this page: no quote form, no hidden tiers.

Start
€900
Publishers who are not in the feed and need to know what blocks entry
  • Discover eligibility check: images, max-image-preview, content signals
  • Google News feed check: whether you are in it, as the second channel
  • Technical layer: indexing speed, structured data, news sitemap
  • The top of the article: headlines, images, bylines
  • Web analytics
  • Post-audit consultations
Order
Most Popular
Professional
€1,200
Publishers whose Discover traffic has fallen and who need the cause named
  • Everything in Start
  • Publisher Center: a read of the current state
  • Discover traffic drop analysis
  • Engagement and headline quality
  • Search audit
Order
Expert
€1,550
Publishers who need the full picture: ad rules, links and the competition in the feed
  • Everything in Professional
  • Ads, interstitials and paywalls against Google policy
  • Backlink profile audit
  • Competitor comparison in the feed
Order

See before you buy

Want to judge the depth first? We send a redacted 20-page sample from a past Discover audit (publisher name removed, traffic graphs blurred) so you can see the specificity of the content and E-E-A-T recommendations before committing.

Request the sample

Prefer not to fill in a form? Write us on Telegram (t.me/cyberlabteam) or WhatsApp (+48 668 155 303).

What the audit actually checks

A human review across three areas, using Google's own public documentation for Discover and News as the reference, not a one-click score.

Discover eligibility signals
  • Large images (1200px or wider) and the max-image-preview:large directive
  • Mobile experience and Core Web Vitals
  • Open Graph and image metadata accuracy
News infrastructure
  • XML News sitemap and RSS or Follow feeds
  • NewsArticle and Article structured data
  • Indexing speed and Publisher Center status
Content and E-E-A-T
  • Author signals and publisher profile
  • Freshness and topical authority
  • Headline quality without clickbait

No risk, no commitments.

No contracts. The free express review comes first and costs nothing. The full report belongs to the paid audit: it is yours to keep, and you can implement it with your own team or anyone else. For EU publishers, we are EU-registered with a DPA on request.

Free express review
No long-term contracts
Every price on this page

Process

How It Works

01

Express review

We look at your situation and answer within one business day, at no cost.

02

Detailed Audit

Full report delivered in 3-5 business days with prioritized fixes, 5-10 on the Expert tier.

03

Video Walkthrough

We explain every finding and answer your questions live.

04

Roadmap

Clear, prioritized action plan with timeline and expected results.

Free Discover checker tools vs. a human audit

Run a free checker first. It is genuinely useful, and here is where it stops.

What a free checker does well

Automated checkers verify technical eligibility fast: image sizes, the max-image-preview directive, mobile readiness, structured data presence. If you have not run one yet, do it before anything else.

They confirm you meet the minimums Google publishes.

Where our audit starts

Eligibility is not selection. Discover is interest-based, so a tool cannot diagnose topical authority, editorial strategy, or the root cause of a traffic drop. Passing a checker and still getting no Discover traffic is common.

Our audit begins where automated checks stop, including de-indexing recovery and Publisher Center reconsideration.

Discover as your diversification channel in the AI era

As AI answers reduce classic blue-link clicks, Discover stays query-independent: a feed Google pushes to interested readers without them searching at all. That makes it a useful channel to build up while search behavior shifts.

Publishers who also want visibility inside AI assistants can look at our AI visibility services. For deeper reading, see the pillar guide on Google Discover SEO and our take on publisher survival in the AI era.

What does this look like in practice?

A regional publisher came to us after Discover traffic fell off over a few weeks with no obvious cause. We started from Search Console, separated the Discover drop from ordinary search movement, then worked through the checklist. The main issues were images served below the 1200px threshold on the templates that mattered most, a missing max-image-preview directive on a large share of article pages, and a News sitemap that had quietly stopped updating after a CMS change.

We wrote up the fixes in priority order so the in-house dev team could work through them, and flagged a few older articles whose headlines leaned clickbait. After they implemented the changes, impressions in the Discover report began recovering over the following weeks.

Anonymized example of our process, not a promise of results.

Who does the audit

Audits are led by Petro Deruha, founder of CyberLab.Team and a participant in the Google Product Experts program, working with publishers since 2015. You work with a named person who has audited Discover and News sites for years, not an anonymous queue.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Google Discover and how is it different from regular search? +
Google Discover is a personalized recommendation feed on mobile devices. Unlike search where users enter queries, Discover automatically selects content based on user interests. The algorithm is different: what matters is not keywords but the site's topical authority, image quality (1200px+), engagement signals and freshness. We've been auditing publishers for Discover since its launch in 2017.
How is this different from your News Site Audit? +
This audit centers on the Discover recommendation feed: eligibility, image requirements, interest signals, and the technical readiness that gets content picked up. Our News Site Audit (at /services/news-audit/) covers the full news-site stack, including Top Stories, the News tab, and editorial architecture. Many publishers order both; if you only care about the feed, this is the one you want.
Who needs a Google Discover / Google News audit? +
Owners of news sites, online media, portals, and blogs with large amounts of content. If you publish articles regularly and want traffic from Google's recommendation feed, the audit will show exactly what's blocking you. This is also relevant for e-commerce sites with blogs and content marketing projects.
What's included in the audit? +
A complete check of technical readiness for Google News and Discover: compliance with Google News guidelines, indexing speed, XML News Sitemap, structured data (Article/NewsArticle), image quality (1200+ px, WebP), mobile optimization, E-E-A-T signals, traffic analysis and identification of decline causes. The output is a detailed report with specific recommendations and priorities.
Do I need to be in Google News to appear in Discover? +
No. Discover and Google News are separate surfaces with separate requirements, and plenty of sites get Discover traffic without ever being a news publisher. Being listed in Publisher Center is not a condition for appearing in the feed. We check Discover eligibility on its own terms, and if News also makes sense for your site we say so and point you to our News Site Audit.
How quickly will I see results? +
The audit itself is delivered on the schedule of the package you choose. After that, the pace depends on how quickly the fixes are implemented on your side and on Google, which reindexes and re-evaluates content on its own schedule. We do not name dates for decisions Google makes, including recovery after de-indexing. We reply to a request within one business day.
Why isn't my content appearing in Google Discover? +
Most common reasons: low-resolution images (need 1200+ pixels), missing max-image-preview:large meta tag, too slow mobile version, clickbait headlines (Google penalizes them), missing structured data. Our audit checks all these factors and provides a specific fix plan.
Can you help with Google News de-indexation? +
Yes, this is one of our key case types. Process: audit of de-indexation causes, fixing violations, preparing an appeal, monitoring recovery. As Google Partners and participants in the Google Product Experts program, we have faster routing and escalation paths, not insider access or guaranteed outcomes. Not every de-indexing is reversible.
How are you different from a regular SEO agency? +
Google Discover and Google News auditing is our niche specialization since 2015. Most SEO agencies work with regular search and don't understand Discover specifics (interest-based algorithm, not keyword-based) and Google News requirements (publisher requirements, real-time indexing). We have Google certifications and Top Contributors/Product Experts status.
Do I need a separate SEO audit in addition to Discover/News? +
It depends. Discover and News work on top of basic SEO. If your site has serious technical issues (speed, mobile, indexing), those need to be resolved first. We check basic technical SEO as part of the Discover/News audit and recommend a full SEO audit if it's critical.
How is success measured? +
By the metrics where movement is visible: impressions and clicks in Google Search Console → Discover section; the number of articles in Google News results; how fast new material gets indexed. We name what to watch and how to read it. Setting up reporting and dashboards is not part of the audit.
What image requirements do you check for Discover? +
We check the actual pixel width of the images you serve, not what the meta tags claim, plus aspect ratio, whether the lead image is unique to the article, and whether it survives your CDN and lazy-loading setup. We also verify that the max-image-preview:large directive is present, because without it Google shows a thumbnail instead of a large image.
Why is Discover traffic so unstable from week to week? +
Because the feed has no query behind it. Google decides which readers see which article, so one piece can bring a spike and the next ten bring nothing, without anything on your site changing. Treat Discover as a volatile channel on top of search, plan editorially around that, and judge it over months rather than days. The audit tells you whether the swings come from your setup or from normal feed behavior.
What is NOT included in the Discover audit? +
We do not write articles, commission photography, or build topical authority for you, those are separate engagements. We also do not cover AdSense/Ad Manager optimization inside the Discover audit price; that's our Publisher Monetization service. The Discover audit is diagnosis + a roadmap for traffic, not monetization or production.
Does Discover work for B2B sites and service businesses? +
It can, but the question is audience rather than eligibility. The feed stays a consumer reading surface, so B2B content lands when people read it out of interest, not when it works as a sales page. Companies with a real editorial section do get Discover traffic. During the audit we tell you honestly whether your content mix has a realistic chance in the feed.
My site was de-indexed from Discover or News, can you recover it? +
We audit the cause first: most de-indexing cases trace to E-E-A-T signal loss, content policy violations, Merchant Center-style quality-signal drops, or a site move gone wrong. We prepare a remediation plan and, where applicable, a reconsideration request via Publisher Center. Not every de-indexing is reversible, and we'll tell you honestly if recovery probability is low.
I ran a free Google Discover checker and my site passes, so why do I still get no Discover traffic? +
Eligibility is not selection. A free checker verifies technical minimums (image sizes, the max-image-preview directive, mobile readiness, structured data), but Discover picks content by interest signals, topical authority, and freshness. Passing the checks means you are not disqualified, not that you are chosen. Our audit is the diagnostic next step, and we do not promise traffic; Discover selection is Google's.
Does Google Discover still matter now that AI Overviews are changing search traffic? +
Yes, arguably more. Discover is query-independent feed traffic: Google surfaces content to interested readers without them searching. As classic blue-link clicks shift, that makes Discover a useful diversification channel to build up. We keep this qualitative and make no volume predictions; see our publisher-survival guide for the wider picture.
My site publishes in Polish, Ukrainian, or Russian, can you audit non-English publishers? +
Yes. We audit and report natively in English, Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish, and we know each market's context. Discover and News guidelines are global, but local publishing habits differ, and we account for them. We are EU-registered (CyberLab.Team OÜ), with a GDPR data-processing agreement available on request for EU publishers.
Is Discover only for news sites, or can blogs and e-commerce content hubs get in? +
Discover is not news-only. Any site that meets the content and image requirements can appear, and evergreen content surfaces alongside timely pieces. Blogs, content hubs, and e-commerce editorial sections regularly get Discover traffic. We check the same eligibility criteria for any content type, without promising placement, since selection stays with Google.

Real client data

We Work With Publishers of All Sizes

From regional news sites with 100K monthly visitors to major portals with hundreds of millions of Discover clicks. Below are real Google Search Console screenshots from sites we've worked with.

Google Discover: 450M clicks, 4.37B impressions, 10.3% CTR, high-growth publisher
450M clicks · 16 months

High-growth news site. The screenshot shows Google Search Console data for the Discover surface over the period.

Google Discover: 268M clicks, 2.53B impressions, 10.6% CTR, large news portal
268M clicks · 16 months

Large news portal. After audit: eliminated de-indexing risks, improved image quality, fixed News Sitemap.

Google Discover: 284M clicks, 2.73B impressions, 10.4% CTR, news site recovery
284M clicks · 16 months

Major portal. Audit revealed traffic drop causes, content freshness issues and structured data errors.

Google Discover: 64.9M clicks, 512M impressions, 12.7% CTR, regional news publisher
64.9M clicks · 16 months

Regional publisher. Discover traffic grew steadily after fixing E-E-A-T signals and mobile performance.

Screenshots from Google Search Console. Client data shown with permission.

Client feedback

What Our Clients Say

Publishers share their experience working with CyberLab.Team on Google Discover optimization.

Google Discover audit, Inrybar.cz

Google Discover audit, client feedback

Not what you need?

Broader news problems beyond the feed (Top Stories, News tab, editorial architecture) belong to our News Site Audit. If your traffic is fine but revenue is low, see Publisher Monetization.

News Site Audit Publisher Monetization

Ready for the audit?

Send the site or the ad account and start with the free express review: the biggest issues, the tier that fits and the fixed price. You decide after that.

Order the audit

No commitment. Response within one business day.