At Google Search Central Live in Zurich last December, Clara Soteras spoke about how brands and ecommerce sites can use Discover as a strategy.
Discover is a dominant source of traffic for news publishers, and currently, is a potential channel that has resisted the encroachment of AI. So, I was interested to see how Discover might hold opportunities beyond the newsroom.
However, in Zurich, John Mueller repeated his advice that Google Discover traffic is for free, and someday it can be zero. Much like the reality of Google traffic diminishing for many brands.
So, I sat down with Clara on IMHO to talk about what’s working, what’s breaking, and where the real opportunity lies in 2026.
Clara is head of innovation and digital strategy at AMIC and a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where she teaches SEO for news at several business schools.
“Discover adds to you some possibility to catch and to impact people that don’t know that they need you.”
Discover Is The Primary Channel, But With A Warning
In an article titled “Why publishers should worry about growing reliance on Google Discover,” the Press Gazette reported that for 2,000 global news and media websites, 68% of Google traffic now comes from Discover, in comparison to 32% from search.
I asked Clara if she thought Discover could offer any salvation to news publishers impacted by AI.
She confirmed what many publishers are experiencing, “Google Discover is the first channel of traffic for the majority of publishers today. And we need to understand that this is a good channel to achieve and to catch different audience, to achieve page views and volume of traffic.”
But Clara was quick to draw a line between Discover and traditional search. The ranking factors are different, and publishers who treat Discover as an extension of their search strategy are making a mistake.
“The basic things are the same, but we need to know that the location, the image, or the title, the headline are really important to rank on Google Discover.”
She also noted that not all content categories perform equally in the feed. Politics, for example, rarely appears. Publishers who want Discover visibility need to lean into lifestyle, sports, and culturally relevant content.
It’s For Free. And Someday It Can Be Zero
At Google Search Central Live in Zurich, John Mueller emphasized a key point that publishers cannot rely on getting 90% of their traffic from a single source. I asked Clara whether we might be in danger of swapping one reliance for another, from Google SERP traffic to Discover, and if publishers should be leveraging other channels.
Clara explained, “In Zurich, John Mueller repeats the same advice that Google is telling in every session that we have with the publishers. They think that the volume of traffic that Google Discover adds to your website is for free, and someday it can be zero.”
That volatility is real, “We know some publishers that start from scratch and achieve a lot of traffic and six months later they need to close the website because they lose all the traffic.”
When I asked what balance she would recommend, Clara said it depends on the size and niche of the publisher, but “you cannot have 90% of Google Discover traffic because if Google Discover decides to not see you tomorrow, you will lose all your audience because it’s not a loyal audience.”
Discover traffic is passive. It’s algorithmically injected into feeds, and Clara suggested that publishers need to diversify into social strategy, work with content creators, and consider building community around their topics.
How Brands Can Win In Discover
Clara’s presentation in Zurich was about a strategy most brands haven’t considered, applying newsroom methodology to Discover for ecommerce and brand sites.
Google has expanded the Discover feed to allow users to follow entities, creators, and companies, not just traditional publishers. YouTube, Instagram, and content creator profiles now appear, and for brands, this opens a different kind of opportunity.
“Search is the first channel probably for commerce because the user knows your brand or knows what they need. Discover adds the possibility to catch and impact and generate impressions to people that don’t know that they need you.”
Her methodology for brands mirrors what high-performing newsrooms do, which is to monitor social conversations and trends, align content to the moment, and move quickly.
“If we decide to create a strategy for a brand, we need to talk about the trend of the day. We need to talk about our product and service but really near to the trend.”
Clara is currently working with content teams at multiple companies to train them on Discover-specific execution. Headlines need to be more than 13 words, images must be chosen strategically for the format, and brands need to build entity authority through a sustained cluster strategy, publishing around the same entity on different days.
“For me, some of the best ranking factors are the image, the headline, and working with the entity every day to be a good reference for this entity.”
AI Content Can Rank In Discover, But It Doesn’t Perform
Andy Almeida from Google’s Trust and Safety team for Discover has said that nearly 20% of sites recommended by Discover are AI-generated, coining the memorable phrase “AI slop is taking over the world.” I asked Clara whether AI content is becoming a real threat that could displace legitimate news publisher content, and how publishers can defend against it.
Clara acknowledged the reality that AI content does rank on Discover. But she pointed out that Google’s quality and trust department is actively applying manual penalties when they identify AI content or fake news in the feed.
“If they think that you are publishing AI content or fake news, they can apply and ask that you need to raise or correct your content.”
More importantly, she shared a real-world example from her own clients that illustrates the performance gap between AI and human content.
“I had a client that worked with different AI tools to create basic content, and journalists adapted a little bit of this content. If you see the performance, you see only 100 views for an article versus 12,000 views for another article created by a human.”
Clara’s position is that AI can assist with ideation and strategic planning, but the content itself needs to be created by humans. Human-created content performs better in Discover, and she believes Google will continue to reward it.
“AI can give us ideas and strategic tips but for me it’s important that the content will be created by a human, by a journalist.”
The Opportunity AI Overviews Can’t Touch
With AI Overviews eating evergreen informational queries, I asked Clara what she thinks are the areas of opportunity in 2026.
Clara is currently working on research reports analyzing the impact of AI Overviews on publishers in Spain and the UK, and her data confirms, “ if you work with breaking news, you have an opportunity, because of the top stories module for breaking news.”
Real-time journalism still creates visibility that AI summaries cannot fully replace. For publishers looking ahead to 2026, Clara’s focus is on reinforcing the strengths that machines can’t replicate. Breaking news speed, entity authority, trend alignment, and diversification beyond Discover itself.
Human Expertise Is The Advantage
Google Discover is a powerful channel and in many cases essential, but it’s algorithmically volatile by nature.
However, it’s an opportunity for brands and ecommerce sites. The Discover feed is no longer a news-only space, and Clara’s work applying newsroom methodology to commercial content is an approach that most brands haven’t explored yet.
Where AI is reshaping both search results and the content that feeds them, the competitive advantage is ultimately down to human expertise, editorial judgment, and the ability to move fast on what matters right now.
Watch the full interview with Clara Soteras here:
Thank you to Clara Soteras for offering her insights and being my guest on IMHO.
More Resources:
- The Click Economy Is Over: How AI Search Is Forcing Publishers To Rethink Revenue
- Google Discover, AI Mode, And What It Means For Publishers: Interview With John Shehata
- SEO In The Age Of AI
This post was originally published on Shelley Edits.
Featured Image: Shelley Walsh/Search Engine Journal
