Previously limited to mobile, Google’s Discover feature, which highlights news articles, will now also be available in a desktop version on computers.
Google is evolving its desktop search experience. The American giant is beginning to roll out its Discover feature, previously reserved for mobile devices, to the desktop version of its search engine. This is a significant change, as Discover is the primary source of traffic for a large number of digital media outlets.
Discover: a new interface being tested on the desktop version of Google
Google Discover, the interest-based content recommendation feature, is rolling out to Google’s desktop version in English. Spotted at Search Central Live in Madrid and shared by SEO expert Clara Soteras on X, this new desktop interface displays a series of cards of suggested articles and content when logged in to a Google account.
Google Discover will be available for desktop!🤩
The Google team is working to expand Discover on more surfaces. They just showed it in #sclmadrid, a great new feature for News and that will change the real-time and content strategy of publishers.
Let’s remember that, right… pic.twitter.com/gw7SSwZ8ES
— Clara Soteras (@ClaraSoteras) April 9, 2025
The presence of this Discover section on computers is not yet widespread. It seems for the moment limited to certain users on the English version of the engine, notably those located in the United States. Google confirmed to the specialized media Search Engine Journal that this experience is indeed being tested, specifying that it is an extension of the mobile functionality to the desktop environment. Note that the last time the arrival of Discover on desktop was mentioned, it was during tests conducted only in India, in… October 2023.
What are the impacts for content publishers and users?
Until now, Discover was a mobile-only feature, accessible through the Google app or the Android home screen. It allows Google to automatically offer personalized content to users based on their browsing history, interests, and even location. Discover’s arrival on desktop represents a significant development, which could have several implications.
For publishers, this extension increases their visibility opportunities: their content could appear not only in traditional search results, but also in this new desktop section, potentially generating qualified traffic. This also requires increased vigilance in optimizing content for Discover, particularly in terms of format, timeliness, and visual quality. As a result, the power of Discover could be the cause of both a significant loss of visibility and a huge jump in traffic.
On the user side, this new feature is part of Google’s desire to strengthen the personalization of the search experience. By integrating Discover into desktop browsing, Google is capitalizing on the larger display space to offer contextualized content, without the user having to actively search. This change brings the search engine even closer to a true content aggregator, imposing its omnipotence on an ever-expanding ecosystem, a company that has recently reminded publishers and media that it doesn’t really need them…
