Google Discover users seeing more old, evergreen content
If you’re dependent on your Google Discover feed to keep up with all the local and international news that you need to know, you might have noticed something about the articles you’re seeing. It’s not much of an updated news feed but more of old articles still related to your interests and also more evergreen content. At least that’s what users are saying in a popular Reddit thread where people are complaining about the content they’re seeing on their feed.
9 to 5 Google shares that for the past week, people have been noticing that the “news” that they’re getting on the Discover feed is not really news as they’re either days old or more of evergreen content. And even if you refresh the feed from the Google app itself, up-to-date news items are still not showing up. Some say they are getting real news but have also noticed that there’s been a lot more of the older content showing up.
It’s actually not news that Discover surfaces older content as they have been doing so since 2018. They give you content that may not be new “but are new to you”. This includes articles, videos, longer content, reviews, guides, explainers, listicles which Google determines you might enjoy based on your preferences and previous content consumed on Google. But what may be surprising is that these older content is what you see more rather than actual up-to-date news.
The fact that people are complaining about not being able to see actual news may be an indication that people are really using Discover to stay up to date with current events as well as their interests. We don’t know if this new feed we’re seeing is just a bug on Google’s part or if they really are experimenting with what shows up on users’ feed. If it’s the latter, then they may want to rethink their strategy as people are not happy.
There’s also a possibility that Google may be coming up with a new product or feature on Discover that will show you actual news. But we’re not seeing any signs of such a product and so if that’s what you’re looking for, you may have to rely on other apps or platforms to get your news from.
