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Mediavine Labs: Discover Optimizer

Get a Discover-readiness score for any post, plus a plain-language checklist of what to fix, right in your dashboard.

What is the Discover Optimizer?

The Discover Optimizer scores any published article against Google Discover's readiness signals and gives you a prioritized checklist to work from.

Google Discover can send big bursts of referral traffic, but it's not always clear why one post gets picked up and another doesn't. Most SEO tools check the same underlying signals, but report them as Search findings, not a Discover-readiness score. The Discover Optimizer translates those signals into a score and a checklist built specifically for Discover.

How to use it

Find the Discover Optimizer in your Mediavine Labs tab in the dashboard. Paste a URL or search for one of your own posts, and the tool will fetch the live page, check the signals Discover actually uses, and return:

  • A readiness score (0–100)
  • A plain-language checklist of what's passing, what needs work, and how to fix it

Understanding your score

Your score is based on five categories:

  • Eligibility
     Can Google even index and crawl the page? If not, nothing else matters (see "What to fix first" below).
  • Images
    Do you have large image previews enabled, and a lead image that's large enough (and ideally landscape-shaped)? This is the highest-weighted category, since the image is what makes a Discover card stand out.
  • Title, content, and freshness
    Is your title clear (not clickbait), is there a byline, is the content substantial, and is it recently published or updated?
  • Page experience
    Do you have structured data and a mobile-friendly page?
  • SEO health (shown, not scored). Meta description and canonical URL. These matter for Google Search, not Discover, so they're shown for context but don't affect your Discover score.

What to fix first

Not every red flag matters equally. In priority order:

  1. Hard blocks — your page has noindex, is blocked by robots.txt, or can't be fetched at all. Fix these first; nothing else matters until you do.
  2. Forfeits the big card — missing max-image-preview:large, or a lead image under 1200px wide / under 300,000 total pixels. These keep you eligible but knock you down to a small or no image card.
  3. Everything else — byline, dates, structured data, title, word count, mobile-friendliness. These are quality signals that improve your odds and appeal, but won't disqualify you.

Things to keep in mind

  • Readiness, not a ranking. A high score means your page is technically ready for Discover — it doesn't guarantee traffic or placement. Discover is personalized and non-deterministic.
  • One URL at a time. There's no bulk or site-wide scan yet.
  • It's a snapshot. The tool reads your page as it is right now. If you make changes, re-run it to see your updated score.
  • This is a Labs/Beta feature. Since it's still in testing, it isn't covered through normal support channels. Use the feedback option on the tool itself if you run into issues or have questions.

FAQ

Is this a full SEO audit?
No. It checks Google Discover readiness specifically (image previews, lead image size, freshness, structured data, author signals). Meta description and canonical are shown for context but aren't part of the Discover score.

Does a high score guarantee Discover traffic?
No. Discover is personalized and non-deterministic. Your score reflects technical readiness and best-practice alignment, not a ranking or a traffic promise.

Where does the data come from, and is it safe?
The tool fetches your live URL, reads the page's metadata, structured data, and lead image, and checks your robots.txt. It runs inside your dashboard, and can check any public URL, not just your own site.

What is Google Discover, and why should I care?
Discover is the personalized feed on Google's mobile app and homepage. When it picks up an article, it can send a large burst of referral traffic. Unlike Search, you're not targeting keywords, you're making your content technically and editorially ready to be picked up.

My score is low. What do I do?
Start with the flagged items at the top of your checklist. The two most common misses are a lead image under 1200px wide and max-image-preview not set to large.

If I fix everything, will I show up in Discover?
Not guaranteed, per the note above. Fixing flagged items removes technical blockers, but the algorithm still makes the final call.