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This paper constitutes the first academic study to be made of Google Discover as applied to online journalism.

This paper constitutes the first academic study to be made of Google Discover as applied to online journalism. The study involved conducting 61 semi-structured interviews with experts that are representative of a range of different professional profiles within the fields of journalism and search engine positioning (SEO) in Brazil, Spain and Greece. Based on the data collected, the authors created five semantic categories and compared the experts' perceptions in order to detect common response patterns.

This study results confirm the existence of different degrees of convergence and divergence in the opinions expressed in these three countries regarding the main dimensions of Google Discover, including specific strategies using the feed, its impact on web traffic, its impact on both quality and sensationalist content and on the degree of responsibility shown by the digital media in its use. The authors are also able to propose a set of best practices that journalists and digital media in-house web visibility teams should take into account to increase their probability of appearing in Google Discover. To this end, the authors consider strategies in the following areas of application: topics, different aspects of publication, elements of user experience, strategic analysis and diffusion and marketing.

Although research exists on the application of SEO to different areas, there have not, to date, been any studies examining Google Discover.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2022-0574

The journalism profession has radically changed due to the digitisation and the development of new media. As content is moving online, rapidly evolving Internet technologies have affected basic journalistic work processes. In this context, changes in technology as well as audience engagement have greatly expanded the skills required to be a professional journalist nowadays. A number of studies have shown that search engines constitute an important source of the traffic to online news outlets around the world, identifying the significance of top rankings in search results. Concurrently, in the digital age, the interest in monitoring online activities as well as the significance of studying the traffic data has intensified. This chapter summarises the major findings of two studies regarding the use and impact of SEO and web analytics on news websites and journalism profession in Greece. Through examination of a sample of Greek journalists and several Greek news websites, it aims to provide new insights in the field of digital journalism.