2:28 pm - March 6, 2026
Reach plc has noted a significant drop in referral traffic from Google Search, with Google Discover emerging as a major source of traffic, prompting the publisher to adapt its content strategy.
Reach plc, the UK’s biggest news publisher, has reported significant shifts in its referral traffic patterns as Google Discover increasingly becomes a major source over Google Search. This trend, shared during the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe on 28th October in Barcelona, Spain, highlights a significant change in how digital content is being consumed.
Martin Little, the audience director of distribution at Reach, highlighted the declining trend in referral traffic from Google Search, noting a 25% year-over-year drop. This decrease is quite substantial given the traditional reliance on search engines for traffic by many media companies.
By contrast, traffic from Google Discover has not only surged but has effectively compensated for the losses from Google Search, Little explained. Currently, 60% to 70% of Google-driven traffic to Reach’s websites comes via Google Discover.
This shift in referral traffic sources is not isolated to Reach plc but is mirrored across various publishers observing Discover’s potential as a significant traffic driver. However, Google Discover’s algorithm and behaviour can be unpredictable. Yet, Reach has managed to strategize effectively to capitalize on Discover’s capabilities. The key lies in optimizing headlines for Discover in contrast to those for traditional search.
The company’s pivotal insight came last November when it realized the impact of tailoring headlines specifically for Google Discover. These headlines focus on the “curiosity gap,” providing enough context about the story’s nature without disclosing the critical takeaway, thus enticing click-throughs. This approach is different from search headlines which rely heavily on keywords to align with search queries.
To streamline this adaptation, Reach has developed a flowchart guiding journalists on headline creation based on the target platform. This approach differentiates between crafting headlines for homepages, social media, search, and Google Discover. For Discover, the emphasis is on crafting a headline that captures the most intriguing aspect of the story, which aligns perfectly with the platform’s algorithm.
Particularly successful in Discover are lifestyle or “soft lens” stories, as they perform better on this platform compared to more straightforward news pieces that suit search. Little noted an emerging trend where lifestyle content search traffic is being affected by Google’s AI Overviews, especially in celebrity and entertainment content. As Google’s AI-driven summaries expand beyond the U.S. to the UK and other regions, Reach has observed a correlation with declining search referral traffic.
Despite the challenges posed by AI Overviews in reducing search traffic, Little emphasized the compensatory role of Google Discover. Reach is actively monitoring these trends with the help of a search engine optimization expert to better understand and navigate the evolving digital landscape.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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