Newsletter
If you’ve used Android over the years, then you should know about the Google Discover feed. It’s easily accessible through the home screen, Google app, and Chrome. Even if you don’t know what it is, you’ve seen it. But, if you’re confused about what the Discover feed is or how to use it, well we’ve got you covered.
Here’s a handy guide to tell you everything you need to know about this feature. Whether you don’t know what it is, or you know what it is and you want to know how to use it, this guide will help you out. We’ll also tell you how to access it and customize your feed. Who knows, this could be your next favorite feature.
What is the Google Discover feed?
Okay, let’s start off with what we’re dealing with here. The Google Discover feed is a scrolling feed of relevant news headlines. These headlines could be relevant for different reasons. They could be based on your search history, your local area, or your preferences.
When you first open the feed, you’ll see headlines about certain topics that you’re interested in. If you typically search for results about fashion on Google, then you’ll see news articles about fashion. The same thing goes for any topic. This is Google we’re talking about; the company is big on using your data to charge its services. So, this shouldn’t surprise you.
All of the headlines take you to different publications. So, if you tap on one, then it will open a tab in your default browser.
Also, the Discover feed shows you information like your current weather, finances, sports, and the AQI (air quality index) in your area. These are displayed as little tiles above the news articles. While the feed of headlines could show you news about sports, the Sports tile will show you live updates on scores.
So, this is a personalized feed of the latest news updates you’d most likely be interested in.
How to customize your Discover feed
So, while the Discover feed is based on your history, it can be tailored by you. The thing is that we don’t always look up things that are in our best interest. That’s why Google is here. It’s meant to be the Everything website; you come to it for everything you need. So, you’ll search for things that align with your interests but, from time to time, you’ll need to search for things that aren’t.
Say, you have to do research for a class project. Well, your search results are going to be flooded with results about the fall of the Roman Empire for a brief moment. Google might think that you’ve become a history nut when, in reality, it was just for the project.
This is why you’re able to customize your feed. You’re able to pick and choose which topics and publications populate your feed. Customizing your feed could be a little time-consuming, but it’s worth it if you want to manage your feed.
There are a few ways that you can manage your feed. That’s great, as it gives you more control over what you can do.
Picking what you’re not interested in
So, a big part of seeing what you want is not seeing what you don’t want. The Discover feed lets you choose which topics and publications that you don’t want to see content from. If you find an article that doesn’t align with your interests, tap on the three-dot menu on the right side of the article. When you do, you’ll see a panel of options appear. The top options will read “Not interested in this” and “Not interested in this topic”.
If you’re just not interested in the article, tap on the top option. That article will be wiped from your feed. If you don’t want to receive any articles on that topic, then you can tap on the second option.
If you tap on the second option, there’s a chance that you’ll be taken to a sub-menu. This is because the article you’re blocking belongs to several topics. In the sub-menu, you’ll see a carousel of chips that you can tap on, and each chip will be a topic that this article belongs to. Simply tap on the topics that you want to block.
If you want to keep your feed tailored to your interest, then it’s good to check back every now and then to see if there are any topics that you don’t want. As time goes on and people search for more results on Google, it’s easy to introduce more topics to your feed.
Blocking publications
There are those publications that you just don’t like. It could be for any reason. Regardless of the reason, if you don’t like a publication, then you can tap on the third option in the panel. This will block all news publications from that specific publication.
If you accidentally block a publication that you didn’t mean to block, then you will have about five seconds to undo this. On the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a little graphic showing which publication you blocked. On the right of the graphic, you’ll see an Undo button. Tap on it to reverse your decision.
Adding interests
Now that you’ve gotten rid of what you don’t want to see, let’s add to what you want to see. Firstly, as you’re scrolling your feed, you can tap on the heart icon under news articles that you want to see more of. This will help the algorithm get to know what types of articles you want to see.
While you’re scrolling, you’ll see a section with a list of suggested topics that you can add. This won’t happen every time you open your Discover feed, unfortunately. The section will involve topics that you might be interested in. Just tap on the topics that you want to add, and they’ll be added to your interest list.
After you add topics, you’ll see a message on the bottom of the screen urging you to refresh the feed. When you refresh the feed, you’ll see it reflect your choice.
Managing your interests
If you want to keep track of the topics and interests that you added, it’s easy to manage them. Tap on the three-dot menu on any article. The same panel will come up. Tap on the Manage interests button. This will open a page with two options at the top. The first one will show you the interests that you’ve added. You’ll have the option to remove the interests or set them to notify you of new headlines.
If you go back to the previous page, you’ll see the second option named Not interested. In this section, you’ll see the list of topics and publications that you marked as “not interested.” Next to each of the items, you’ll see a little pink circle with a “-” symbol inside. Tapping on the circle will remove that item from your list and put that content back on your feed.
Disabling other feeds
As you scroll down your feed, you’ll see different sections with other feeds in them. For example, you’ll see a feed with your local news and a feed about the biggest headlines throughout the world.
If you don’t want to see news headlines from those extra feeds, you can tap on the three-dot menu. This time, you’ll see a much smaller panel pop up. Tap on the Hide this button. It will get rid of the feed.
With that, you know how to manage and customize your Google Discover feed. With this knowledge, you will know how to make the feed feel personal.