We know Google will be bringing Google Discover to the desktop interface, heck, we've seen Google testing it for a while now. But did you know that Google will also show the breakdown of mobile versus desktop performance of Google Discover in Google Search Console?
Brodie Clark first spotted a loophole to get to the data in Search Console and posted about it on LinkedIn and then John Shehata was able to pull in some data with the hack and shared some of it on LinkedIn - then the next day, Google shut down the loophole and no one was able to access the desktop data for Discover.
The hack worked where you went to the Google Discover performance report in Google Search Console and just appended these parameters to the end of the URL : &metrics=CLICKS&compare_device=MOBILE&device=DESKTOP
But again, Google disabled that yesterday morning.
Here is a screenshot from Brodie Clark of this:
In John's screenshot, he had the interface broken out by mobile and desktop:
John shared these interesting data points from his early access to this data:
Quick Findings (based on 9.6B impressions):
- Google has been testing desktop Discover for 16+ months.
- Desktop impressions spiked around July 30, 2024, and again in October 2024 before dropping.
- No noticeable uptick in impressions since the recent public announcement.
- GSC does not show desktop Discover traffic in 87+ of the 280+ listed countries.
- Mobile CTR is significantly higher than desktop in most countries—almost double in the U.S.
- In the U.S., desktop traffic is only ~4% of mobile. In most countries, it’s even less—except New Zealand (18%), possibly a test market?
I see why the CTR on desktop is almost half of mobile. The page has many other elements https://t.co/RkTToLD2wn
— John Shehata (@JShehata) April 29, 2025
I do suspect Google will add a filter to break down this data by desktop versus mobile, but only once it officially launches. Until then, I guess we need to wait.
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
