Google announced it added Chrome data to the Google Search Console Discover performance report. I guess previously this report only included data from the Google home page and Google Search app. Now, it will include data Chrome users see when they open a new tab on Chrome mobile.
The above image is what the new tabs look like on Chrome mobile, note when you open that new tab, it loads the Google home page with Discover stories under the search box.
Previously, those impressions and clicks from the stories in the Chrome tab were not counted.
Google said this is a gradually rollout, Google wrote "over the course of the next few months, this data will gradually appear in your site's Search Console Discover performance report. This means your site's reported traffic levels may rise from where they were."
Also, Google is adding new referrer data for this. Google said "starting with a small percentage of traffic today and rolling out gradually, Discover traffic from Chrome will be using a new origin referrer https://www.google.com/ so it is consistent with what’s used for Discover on the Google app. This will replace the previous www.googleapis.com/auth/chrome-content-suggestions referrer."
If you're into data, take note! "Starting with a small percentage of traffic today and rolling out gradually, Discover traffic from Chrome will be using a new origin referrer: https://t.co/veDHImKtrc instead of https://t.co/R4GHduC1z8" Read more athttps://t.co/GqDIkf5XtX
— Daniel Waisberg (@danielwaisberg) February 2, 2021
For context, Google launched the discover report in Search Console in April 2019.
Note, you won't be able to segment by the location of Google Discover, i.e. Chrome tab versus Google Search App or Google.com.
It's not possible to distinguish the type of Discover traffic, at least not at the moment. Sorry!
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) February 2, 2021
Forum discussion at Twitter.
