On February 5, 2026, Google released a core update that has no precedent in the company's history 

It is not a search ranking update. It does not affect traditional organic results. It targets only Google Discover, the interest-based content feed that surfaces articles to mobile users who never typed a query.

The SEO community was already tracking ranking volatility this week and expecting a traditional core update. What they got instead was something entirely different, a clear signal that Google now considers Discover's quality systems independently from Search .

What Actually Changed

Google outlined three specific improvements, each with operational implications for publishers .

1. Local Content Prioritization

Discover now explicitly prioritizes content from websites based in the user's country. For US-based Discover users, content from American publishers gets preferential surfacing. Non-US websites that previously appeared in American Discover feeds, and many international affiliate sites have benefited enormously from US Discover traffic, should expect reduced visibility .

This is not a subtle tweak. If your affiliate site serves a primarily American audience but is not based in the United States, Discover traffic from that market will decline. The same logic applies globally: UK users will see more UK-based content, Australian users more Australian content.

2. Sensational Content Reduction

Google is explicitly targeting the engagement-bait headlines and emotionally manipulative content that has plagued Discover for years. Because Discover operates on interest signals rather than search intent, it has historically rewarded content that generates clicks through curiosity gaps and exaggerated framing rather than substance .

Google's own Discover guidelines have long advised against heightening emotional states or using clickbait headlines. Enforcement has now tightened significantly.

Headlines that promise more than the content delivers, thumbnails selected purely for shock value, and articles structured around manufactured urgency rather than genuine insight will face reduced distribution .

3. Topic-by-Topic Expertise

This is where the update gets interesting. Google is not just saying it wants "good content." It is specifying a mechanism: topic-by-topic expertise evaluation .

Google's systems are now designed to "identify expertise on a topic-by-topic basis." A site's authority is assessed per subject area rather than as a blanket domain-level signal. The example Google provides is telling: a local news site with a dedicated gardening section could be recognized as having gardening expertise, while a movie review site that published a single gardening article would not .

Why This Matters More Than a Typical Update

Discover traffic behaves fundamentally differently from search traffic. When a user clicks through from Discover, they did not type a query. Google's systems selected that content for them based on inferred interest .

This makes Discover traffic warmer in some respects, these are users who already care about the topic, but also more volatile. Feeds rotate constantly, interests shift, and visibility can spike and vanish without warning.

For publishers who have built revenue models partially dependent on Discover, this volatility has always been a factor. What this update changes is the criteria for entry. Previously, strong SEO fundamentals and trending content could earn Discover placement almost as a byproduct. Now, Google is applying a distinct quality framework that evaluates topical authority, content originality, geographic relevance, and headline integrity as independent variables .

What Publishers Should Do Now

Audit Your Discover Traffic Immediately

Check your Google Search Console Discover report. Understand what percentage of your traffic comes from Discover, which articles are driving it, and whether those articles align with the expertise and quality signals this update rewards .

If Discover represents a significant portion of your traffic, you need a contingency plan. Not panic, but awareness.

Invest in Topical Depth, Not Topical Breadth

The topic-by-topic expertise model means that publishing one article on a subject and moving on is unlikely to establish Discover-worthy authority. Building content clusters around core topics, with genuinely informative, original analysis rather than repackaged information, is what this update rewards .

Clean Up Your Headlines

If your editorial approach has leaned toward curiosity-gap headlines or emotionally charged framing to boost Discover clicks, this update is a direct warning. Write headlines that accurately reflect your content. Describe what the reader will learn, not what emotion you want to provoke .

Reassess Your Geographic Strategy

If you are a non-US publisher generating meaningful Discover traffic from American audiences, expect that traffic to decline as this update rolls out. The localization shift is not a penalty; it is a structural change. Plan accordingly by either strengthening your presence in your home market's Discover ecosystem or ensuring your traffic strategy does not hinge on a single geographic audience .

Diversify Beyond Discover

Every Google traffic channel is becoming more selective, more volatile, and harder to depend on exclusively. Email lists, social media audiences, video content, and direct brand-building offer stability that algorithmic feeds simply cannot .

The Bigger Picture

Google's decision to treat Discover as a standalone system with its own core update cadence tells us something important about where the company is heading. Content distribution is being fragmented into distinct products, each with their own quality criteria, each requiring specific optimization strategies .

Search, Discover, AI Overviews, and Google News are no longer interchangeable traffic sources that all respond to the same inputs.

For publishers, this fragmentation adds complexity but also opportunity. Sites that genuinely know their subjects, that produce original analysis rather than rehashed information, and that build recognizable authority within specific verticals are exactly what this update is designed to reward .

The sites that will struggle are those producing high volumes of shallow content across too many topics, relying on sensational framing to generate clicks, or depending on cross-border Discover traffic without a localized content strategy.

The update is rolling out over two weeks in the US market, with global expansion planned . Fluctuations during this period are normal and should not trigger reactive content changes. Once the dust settles, the publishers who have invested in substance will be the ones still standing in the feed.