u/No_Grand1044

I am curious how people here are thinking about Google Discover in the current landscape.

For those getting Discover traffic consistently, what seems to be moving the needle most right now?

Things I’m trying to understand better:

• whether freshness matters more than authority
• how much headline style influences pickup
• whether large original images still make a major difference
• if Discover favors certain content types more than others
• how much brand/entity strength impacts visibility
• whether updating older content helps at all

Also interested in the flip side:
What used to work for Discover that doesn’t seem to work anymore?

Would love to hear real-world experience rather than generic SEO advice.

I am working on a client site with a DR of 50. But impressions and clicks have been trending down all of a sudden.

So I’m trying to figure out what actually matters most here.

What would you check first in a case like this?

Would love to know how you’d diagnose this step by step.

I am trying to understand the actual SEO value of links from sources like:

• directories
• image submission sites
• social bookmarking sites
• microblogging platforms
• Web 2.0 properties

Do these still help in any meaningful way today, or are they mostly outdated / low-value?

Also, when people talk about increasing a website’s DR, what actually moves the needle?

I know DR is a third-party metric and not a Google ranking factor, but I’m curious how experienced SEOs think about it in practice.

Would love to hear what still works, what’s a waste of time, and what you’d focus on instead.

Random people reach out claiming that a payment is due and threatening to remove your backlinks or links from sites if you don’t pay. A lot of these messages seem to come from people based in Pakistan.

They keep following up and harassing you over email. Then when you contact the person or agent you originally paid for the placement, they either ghost you or tell you to ignore the emails.

Has anyone else faced this kind of scam? How do you usually handle it when these people directly harass your client?

Random people reach out claiming that a payment is due and threatening to remove your backlinks or links from sites if you don’t pay. A lot of these messages seem to come from people based in Pakistan.

They keep following up and harassing you over email. Then when you contact the person or agent you originally paid for the placement, they either ghost you or tell you to ignore the emails.

Has anyone else faced this kind of scam? How do you usually handle it when these people directly harass your client?