Skip to content

Free tools for SEO, AI search, Google Ads and local businesses. No sign-up. See all tools

DigitalSnot

Google Discover and News Readiness Checker: is the article ready?

Check an article's code for Discover and Google News: large images, clear titles, bylines, dates and markup.

  • Free to use
  • Runs in your browser
  • No sign-up

How to use the Google Discover and News Readiness Checker

Read what the guide says

This is the Google Discover and News Readiness Checker.

Check an article's code for Discover and Google News: large images, clear titles, bylines,

dates and markup.

Open your published article, press Ctrl+U to view its source,

copy all of it and paste it here. Choose Discover only for a blog post or guide that is not news.

Or press Try an example to fill in sample details.

Answer the questions the code cannot show,

such as whether the page is indexed and whether the story is timely. With no HTML,

answer the extra questions instead.

Fix what is marked to fix first, often the image preview setting,

the date and time or the byline, then paste the new source to check again.

It reads only the code you paste.

It runs in your browser, so nothing you type is uploaded.

Try it free on this page.
What will you give us?
Check it for

Choose Discover only for blog posts and guides that are not news.

Open the published article, press Ctrl+U (View source), select all and paste it here. We need the head too, for the robots tag, og:image and the markup. It stays in this browser.

Only if the code does not show it. Open the image in its own tab to see its size.

Questions only you can answer

The code cannot show these, so your answers count in the checks.

Does Search Console's URL Inspection show the page as indexed?

Google says content can appear in Discover once it is indexed and meets Discover's content policies.

Is it timely, or does it add something new: news, a first-hand story, original research or a unique insight?

Google suggests content that is timely, tells a story well or gives unique insights.

Does your site cover this topic regularly, with real knowledge of it?

Google said in February 2026 that Discover judges expertise topic by topic.

Does the article give readers everything its title and image promise?

Discover does not allow preview content that promises details the page does not have.

Is it free of content Google's policies do not allow?

For example dangerous, hateful, harassing, sexually explicit, violent or gory content, manipulated media or vulgar language.

Does your site have an about page and real contact details, not only a form?

Google News asks for information about the publisher and contact information.

Runs in your browser. Your page is not uploaded or opened.

Paste an article's source to check it

You get a score from our checklist, each of Google's Discover and Google News points marked as met or not, and the fixes to make first. Or press Try an example.

Eligible is not the same as shown

Google says content that is indexed and meets its policies is eligible for Discover, but being eligible does not guarantee it will appear. The same is true of Google News. This tool reads your code with fixed rules, not AI.

Share this free tool

Embed this tool on your websiteFree. Paste one code; it runs in your visitors' browsers.

Copy this code into a page of your site. The tool sets no cookies and sends nothing your visitors type to us. Change height="760" if it needs more room.

Preview the embed

How to embed a free tool on your website

Read what the video says

Want one of our free tools on your own website?

Here's how to embed it, in about a minute.

Open any of our browser tools, such as the GST Calculator.

Below the tool, find Embed this tool on your website, and open it.

Press Copy code.

The code is a frame with the tool in it, plus a short credit line that links to the tool's page.

In your website's editor, add an HTML block where you want the tool, and paste the code.

In WordPress, that's the Custom HTML block.

If the tool needs more room, change the height in the code.

Publish the page, and the tool works on your site.

Here, it's on a sample page for a made-up sweet shop.

Visitors use it right there. It sets no cookies, and sends nothing they type to us.

The credit line under it links to the tool on DigitalSnot.

You can embed as many of our free browser tools as you like.

About the Google Discover and News Readiness Checker

Paste the HTML source of a published article, or answer a few questions instead, and choose whether it is news or a blog post. The checker reads the robots meta tag, og:image and image sizes, the title and headline, the byline, the dates and the Article structured data. It marks each point from Google's Discover and Google News guidance as met or not, gives a score from our checklist and the fixes to make first, and makes a summary to copy or print. It runs in your browser: your page is not uploaded or opened, and no AI is used.

How it works

  1. 01

    Open your published article, press Ctrl+U to view its source, copy all of it and paste it here. Choose Discover only for a blog post or guide that is not news.

  2. 02

    Answer the questions the code cannot show, such as whether the page is indexed and whether the story is timely. With no HTML, answer the extra questions instead.

  3. 03

    Fix what is marked to fix first, often the image preview setting, the date and time or the byline, then paste the new source to check again.

What Google asks for

Google says content is eligible for Discover when it is indexed and meets Discover's content policies, with no special tags needed. It asks for large, high-quality images at least 1200 px wide, enabled by the max-image-preview:large setting or by AMP, and for titles that capture the essence of the content without clickbait. Google News asks for clear dates and bylines, information about authors and the publisher, contact details, and a visible date and time between the headline and the text.

What changed in 2026

In February 2026 Google announced a Discover core update that aims to show more locally relevant content from sites based in the reader's country, less sensational content and clickbait, and more in-depth, original and timely content from sites with expertise in a topic, judged topic by topic. Google also removed its guidance on the Follow feature, which is no longer shown in Discover, so this tool does not check RSS feeds.

What this tool cannot do

It reads only the code you paste. It does not open your page, its images or Search Console, so it cannot see image sizes the code does not state, content added by JavaScript, or whether Google has indexed the page. It reads JSON-LD markup, not microdata. The score is our checklist, not Google's, and an eligible article is not guaranteed to be shown in Discover or Google News.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my articles into Google Discover?

There is nothing to sign up for. Google says content is automatically eligible to appear in Discover if it is indexed and meets Discover's content policies. Use a large image at least 1200 px wide with max-image-preview:large, a title that says what the story is about, and write timely or original stories on topics your site knows well. Eligible pages are still not guaranteed to appear.

Do I need to apply to Google News?

No. Google says it automatically considers web content for Google News, so you do not need to apply. Your content has to follow Google News's content policies, and using Publisher Center or submitting content does not guarantee that it will appear in Google News, Top stories or the News tab.

What is max-image-preview:large and how do I add it?

It is a rule in the robots meta tag that lets Google show a larger image preview, up to the width of the screen. Google says large images in Discover need this setting, or AMP. Add <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:large"> to the page's head, after checking your SEO plug-in's settings for it. If another robots tag sets standard or none, Google applies the more restrictive rule.

Why does Google News need a date and a time?

Google News's best practices for article pages say that to be considered in Google News, articles need to show both a clear, visible date and time, ideally between the headline and the article text. Show when the story was published, and an updated date and time when you change it substantially. Do not change the date without real changes.

Where can I see my Discover traffic?

In Search Console's Discover performance report. It appears only once your site has a minimum number of Discover impressions in the last three months, and Google does not publish that number. This tool does not connect to Search Console.

Sources and checks

Rules last checked

The Google Discover and News Readiness Checker follows these official pages:

Scores, limits and suggestions marked "our checklist", "our measure" or "our suggestion" are ours, not Google's or the platform's. How our tools work

Related reading

Want help with your content?

Tell us about your site and what your articles and pages should bring in. We reply within one business day.

Talk to us Our service: Content and blog SEO

More content writing tools

All content writing tools

Want us to fix what the tool found?

Tell us about your business and what you want to grow. We reply within one business day with next steps, not a sales script.

  • A reply within one business day
  • A quick look at your site and search visibility before we talk
  • Your details are only used to answer your enquiry

Prefer email or a call?

[email protected]

+91 70079 75411

Popular