Search Console reporting for your site’s Discover performance data

Discover is a popular way for users to stay up-to-date on all their favorite topics, even when they’re not searching. To provide publishers and sites visibility into their Discover traffic, we're adding a new report in Google Search Console to share relevant statistics and help answer questions such as:

  • How often is my site shown in users' Discover? How large is my traffic?
  • Which pieces of content perform well in Discover?
  • How does my content perform differently in Discover compared to traditional search results?

A quick reminder: What is Discover?

Discover is a feature within Google Search that helps users stay up-to-date on all their favorite topics, without needing a query. Users get to their Discover experience in the Google app, on the Google.com mobile homepage, and by swiping right from the homescreen on Pixel phones. It has grown significantly since launching in 2017 and now helps more than 800M monthly active users get inspired and explore new information by surfacing articles, videos, and other content on topics they care most about. Users have the ability to follow topics directly or let Google know if they’d like to see more or less of a specific topic. In addition, Discover isn’t limited to what’s new. It surfaces the best of the web regardless of publication date, from recipes and human interest stories, to fashion videos and more. Here is our guide on how you can optimize your site for Discover.

Discover in Search Console

The new Discover report is shown to websites that have accumulated meaningful visibility in Discover, with the data shown back to March 2019. We hope this report is helpful in thinking about how you might optimize your content strategy to help users discover engaging information-- both new and evergreen.

For questions or comments on the report, feel free to drop by our webmaster help forums, or contact us through our other channels.

Posted by Michael Huzman, Ariel Kroszynski

Taking the initiative with data journalism

Every day, reporters produce insightful stories about how the world is changing, and data journalism is an important tool for telling these stories. But experimenting with data journalism can be time consuming and costly, so the Google News Initiative is releasing more data journalism trainings, online resources and tools—while working with leaders in the field to make sure newsrooms have the support they need to be successful. Here’s a quick overview of what’s coming.

In-person training

We’re funding the Investigative Reporters and Editors’ “Data in Local Newsrooms Training program” to bring free training to journalists in their own newsrooms. The IRE will select 10 newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada to participate, teaching more than 200 journalists the most up-to-date-techniques, and providing ongoing support for their projects.

Investigative Reporters and Editors hosting a newsroom training.png

Investigative Reporters and Editors hosting a newsroom training.

Over the years, journalists have told us that training on basic tools—like Google Trends, Google Maps, and Google Earth—speeds up their work, so they can spend more effort on their reporting and carving out time for other projects. We’re continuing our five years’ funding of the Society of Professional Journalists Training Program, with a refocused effort on providing Google tools training at major conferences, conventions and regional SPJ events where eager journalists convene, reaching an estimated 4,000 journalists by March 2020.

Online training

This fall we’re funding the launch of Data Journalism MOOCs with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. They are multi-week online courses—available in English, Spanish and Portugese— that cover the basics of data journalism with interactive exercises and reading assignments. Participants can connect with others taking the course, allowing them to ask questions, get feedback and network with others. With funding from Google, the MOOCs will reach journalists who wouldn’t be able to receive training otherwise.

Beyond the MOOCs, journalists can learn new skills from the GNI training center. Soon we’ll add lessons on how to use Google Sheets for data journalism, transcribe audio in Google Docs, and visualize data in Google Data Studio, with training available in multiple languages. After completing the training, you’ll get a certificate to demonstrate that you’ve taken the time to advance your  skills.

Lastly, datajournalism.com—launched by European Journalism Centre and supported by the GNI—is a new hub for data journalists with lessons, the Data Journalism Handbook and a community of over 9,000 data journalists and students.

Visual tools

To help data journalists tell stories in new ways, we provide access to Google data, data visuals and new tools to visualize and analyze data. Recently we worked with design studio Datavized to create TwoTone, a tool that turns data into sound; Morph, which creates animated visuals from data and a new version of Data Gif Maker, which creates animated data gifs. As another example, Data Commons brings together public datasets to make them easier to mash up together. Check out more examples of our tools and visuals.


Data shows interest in Halloween costumes for dogs, cats, birds, horses.gif

Make easy animated data visualizations with Data Gif Maker

Bringing journalists together to learn new skills

The Investigative Reporters and Editors conference, National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting International Symposium on Online Journalism, and the Excellence in Journalism conference provide an opportunity for journalists to connect with their colleagues and leaders in the field, and expose journalists to the latest tools and techniques. We’re sponsoring these events, as well as offering sessions on machine learning, data visualization, Google tools for verification and fact checking, safety and security online and more.

Do you want to work with us on new ways to tell stories with data? Contact us at [email protected].

Building robots and more at FIRST Robotics

Building a robot is pretty remarkable, all the more when it’s teams of high school students piecing it together in just 6 weeks to compete at an international competition.

Last month, more than 2,000 students from Australia, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, South Africa, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, USA and Singapore took part in the FIRST Regional Robotics Competition at Sydney Olympic Park.

FIRST Robotics aims to inspire young people to become science and technology leaders, by engaging them in programs that build science, engineering and technology skills. Students work together to build robots that could complete particular challenges.



As part of the program, students receive help from mentors, including industry experts, engineers, school teachers, university students, lecturers, FIRST alumni and others.

A survey of past participants shows those that took part are more likely to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics at university and over 75 per cent of FIRST alumni are now studying or working in a STEM field - skills that are important for Australia's future workforce (Alphabeta).



Google has long supported FIRST and together with Macquarie University we were pleased to help bring the competition to Australia.

This year, we also hosted a breakfast for Women in FIRST to build connections with mentors and be inspired to continue their STEM journey.



FIRST teaches students the computational skills they will need for the future - whether they end up working in computer science, banking, medicine, agriculture or any number of other fields being transformed by technology.

More than STEM skills, the program also develops leadership, resilience, confidence and teamwork - all vital for building an innovation generation. Find out more here.

Posted by Sally-Ann Williams, Engineering Community and Outreach Manager, Google Australia

With Goodwill, we’re helping more Americans learn digital skills

In October 2017, I returned to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—the first city I saw when I came to America over 25 years ago—to announce Grow with Google, a new effort to create more opportunity for everyone. At the heart of this goal was our five-year commitment to provide $1 billion in Google.org grants and 1 million Googler volunteer hours to organizations all over the world. Goodwill Industries International was one of the first groups to join us in this effort, and just over a year later, I’m proud to share that our work together has already helped a quarter of a million Americans learn new digital skills, and 27,000 Americans find a job.

This impact was made possible by the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator (GDCA), a program to equip 1.2 million Americans with the digital skills needed to succeed in today’s job market and prepare for the changing workforce. GDCA was launched with the support of a $10 million Google.org grant made to Goodwill Industries International, the largest grant we’ve ever made to a single organization.

Goodwill has a track record of helping place people in jobs that provide good wages and pathways to future careers, and the impact we’ve seen through this program is no different. One example is Simone in Astoria, New York, who was hired as a remote receptionist after taking a weeklong customer service and call-center training that taught her basic computer skills. Other job seekers have found positions in fields like IT support, aircraft manufacturing, and information and communications technology.

In the case of Chelsea, these trainings led her to a job at Google. After moving home to Nashville from Atlanta, she struggled to find housing for her family. While working at Goodwill of Middle Tennessee, she was encouraged to enroll in the Google IT Support Professional Certificate program. With nearly one year of training under her belt, she’s now working at our data center in Clarksville, TN, and has moved with her daughters into a house nearby. Chelsea is one of 66,000 people enrolled the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, and 84 percent of whom say it helped them to advance their job search or career.

Goodwill’s programs also give people the digital skills they need to launch and grow a business. Femeka in Fort Worth, Texas, started her own gift basket business, but was struggling to reach new customers. She saw a flier for the Goodwill program at a local women’s shelter and completed courses in basic computing, internet navigation, productivity tools and G Suite in just a few weeks. Femeka used these new skills she learned to create order forms for her gift baskets and build a website to attract new customers.

  • NY-Simone-Goodwill.jpg

    Simone was hired as a remote receptionist after completing a customer service and call-center training through Goodwill NYNJ.

  • Google_Chelsea_Goodwill.jpg

    Chelsea completed Google’s IT Support Professional Certificate in three months, landing a job at Google’s data center in Clarksville, TN

  • TX-Fameka-Goodwill.jpg

    After enrolling in Goodwill Fort Worth’s Digital Skills program, Femeka learned the skills to build a website for her gift basket business.

  • Goodwill IT Training Lab RV.jpg

    The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator enabled Goodwill of Wichita to transform an RV into a mobile training lab.

Goodwill’s model is effective because it’s not a cookie cutter approach to job training. There’s something for everyone to learn that can benefit their careers, whether it’s getting basics skills like word-processing or email, or more specific skills to get a better job in the same field. Local Goodwill organizations are also empowered to build programs that fit their communities best. In Wichita, Kansas, a lack of transit options led the local Goodwill to bring classes to 35 rural communities around the state in an RV!

The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator operates at 93 Goodwill organizations across 34 states, with plans to expand to 126 in the coming months. Meanwhile, 200 Google employees have volunteered their time and expertise to conduct trainings, and seven Google.org Fellows are embedded full-time at Goodwill locations across the country.

Our strong collaboration with Goodwill has contributed to the progress we’ve made toward the goal of $1 billion and 1 million hours we set in Pittsburgh. Overall, Googlers have already served 280,000 volunteer hours and we’ve made over $300 million in grants. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together, but there’s a lot more to work to make sure everyone has access to opportunities, no matter where they live. We’ll continue to update you on the lessons we’re learning and the impact we’re seeing in the months and years to come.

Beta Channel Update for Chrome OS

The Beta channel has been updated to 74.0.3729.68 (Platform version: 11895.58.0) for most Chrome OS devices. This build contains a number of bug fixes, security updates and feature enhancements. A list of changes can be found here.


If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our forum or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue...’ in the Chrome menu (3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser).

Daniel Gagnon
Google Chrome

Stay in the loop and lock in your line-up with events in Search

On the hunt for activities to fill your autumn calendar? Whether it’s Easter shows, art exhibitions or concerts, we’re making it even easier to find events in Search. 

Starting today, when you search on your phone for things like “events near me” or “free concert,” new features will give Aussies personal recommendations, along with more information about events that may interest you. Whether you’re in Sydney, Hobart or Darwin, you’ll find a list of events from a variety of sites, including Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Timeout, Concrete Playground – and also key information about the event, right on Search.

Tap any event you’re interested in and you’ll get an overview of things like time, location, ticketing providers and other information that will help you decide whether to attend. If you’re ready to take the plunge, you can follow the links to buy tickets from the provider of your choice. If you’re still deciding, you can head to the event webpages for more information. We also make it easy to save events and share with others, so you can plan as you go.

With these new features, you can easily discover events based on your interests. While browsing events, you can tap the “For You” tab to get personalised ideas for things to do near you. You’ll also see trending and popular events in your area to keep you in the loop on the hottest happenings.




You’ll find events from across the web – from meetup and concert sites to individual event listings from organisations and brands you love. We’ve made it easy for sites to mark up their event listings to appear in this experience, with new listings updated quickly. Event sites can follow these guidelines to ensure events are discoverable.

Try it out today to find the perfect dog meetup, local festival or must-see concert for you.


Posted by Emily Fifer, Product Manager

Dev Channel Update for Desktop

The dev channel has been updated to 75.0.3759.4 for Windows, Mac & Linux.


A partial list of changes is available in the log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug. The community help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.
Srinivas Sista
Google Chrome

Google Play Instant feature plugin deprecation

Posted by Miguel Montemayor and Diana García Ríos

As of Android Gradle plugin 3.4.0 (included in Android Studio 3.4), we are starting the deprecation process of the feature plugin (com.android.feature) and instant app plugin (com.android.instantapp) as a way to build your instant app. When building your app, you will receive a warning flagging com.android.feature as deprecated. If you have an existing instant app built with the feature plugin, migrate your existing app to an instant-enabled app bundle as soon as possible.

What is changing?

Last year, we introduced Android App Bundles—a new way to build and publish your Android apps. App bundles simplify delivering optimized APKs, including instant delivery, by unifying uploads into a single artifact. Google Play handles distribution by serving the correct APKs to your instant and installed app users—this is called Dynamic Delivery. To learn more about app bundles, visit the documentation site.

Dynamic Delivery is based on the idea of shipping dynamic features (com.android.dynamic-feature) to app users when they need them and only if they need them. There are currently three delivery types, based on the different values you will give the dist:module tag attributes on the dynamic feature module’s manifest file: 

    <dist:module
       dist:instant="..."
       dist:onDemand="..."
       ...
    </dist:module>
dist:instant="false" dist:instant="true"
dist:onDemand="false" Dynamic feature delivered at install time Dynamic feature delivered instantly and at install time
dist:onDemand="true" Dynamic feature delivered on demand (beta) N/A

By migrating your instant app to an instant-enabled app bundle with dynamic features, you will be ready to leverage the full power of this new paradigm and you will be able to simplify your app’s modular design.

The migration

Previously, instant apps required creating a feature module that acted as the base module for your app. This base feature module contained the shared code and resources for both your instant and installed application. The rest of your codebase was comprised of:

  • multiple non-base feature modules, which contained the instant app entry points,
  • an application module, which contained the code and activities required only for your main installed application, and
  • an instant app module, which represented the instant app and mapped its dependencies.

With the new app bundle implementation, your base feature module takes the role as your app module (com.android.application), hosting the code and resources common to all features (instant and installed). You organize additional, modular features as one of three types of dynamic feature modules, based on when you want to deliver them to the user. The instant app module disappears, since the dist:instant attributes in the manifest are enough to identify which features will be included as part of the instant experience.

If you don’t have an instant experience added to your app and you’d like to create one, use Android Studio 3.3+ to create an instant-enabled app bundle.

Bringing the best of open source to Google Cloud customers


Google’s belief in an open cloud stems from our deep commitment to open source. We believe open source is an essential part of the public cloud: It’s the foundation of IT infrastructure worldwide and has been a part of Google’s foundation since day one. This is reflected in our contributions to projects like Kubernetes, TensorFlow, Go, and many more.

Today, we’re taking our commitment to open source to the next level by announcing strategic partnerships with leading open source-centric companies in the areas of data management and analytics, including:
  • Confluent
  • DataStax
  • Elastic
  • InfluxData
  • MongoDB
  • Neo4j
  • Redis Labs
We’ve always seen our friends in the open-source community as equal collaborators, and not simply a resource to be mined. With that in mind, we’ll be offering managed services operated by these partners that are tightly integrated into Google Cloud Platform (GCP), providing a seamless user experience across management, billing and support. This makes it easier for our enterprise customers to build on open source technologies, and it delivers on our commitment to continually support and grow these open source communities.

Making open source even more accessible with a cloud-native experience

The open-source database market is big, and growing fast. According to SearchDataManagement.com, “more than 70% of new applications developed by corporate users will run on an open source database management system, and half of the existing relational database installations built on commercial DBMS technologies will be converted to open source platforms or [are] in the process of being converted."

This mirrors what we hear from our customers—that you want to be able to use open-source technology easily and in a cloud-native way. The partnerships we are announcing today make this possible by offering an elevated experience similar to Google’s native services. It also means that you aren’t locked in or out when you are using these technologies—we think that’s important for our customers and our partners.

Here are some of the benefits these partnerships will offer:
  • Fully managed services running in the cloud, with best efforts made to optimize performance and latency between the service and application.
  • A single user interface to manage apps, which includes the ability to provision and manage the service from the Google Cloud Console.
  • Unified billing, so you get one invoice from Google Cloud that includes the partner’s service.
  • Google Cloud support for the majority of these partners, so you can manage and log support tickets in a single window and not have to deal with different providers.
To further our mission of making GCP the best destination for open source-based services, we will work with our partners to build integrations with native GCP services like Stackdriver for monitoring and IAM, validate these services for security, and optimize performance for users.

Partnering with leaders in open source

The partners we are announcing today include several of the top-ranked databases in their respective categories. We’re working alongside these creators and supporting the growth of these companies’ technologies to inspire strong customer experiences and adoption. These new partners include:

Confluent: Founded by the team that built Apache Kafka, Confluent builds an event streaming platform that lets companies easily access data as real-time streams. Learn more.

DataStax: DataStax powers enterprises with its always-on, distributed cloud database built on Apache Cassandra and designed for hybrid cloud. Learn more.

Elastic: As the creators of the Elastic Stack, Elastic builds self-managed and SaaS offerings that make data usable in real time and at scale for search use cases, like logging, security, and analytics. Learn more.

InfluxData: InfluxData’s time series platform can instrument, observe, learn and automate any system, application and business process across a variety of use cases. InfluxDB (developed by InfluxData) is an open-source time series database optimized for fast, high-availability storage and retrieval of time series data in fields such as operations monitoring, application metrics, IoT sensor data, and real-time analytics. Learn more.

MongoDB: MongoDB is a modern, general-purpose database platform that brings software and data to developers and the applications they build, with a flexible model and control over data location. Learn more.

Neo4j: Neo4j is a native graph database platform specifically optimized to map, store, and traverse networks of highly connected data to reveal invisible contexts and hidden relationships. By analyzing data points and the connections between them, Neo4j powers real-time applications. Learn more.

Redis Labs: Redis Labs is the home of Redis, the world’s most popular in-memory database, and commercial provider of Redis Enterprise. It offers performance, reliability, and flexibility for personalization, machine learning, IoT, search, e-commerce, social, and metering solutions worldwide. Learn more.

We’re pleased to bring these partner technologies to you. Partnering with the companies that invest in developing open-source technologies means you get benefits like expertise in operating these services at scale, additional enterprise features, and shorter cycles in bringing the latest innovation to the cloud. 

We look forward to seeing what you build with these open source technologies. Learn more here about open source on GCP.

By Chris DiBona, Director, Open Source and Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate VP, Global Ecosystem and Business Development

Cross-posted from the Google Cloud Blog

Empowering Women Techmakers Around the World Through Localization

Posted by Marisa Pareti, on behalf of Women Techmakers

Women Techmakers creates visibility, community and resources for women in technology by hosting events, offering free training and piloting new initiatives with different groups and partners around the world. Earlier this year, we launched Women Techmakers in 60 Seconds, a YouTube series where we explain advanced technical topics in one minute or less.

Today, we’re excited to announce our partnership with the GDS Global Localization Program to expand the accessibility and reach of our content. Together, our teams will work to create a diverse user experience by reducing language and cultural barriers. Localization goes beyond translation. While references in the US might not be popular concepts in other countries, our passionate partners ensure they sound natural to people around the world.

We’re proud to produce a series that reaches, inspires, and educates the Google Developer Community all over the world. Every other Wednesday, we’ll publish a new episode discussing topics like APIs, Virtual Machines, and more. In the comments below the video, we’ll include additional resources for you to explore if you want a deeper dive into the video’s theme. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. If you’re interested in learning more and getting involved with Women Techmakers, check out our website and sign up to become a member.