Clickbait can generate attention in the short term. It rarely builds lasting visibility, and Google is making it progressively harder.

Search Engine Journal reported on 5 February that Google launched a Discover-specific core update. It is designed to surface more locally relevant and timely content, reduce sensationalist content and reward websites with clear topical expertise.

For businesses that publish content, the direction is clear: headlines, framing and content must align. If the title promises more than the page delivers, it might earn a click today, and damage the brand tomorrow.

Google Discover is different from regular search. The user is not actively asking for anything: content is suggested based on interests, timing and relevance. That makes quality signals especially important.

When the platform pushes content in front of a user who did not ask for it, the content needs to feel genuinely useful. For businesses that means headlines and topics must generate interest without misleading the reader. There is a meaningful difference between a clear professional angle and a manipulative promise.

What makes content weak?

Weak content is easier to see through in a landscape dominated by AI and zero-click search. Common weaknesses:

  • Headlines that promise more than the article delivers
  • Generic lists with no original experience or perspective behind them
  • AI-generated text without clear human judgement
  • Broad articles that do not help a specific audience
  • Publishing for frequency rather than expertise

That kind of content may get some clicks. It does not build brand, authority or conversions.

Use content to show how you think

Businesses that sell services have an opportunity that larger, more generic players rarely use well: they can write concretely from their own experience.

A specialised SMB can publish content that actually adds something:

  • What are we seeing with our clients right now?
  • What mistakes keep coming up, and why?
  • What do we recommend, and what is the reasoning?
  • What does an industry development mean specifically for SMBs?

This is content that does not just summarise others' advice. It adds experience no AI model can replicate.

The headline should create the right expectation, not just clicks

At Ibenta we work on content that builds trust before it builds traffic. A good headline should make the right person read on, not just the most people.

This matters especially for businesses selling services. The goal is not random clicks. The goal is to be seen as a relevant, trustworthy and competent supplier by the people who are actually considering buying.

The Google Discover update confirms that platforms are moving in the same direction: more originality, more topical relevance and less noise. Businesses that build content for trust now are building an advantage that compounds over time.

Is your blog made up of broad, generic articles? Get in touch: we will help you build a content strategy focused on topical authority and trust, not just publishing frequency.