Google Discover: Image Size and Aspect Ratio Checklist

Discover surfaces visually compelling stories; weak imagery reduces eligibility even when text quality is high.

Recommended dimensions

• Aim for large images — commonly cited guidance suggests at least ~1200 px on the shortest side for strong eligibility signals (confirm against Google’s latest Search Central documentation).
• Prefer 16×9 or 4×3 heroes that crop cleanly on phones — avoid tiny logos as featured images.

File hygiene

• Compress JPEG/WebP without destroying clarity — aggressive artefacts hurt perceived quality.
• Avoid stamping enormous text banners across photos unless brand-critical.

Consistency across templates

Use one predictable hero pattern on article pages so crawlers reliably associate the primary image with the article entity.

Structured data alignment

Ensure Open Graph / Article markup references the same URL as the visible hero image.

Discover eligibility depends on many factors; optimising imagery removes an avoidable bottleneck.