What we had already shown you, and which Google confirms
In September 2025, we explained how to follow Abondance on Discover via the “Follow on Google” button and the page profile.google.com. In May 2026, we published analysis of the 54 American publishers featuring enriched features (banner, configurable links, pinned publications, customizable tab order) without official communication from Google at the time.
The June 4 announcement validates this reading: it was indeed a pilot program, not a gimmick. Google is now talking about “Search profiles”a dedicated space to highlight articles, videos and social posts, as well as an explicit link with the knowledge panel. Eligible publishers can request a self-generated profile or create one; tracking from profile powers Discover.
At the house of 1492.visionour monitoring covers nearly 47,000 profiles Discover in 7 languages. The cohort of 54 US domains analyzed in detail was before the official announcement the only group with persistent access to the enriched functions that we had mapped, but the underlying infrastructure already exists for thousands of publishers, including French-speaking ones, in the form of auto-generated profiles.
The figures that structure access
Claim Eligibility (at least one account on a major platform):
| Platform | Minimum subscribers/followers |
|---|---|
| YouTube | 100,000 |
| 100,000 | |
| X | 100,000 |
| TikTok | 300,000 |
Other documented constraints: residence / availability United States only for now; minimum age 18 years old ; a Search profile per Google account (another identity = another Google account).
What a claimed profile allows :
- Banner (cover): square format in display, recommended resolution 1080 × 1350 px minimum;
- Up to 8 links web (sections, live, weather, app, donation, etc.);
- Up to 8 pinned posts from linked platforms;
- Handle
profile.google.com/@…modeled on the social account most followed among those connected; - Insights (beta): clicks, impressions, top content, country: powered by a property Search Console generated for the profile.
Reminder of our analysis of the 54 (detail in the article Abundance): 41 online banners on 54, 31 publishers with at least one link configured (65 links in total), 13 with an active pinned post, and only 3 links instrumented in UTM. The paradox holds: the functionality is there, usage remains uneven, especially among the biggest national media.
Editable immediately vs validated by Google
Google distinguishes between two regimes:
- Immediate : order of social platforms, cover image, pinning, web links, removal of an incorrect account;
- Subject to validation : name, bio, adding a new platform not automatically detected.
Practical consequence: if a social network does not appear on your self-generated profile, the complaint opens the possibility of request the addition of a missing account. The handle follows the logic of the largest linked social audiencenot necessarily your editorial preference.
Entities and Knowledge Graph
Under the hood, the profile remains a surface Discover backed by the Knowledge Graph : possible complaint from the knowledge panel (“View Search Profile”), mutual enrichment (avatar, recent content, direct link). For Google, it’s one more lock on theeditorial identity (authors, brands, EEAT) in an ecosystem where multi-platform aggregation becomes critical. The role of entities and the Knowledge Graph as the backbone of Google systems is confirmed, if necessary.
“Not directly”: what Google says and what to infer from it
The official FAQ is explicit: “Creating a Search profile does not affect directly the ranking of your content on Google Search. On the other hand, if someone follows you from your profile, they can see more of your content on Discover. »
Operational translation: the Follow is a Discover subscription (direct effect on the flow for subscribers, as the tests demonstrated); THE ranking Search classic is not promised, and “not directly” leaves the door to indirect effects (engagement signals, audience freshness), whether on Search or on Discover.
We remember Navboost in the context of Search, which (indirectly) rewards the most clicked content on the serp. Similar mechanisms, although more complex and nuanced, are at work on Discover.
Towards a Publisher Center 2.0? Google intention, publisher impact
We discussed it as early as our first Substack analysis : this page could become a publisher hub in the Google ecosystem, not to host content (everything is taken from linked platforms), but to unite the audience, redistribute clicks and offset some of the pressure of AI summaries and aggressive personalization on Discover.
Retention. The Follow formalizes a direct publisher ↔ reader relationship in Google, comparable to a Discover newsletter: less dependence on the algorithmic chance of the flow.
Personalization. More sources followed = more stable feed for these publishers; Google consolidates explicit affinity signals (opt-in) in addition to implicit signals. This goes hand in hand with the new functions of Discover “ Tailor your feed », which very clearly open the door to personalization explicit flows.
Analytics. The Insights section, even in beta and subject to thresholds, opens a gap: visibility on Search and Discover performance at profile levelwith Search Console bridge.
Local press. The composition of the pilot (approximately half of 54 = local TV + regional press) sticks to Google’s public speeches on local journalism: the product is not designed only for national behemoths.
Publisher Center? No official rebranding, but the function is close: identity, links, highlighting, measurement, without go back through an obsolete interface. The formalization of June 4 transforms a field observation into a product roadmap.
US only, but get ready now
Claimable search profiles: US only. No enriched profile outside the US English-speaking market in our monitoring to date, in accordance with the Google announcement, but we are monitoring. On the other hand, your self-generated profile probably already exists if Google has identified you as an entity: logo, bio (often Wikipedia), networks from the graph.
New US publishers have already been able to create their profile, for example “Inspired taste”:
Checklist before opening FR:
- Check your page
profile.google.com(or ask for the URL at @1492_vision if it is not yet visible in Discover). - Audit the consistency of the social accounts declared.
- Prepare a professional square banner (the pilot’s visual bar is high).
- Define 3 to 5 priority links + agreement UTM
- Write an “About” bio: on the requested profiles of the pilot, 38 of 54 had rewritten it: it’s your pitch on a Google page.
When eligibility expands, US publishers will already have gotten used to it; latecomers will leave with a disadvantage in use, not just access.
Conclusion
Google formalizes what we have been monitoring since August 2025: publisher profiles, a Follow Discover, and, for a handful of US elected officials, an enriched layer that looks like a mini-site in the feed. The June 4 announcement does not change the situation for French-speaking publishers Todaybut it confirms the direction: consolidated entities, capturable audience, explicit personalization, analytics as reinforcement.
We continue to monitor the evolution of 47,000 profiles monitored.
Detailed analysis of the cohort of 54 remains on Abundance ; the long version with visuals is on 1492.vision/research/discover-publisher-profiles-fr.
Sylvain Deauré & Damien Andell – 1492.vision
- Go to the Google profile of Abondance.
- Click on “+Follow on Google”, under the logo.
- That’s all: your Abondance articles appear more often in your Personal Discover feed.
(See the complete guide.)