How to optimize Cards in Google Now?

[Xtend-Life]

Hey guys,

Google has recently updated Google Now. I am now seeing different types of Cards, some more prominent than others, does anyone know how to optimize for these?

It looks like it pulls the RSS feeds and maybe the Meta OG to grab an image, but the some cards are bulked together under 'News' while others have a full card - I seem to only get updates for a number of websites I visit, not all.

I would be really interested to know how to make the most of this feature.

Thanks,

[Dr-Pete]

Unfortunately, Google Now is a little bit of a black box right now. Many of the data feeds, much like some answer boxes, are private data partnerships. For example, you've got core answer boxes that come out of the Knowledge Graph and directly from Freebase, but as soon as you get into niche date, like sports, weather, stock prices, hotels, etc., you're getting into specific deals that are not open access. You can't play in those games with just some meta-data or by hacking Freebase, unfortunately.

Put simply, there are many entities in Google Now that you simply can't optimize for in the traditional sense, and I think those cases are going to expand.

That said, I'm not sure which specific cards you're referencing, and you mentioned "new cards". Could you provide an example (maybe a screenshot)? It's certainly possible that they're expanding into data extracted from websites and that this can be controlled to some degree, but I haven't seen anything like that yet.

[Xtend-Life]

Hi Dr. Peter,

Thanks for your reply.

I think the new cards were just an update to styling from Android 4.4 to Lollipop:

4.4: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZB7IbJmrboU/UI9UrwYAWtI/AAAAAAAAGFU/cUbgHIpifyo/s1600/Google+Now+Cards+3+-+Alerts,+Breaking+News,+Nearby+Attractions,+Public+Transit,+Nearby+Photo+Stops.png

L: http://zdnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2014/11/28/b326e10c-76b5-11e4-b569-d4ae52e95e57/resize/620xauto/2f53cdf16dadae49369d14f9bf376fc6/screenshot2014-11-24-18-49-36.png

That's good - I do get cards from Moz (individual blogs and grouped under news) - and I would guess that if they are created by something implemented on the site then you guys would know.

That's a good point about Freebase - I hadn't thought of that.

Thanks!

[Dr-Pete]

As far as Moz posts go, my first guess is that that's being pulled from our Google+ page. Next most likely source is RSS, but given the requirements of Google Now, I'd put pretty good money on it being data from G+. I'm not aware of us specifically tagging for it.