diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/serverless_observability/public/components/side_navigation/index.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/serverless_observability/public/components/side_navigation/index.tsx
index 2cca4b3ea78928..5be456cfd5f3c2 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/serverless_observability/public/components/side_navigation/index.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/serverless_observability/public/components/side_navigation/index.tsx
@@ -32,13 +32,20 @@ const navigationTree: NavigationTreeDefinition = {
           title: i18n.translate('xpack.serverlessObservability.nav.discover', {
             defaultMessage: 'Discover',
           }),
-          link: 'discover',
+          link: 'observability-log-explorer',
+          // prevent this entry from ever becoming active, effectively falling through to the obs-log-explorer child
+          getIsActive: () => false,
+          // avoid duplicate "Discover" breadcrumbs
+          breadcrumbStatus: 'hidden',
           renderAs: 'item',
           children: [
             {
-              // This is to show "observability-log-explorer" breadcrumbs when navigating from "discover" to "log explorer"
-              link: 'observability-log-explorer',
-              sideNavStatus: 'hidden',
+              link: 'discover',
+              children: [
+                {
+                  link: 'observability-log-explorer',
+                },
+              ],
             },
           ],
         },
diff --git a/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/common/discover/group1/_url_state.ts b/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/common/discover/group1/_url_state.ts
index c0dc9c0dd89f1e..0f8c9ffd547440 100644
--- a/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/common/discover/group1/_url_state.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/common/discover/group1/_url_state.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ export default function ({ getService, getPageObjects }: FtrProviderContext) {
     });
 
     describe('Side nav', function () {
+      this.tags([
+        'skipSvlOblt', // the "Discover" side nav entry does something different in oblt
+      ]);
+
       it('should sync Lens global state to Discover sidebar link and carry over the state when navigating to Discover', async () => {
         await PageObjects.common.navigateToApp('discover');
         await PageObjects.common.navigateToApp('lens');
diff --git a/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/observability/navigation.ts b/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/observability/navigation.ts
index 892359f901ffe5..f899d6760db026 100644
--- a/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/observability/navigation.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test_serverless/functional/test_suites/observability/navigation.ts
@@ -41,11 +41,15 @@ export default function ({ getPageObject, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       });
       await svlCommonNavigation.sidenav.expectSectionClosed('project_settings_project_nav');
 
-      // navigate to discover
-      await svlCommonNavigation.sidenav.clickLink({ deepLinkId: 'discover' });
-      await svlCommonNavigation.sidenav.expectLinkActive({ deepLinkId: 'discover' });
-      await svlCommonNavigation.breadcrumbs.expectBreadcrumbExists({ deepLinkId: 'discover' });
-      expect(await browser.getCurrentUrl()).contain('/app/discover');
+      // navigate to the logs explorer tab by default
+      await svlCommonNavigation.sidenav.clickLink({ deepLinkId: 'observability-log-explorer' });
+      await svlCommonNavigation.sidenav.expectLinkActive({
+        deepLinkId: 'observability-log-explorer',
+      });
+      await svlCommonNavigation.breadcrumbs.expectBreadcrumbExists({
+        deepLinkId: 'observability-log-explorer',
+      });
+      expect(await browser.getCurrentUrl()).contain('/app/observability-log-explorer');
 
       // check the aiops subsection
       await svlCommonNavigation.sidenav.openSection('observability_project_nav.aiops'); // open ai ops subsection