Google Gives Readers More Control Over Which Publishers They See

Google is giving users more say over which news publishers appear in their search results and feeds, while giving publishers a new way to encourage readers to choose their websites. The company has introduced a Preferred Sources button that publishers can place on their websites. Readers who select the option can tell Google which publishers they want to see more often across Google Search, Discover and Google News.

Google introduced the Preferred Sources feature in May for its AI-powered search products, including AI Mode and AI Overviews. It had previously offered a similar option within Top Stories.

Publishers Get a New Route to Readers

The feature comes as publishers deal with changes in how people find information online. Google’s growing use of AI-generated answers means users can increasingly get information without clicking through to the websites that produced it.

Google says giving readers the ability to select preferred publishers can increase the chances of a visit. Its earlier research found that users were twice as likely to click on a preferred source when one appeared in their results. More than 345,000 different sources had already been selected by users when Google reported on the feature in May.

Readers can choose a publisher through Google’s source preferences page by searching for the website or publication they want to follow. For publishers, the Preferred Sources feature gives readers another way to tell Google which websites they want to see, while Google continues to change how news and information appear in Search, Discover and its AI products.

Discover Gets More User Controls

Google is also changing how users manage their Discover feeds. Users will soon be able to tell Google, in their own words, which subjects they want to see more or less of. They can do this through the three-dot menu attached to content appearing in the Discover feed. Instead of relying entirely on Google’s existing recommendations, users will be able to give more direct instructions about the content they want. Android users will also gain more control over their daily audio briefings in Google News, allowing them to adjust what is included.