Google Adds Publisher ‘Preferred Sources’ Button
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- Google launched an embeddable “Preferred Sources” button for publisher websites, allowing readers to designate outlets they want highlighted across Google Search, Discover, and Google News.
- Preferred Sources is expanding beyond Top Stories into Google’s AI experiences, including AI Mode and AI Overviews, following its May rollout.
- Google said more than 345,000 unique sources had been selected through the preference system by the May launch.
- Preferred Sources can increase traffic to participating publishers, with Google’s earlier studies finding users twice as likely to click through when a preferred outlet was available.
- Google Discover is gaining natural-language controls that let readers request more or less of specific topics in real time through a three-dot menu.
- Google News will let Android users customize their daily audio briefings alongside the new search and feed personalization tools.
Why it matters: Publishers gain a direct route to readers already expressing trust, while Google addresses traffic-dependent businesses with a feature tied to twice-as-likely clickthrough behavior. Readers also gain more explicit control over AI-influenced search and recommendation products.
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