How the Button Works
The new embeddable button lets a reader, right on a publisher's site, flag that outlet as a source they want to see more of. Once selected, that publisher's links get more prominence when the reader searches, browses Discover or reads Google News.
Readers can also add favorites manually by visiting Google's source preferences page and searching for a publisher by name or website.
Why Google Is Doing This
The move is an olive branch in an increasingly tense relationship. AI-powered search features, including AI Mode and AI Overviews, answer questions directly on the results page, cutting the clicks that traffic-dependent businesses live on.
Preferred Sources is Google's counterweight. The feature rolled out to Google's AI experiences in May, after previously being available in Top Stories, with the idea of making it easier for readers to find links from sites they know and trust. Adoption came fast: as of May's launch, people across the web had already selected over 345,000 unique sources.
Handing publishers an embeddable button takes the next logical step, letting outlets recruit their own loyal readers into the system instead of waiting for them to find Google's settings page.
Tell Discover What You Want, in Plain English
The button came with a second announcement: readers will soon be able to customize their Discover feed in Google's app using their own words.
The mechanics are simple. Tap any three-dot menu in the feed, then tell Google what topics you would like to see more or less of, using natural language commands. Google refines the feed in real time.
Android users get one more perk: the ability to customize the audio daily briefings in the Google News app.
Part of a Bigger Shift
Google is not alone in handing the algorithm's steering wheel to users. In recent months, a number of top social media apps have launched user-controlled algorithms that let people fine-tune what gets recommended to them.
The direction of travel is consistent: platforms that spent years optimizing feeds behind closed doors are now inviting users to adjust them directly, in plain language.
What Comes Next
The test is whether a button can move the needle against a structural shift. Watch how many publishers embed it, whether the 345,000 selected sources figure climbs steeply, and whether "twice as likely to click" holds up once AI Overviews absorb even more queries. For traffic-starved publishers, it is a tool worth grabbing. Whether it is a lifeline or a consolation prize depends on numbers Google has not shared yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Google's new Preferred Sources button?
- An interactive button publishers can embed on their own websites, letting readers mark them as a favorite source to be highlighted across Google Search, Discover and Google News.
- Does becoming a preferred source actually help publishers?
- Google says yes: its studies found people are twice as likely to click through to a preferred source when available.
- How do readers add a favorite source manually?
- By visiting Google's source preferences page and searching for a publisher by name or website.
- What is changing in the Discover feed?
- Readers will soon be able to tap any three-dot menu and tell Google, in natural language, which topics they want more or less of, refining the feed in real time.
- What do Android users get?
- The ability to customize audio daily briefings in the Google News app.
