Google released a new interactive "Preferred Sources" button that publishers can embed on their own pages, letting readers flag favorite sites for more prominent placement across Search, Discover, and Google News. Google Search Ecosystem General Manager Mrinalini Loew announced the feature on August 20, with the button code now available in the company's Search Central documentation.
The button builds on Google's Preferred Sources rollout from May, which covered AI Mode and AI Overviews, with the option previously available in Top Stories. TechCrunch reports that more than 345,000 unique sources were selected by readers as of that earlier launch.
Readers can also add a publisher as a favorite by visiting Google's source preferences page and searching for the site by name or website.
Google says becoming a preferred source can drive more traffic to publishers, citing studies showing people are twice as likely to click through to a preferred source when available. The move gives traffic-dependent publishers another tool as AI-powered search features reshape how readers discover content.
Alongside the button, Google is rolling out feed personalization in the Google app, where readers will soon tap any three-dot menu to tell Google, in their own words, which topics or links they want to see more or less of. The feed will adjust on the fly and remember those requests.
Google is also expanding audio news customization in the Google News app on Android, letting users curate daily briefings by choosing specific topics with source attribution and links out to full articles.
