Google offers editors a “preferred source” button

The company rolled out an interactive button on Thursday that lets readers mark a site as a “preferred source,” which then pushes that site higher in search results, Discover and Google News. The move comes amid a steady decline in traffic to websites as AI-driven search features provide direct answers without requiring clicks.

The new tool expands the “Preferred Sources” feature launched in May into Google’s AI experiences, AI Mode and AI Overviews, after it was previously available only in Top Stories. The premise is simple: allow readers to signal to the algorithm which sites they trust, and in return receive more links from those sources when they search or consume news. According to Google, over 345 thousand unique sources were selected this way in May.

Google claims early studies found users click twice as often on a preferred source when it is available. The company did not disclose the study’s methodology, sample size, or whether the test was conducted in a lab setting or on live organic traffic. Without those details, the figure remains a manufacturer claim rather than an independent metric. Editors who build strategy on that number do so at their own risk.

Alongside the button, Google announced that users will soon be able to tailor their Discover feed in the app using natural-language commands, tapping a three-dot menu and asking for “more technology, less sports.” The system is expected to update the feed in real time. This is not a new idea: in recent months several major social apps have launched user-controlled algorithms that allow similar content-recommendation tuning.

Android users will also receive an option to customize the daily voice briefing in the Google News app, adding another layer of personalization aimed at keeping people within the ecosystem. Google did not detail which parameters can be adjusted, when the rollout will reach all users, or whether the feature will be available on iOS.

The new tools give editors a certain lever, but they depend on users’ willingness to click and on Google’s commitment to honor those signals over time. Without transparency on how the “preferred source” weight integrates into overall ranking, and without independent data on actual impact, the approach is a calculated gamble rather than a guaranteed solution to the traffic shortfall.