Google has a new answer for publishers squeezed by AI search: a small button they can plant on their own sites to recruit loyal readers.
Embedded on a publisher’s page, the “Preferred Sources” control lets a visitor mark that outlet as a favorite. The choice then earns the site more prominent placement across Google Search, Discover, and Google News.
The tool extends a program Google introduced in May inside AI Mode and AI Overviews, building on an earlier version in Top Stories. By the May rollout, more than 345,000 unique sources had been selected.
Google’s internal studies show a preferred source is twice as likely to earn a click when it appears, making the button a direct counterweight to the traffic losses caused by AI-generated answers.
Two related changes are in the pipeline. Discover feeds will soon accept plain-language requests through a three-dot menu, letting people tell the app which topics to surface. Android users get similar control over the audio daily briefings in the Google News app.
The features fit a wider industry shift, with social platforms shipping user-controlled algorithms that let people shape what their feeds show them.
