Alphabet Inc. has announced a package of personalization features for its Search, Discover and Google News products that aim to place more control in the hands of users while enabling publishers to create more direct pathways back to their sites.
Central to the rollout is an interactive "Preferred Sources" button that publishers can add to their pages. When a reader clicks the button, the publisher’s site is registered as a Preferred Source on Google and the user is returned to the point where they left off on the publisher’s page. Google says users have already selected more than 600,000 unique sources. Publishers can access the button’s implementation code via Google Search Central documentation.
On Discover, Google is adding a natural-language, on-demand customization option. Users will be able to tap any three-dot menu and tell Google, in their own words, the specific topics or links they want to see more or less of; the feed will update immediately and retain those preferences for future sessions.
The company is also expanding customization of daily audio briefings in the Google News app for Android. Listeners will be able to curate those briefings by selecting particular topics, and Google says the briefings will include clear source attribution and links back to full-length articles.
Google notes that Preferred Sources will be surfaced across multiple surfaces, including Top Stories, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Separately, publishers that are part of Google’s news AI pilot program will contribute deeper audio dives into major stories for inclusion in the briefings.
These changes are presented as bidirectional: tools that let users refine what they see, and mechanisms for publishers to encourage return visits and stronger reader relationships. Several elements of the rollout are described as forthcoming or are limited to specific programs - for example, the deeper audio segments will come from participants in the news AI pilot.
Summary
Alphabet is adding new personalization features across Search, Discover and Google News. The initiative includes an embeddable Preferred Sources button for publishers, an immediate, natural-language Discover customization via three-dot menus, and topic-based control of audio briefings in the Google News Android app. Preferred sources will be used in Top Stories, AI Overviews and AI Mode, while deeper audio segments will come from publishers in Google’s news AI pilot.