Google has announced a new interactive button that publishers can embed directly on their websites, allowing readers to mark a site as a favorite source to be highlighted more prominently across Google Search, Discover, and Google News. The move follows criticism that AI-powered search features have reduced website traffic for publishers, and builds on Google’s May rollout of Preferred Sources within its AI Mode and AI Overviews experiences, an option previously limited to Top Stories.
Google said readers can add favorite publishers through its source preferences page by searching for a name or website, noting that people had already selected over 345,000 unique sources since the feature’s May launch. The company said prior studies showed people were twice as likely to click through to a preferred source, positioning the tool as a way to offset traffic losses tied to AI search growth.
Alongside the button, Google said readers would soon be able to customize their Discover feed using natural language commands through a three-dot menu, allowing real-time refinement of recommended topics. The addition follows a broader trend of social media platforms introducing user-controlled algorithms in recent months. Google added that Android users would also gain the ability to customize audio daily briefings within the Google News app.
