Google is rolling out three personalization changes across Search, Discover, and Google News, the most consequential of which gives publishers a new embeddable button for getting selected as a Preferred Source. Google detailed the update in a blog post, alongside new natural-language controls for the Discover feed and customizable audio briefings in Google News.
The scale of adoption is the headline number: more than 600,000 unique sources have now been selected through Preferred Sources, up from over 345,000 in May.
A button that keeps readers on your page
Publishers can now embed an interactive Preferred Sources button directly on their pages. When a reader clicks it, the site is added as their Preferred Source and — this is the meaningful change — the reader is returned to exactly where they left off on the publisher’s page. The earlier badge worked differently: clicking it routed readers away, into Google’s own source preferences tool, and away from the article they were reading.
According to Google’s documentation, sites selected as Preferred Sources are more likely to surface in Top Stories. In AI Overviews and AI Mode, selected sites can also carry a visible “preferred” badge. Publishers can pull the embed code for the new button from Google’s Search Central documentation.
If your site already runs the older badge, it’s worth checking directly with Google’s documentation whether the new button replaces it automatically or requires a fresh embed — Google’s post doesn’t specify an automatic migration path. That check matters more now than it would have in May, given how much the selected-source pool has grown since then.
Discover learns from what you type, not just what you tap
Within the Google app, users will soon be able to tap the three-dot menu on any Discover card and tell Google, in their own words, what topics or links they want to see more or less of. The feed adjusts based on that input and retains the preference going forward.
This adds a third lever to a feed that already supported two: following or unfollowing specific topics, and telling Google outright which topics or sources to stop showing. A typed, natural-language request sits alongside those existing controls rather than replacing them. Google hasn’t confirmed an exact launch date beyond “in the coming days.”
Audio briefings get topic-level control
On Android, the Google News app now lets users customize daily audio briefings by topic instead of receiving one fixed daily digest. Each briefing segment names where the story originated and links back to the full article.
Google attributes the added depth in these briefings to the range of publishers participating in its news AI pilot, which it first announced in December.
What this means for publishers
The common thread across all three changes is Google routing more decision-making directly to users, while giving publishers more direct paths back into the products that reference their content. That mirrors a pattern already visible elsewhere in Search — Google has been steadily expanding how AI-generated answers link back out to sources even as it withholds granular click data on those links, and it has separately clarified how thumbnails get selected for Search and Discover placements. Both point the same direction: presentation and attribution mechanics inside Google’s surfaces keep getting more configurable, in ways publishers need to actively opt into rather than receive automatically.
Discover itself has also been a testing ground for other formatting changes recently, including AI-generated headlines that Google trialed in Discover before extending the test to Search. Preferred Sources, natural-language feed controls, and AI headline experiments are separate initiatives, but they’re converging on the same surfaces at the same time, which makes it worth reviewing Discover and Top Stories performance together rather than in isolation.
The practical takeaway for now: confirm whether your existing Preferred Sources badge needs replacing with the new button, and pull the embed code from Search Central if it does. The Discover natural-language controls and the Android audio briefing changes don’t require any action from publishers — they change how readers interact with content, not how publishers submit it.
Frequently asked questions
Do publishers need to do anything for the new Preferred Sources button?
Only if a site already uses the older badge and wants to confirm whether it needs manual replacement. New adopters can pull the embed code from Google’s Search Central documentation and add it directly to their pages.
Does being a Preferred Source guarantee placement in Top Stories or AI Overviews?
No. Google’s documentation says selected sites are “more likely” to appear in Top Stories and can carry a preferred badge in AI Overviews and AI Mode — it’s a ranking and display signal, not a guarantee.
Are the Discover natural-language controls live yet?
Google has said they’re rolling out “in the coming days” without a firm date. They add a written-request option alongside the existing follow/unfollow and “show less” controls in Discover.
Which platform gets the new audio briefing controls?
Android, through the Google News app. Google hasn’t stated an iOS timeline in its announcement.