Google just got a quiet update that pushes specific sources first

Google Search has changed drastically over the past few years. Whether it’s AI Overviews, AI Mode, or algorithm changes, searching for something on Google nowadays is a lot different from what it was a decade ago in 2015.

With that in mind, Google has announced yet another major change for search: the ability to customize the news outlets you see appear when you search for something. The new feature, called “Preferred Sources,” is rolling out now in the US and India.

Google says that by adding news organizations to your Preferred Sources, you’ll “start to see more of their articles prominently displayed within Top Stories, when those sources have published fresh and relevant content for your search.”

So if you add a news outlet to your Preferred Sources, when you search for something that’s currently making headlines, that outlet’s story will appear first in your Top Stories, which are the highlighted stories that appear before the rest of Google’s search results. Additionally, your favorite sources may appear in a dedicated section under Top Stories called “From your sources.”

Google is also working with publishers to make it easier for readers to add sites to their Preferred Sources. So far, Google is making it possible for you to click a link to add a source to your Preferred Sources, such as this one for Pocket-lint, or a button that publishers can code into their sites to send users directly to their Preferred Sources.

How to add Preferred Sources to your Google Search

You can add as many preferred sources as you’d like

If you’d like to check out Google’s new Preferred Sources feature and add a few of your favorite news outlets, it’s quite easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Open Google and search for something that’s in the news right now.

2. In the search results, to the right of Top Stories, you’ll see a square icon with a star on it that you can click (as seen in the image above).

3. A pop-up window will appear, titled “Choose your preferred sources.”

4. From there, type the name of the publication or add the URL of the outlet you want to add as a Preferred Source.

5. Once you’ve added sources to it, refresh your search, and you should see your chosen outlets appear first in Top Stories and in a section called From your sources.

There is no limit to how many sources you can add, so if you have a bunch of different websites you like to read, you can include all of them. Google says that during testing, most users typically added four or more.

It’s worth reiterating that Google’s Preferred Sources feature is only available in the US and India, so if you’re in another country, it will unfortunately not be accessible. Google has not yet announced whether it plans to expand this feature to more countries in the future.

I have mixed feelings about this feature. I appreciate the freedom it provides to prioritize certain news sources in Google’s search results. If you prefer a specific outlet, you can set it to appear at the top, which is very convenient. My main concern is that users could become trapped in a news bubble, hearing from only one or two sources repeatedly. However, I might be overthinking it, since you can add unlimited sources to your Preferred Sources. Overall, this could be a useful addition to Google Search — finally with a focus away from AI — and something many users might actually find helpful during their day-to-day searches.