Google is making it easier to see news from your favorite outlets. A new feature, called “preferred sources,” will let you choose the outlets you want to see featured the most in Search’s “top stories” section.
Google’s top stories hub appears when you search for something related to a current event, and displays a bunch of relevant articles from around the web. Along with prominently featuring articles from your preferred outlets in the top stories list, Google may also include them in a new “from your sources” section. Google first started testing the preferred sources feature in June, and now it’s rolling out to users in the US and India.
To customize the sources you see, search for a timely topic, and select the icon next to the “top stories” label. After you enter and select your favorite outlets, you can refresh your top stories to see them included. There isn’t a limit on how many sources you can add, and if you’ve already tried out the feature while it was in testing, Google will automatically apply them.
With Google positioning AI as the future of Search, it’s a bit refreshing to see the company rolling out a feature that doesn’t have anything to do with the technology. Last week, Google responded to reports that its AI search features are negatively impacting web traffic, saying click volume has remained “relatively stable” when compared to the same time last year. It added that people are “increasingly” navigating to websites with forums, podcasts, videos, and “authentic voices.”
