Google has announced a new set of personalization features for Google SearchDiscover and Google News, giving users more direct control over the information surfaced to them. The update allows people to select preferred publishers in Search, explain their interests in natural language to customize Discover, and choose the subjects they want included in personalized audio news briefings.
Rather than relying entirely on Google’s existing understanding of a user’s interests, the new controls allow people to provide more explicit instructions about what they want to see. The features are being introduced across Google’s search and content-discovery services.
Preferred Sources Gets a New Publisher Option
Google is expanding its Preferred Sources feature, which lets users identify publishers they want to see more often in relevant Search results. A new “Set as preferred source” button can be added directly to participating publisher websites, allowing readers to select that publication without having to search through their Google settings. Once selected, a preferred publication can receive greater visibility in areas such as Top Stories.
Google has also expanded the feature so that selected sources can appear in relevant AI Overviews and AI Mode results. This does not mean a publisher will automatically move to the top of every ordinary Google Search result. Instead, the preference applies to the parts of Search where Google uses source personalization.
Publishers Get a More Direct Connection With Readers
The update could also change how publishers build relationships with Google users. Participating websites can add Google’s new Preferred Sources button directly to their pages, allowing readers to select that publication as a preferred source without leaving the site. Once selected, the preference can influence where that publisher appears in relevant Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode results. Google says more than 600,000 unique sources have already been selected through Preferred Sources, showing that the feature is already being used before this latest expansion.
Google Discover Can Now Be Customized Through Conversation
Google is also changing how users can personalize Discover, its personalized content feed. Instead of relying only on existing interests and activity, users can now tell Google directly what they want to see. Through a new text-based customization option, people can describe their interests in natural language. For example, a user could ask Discover to show more content about smartphones, football, or technology while reducing recommendations about subjects they are no longer interested in.
Google says these preferences can be remembered, allowing Discover to use the information to adjust future recommendations. Users can also refresh the feed after making changes, giving them a quicker way to see how their updated preferences affect the content displayed.
Google News Audio Briefings Become More Personal
The update also reaches Google News on Android, where Google is adding more customization to its personalized audio news briefings. Users can choose which news topics they want included in their audio briefing, giving them greater control over what they hear rather than relying entirely on Google’s automatic selection. The feature is part of Google’s broader attempt to make its news experience more responsive to individual interests. For people who use Google News as a quick way to catch up on current events, this could make audio briefings more useful by reducing time spent listening to subjects they do not follow.
What It Means for Users
The biggest change is that Google is giving users more direct control over personalization. Previously, much of the content shown through Discover and other recommendation systems was determined from signals such as activity and previously indicated interests. Google already uses personalization in Search, but these new tools provide more explicit ways to tell the system what matters to an individual user.
For publishers, Preferred Sources could also become important because users can deliberately signal that they want particular publications represented more prominently in relevant news and AI-driven Search experiences. At the same time, the features do not completely replace Google’s recommendation systems. They add another layer of user-provided preferences that can influence what content is surfaced.
Availability
Google says the new personalization features are being introduced across Search, Discover and Google News, with availability depending on the specific feature, platform and market. The company is rolling out the changes as part of its broader effort to give people more control over how they discover information online.
Conclusion
Google’s latest update gives users more control over the content they encounter across Search, Discover and Google News. Preferred Sources lets people signal which publishers they trust, conversational Discover customization allows users to directly describe their interests, and customizable audio briefings give Google News users more control over the topics they hear. Together, the changes move Google’s personalization system toward a model where users can tell Google what they want, rather than relying solely on the platform to infer their interests.