Google rolls out "Preferred Sources" letting you set preferred sites in search results

Two months ago, Google introduced an experimental feature in Search Labs called "Preferred Sources," designed to give users more control over their search experience by allowing them to select their favorite news sources. Now, the feature is making its way out of the lab and into the wild.

The feature is a departure from Google's purely algorithmic curation, letting you handpick the news sites and blogs that get top billing in the "Top Stories" section of your search results.

To get started on Android or iOS, find the "Top stories" section in a search result for a topic or recent event. Tap the star icon to the right of the "Top Stories" header. From there, you can search for and select your preferred sources by checking the box next to their name; for example, you could search for a publication like "Neowin.net" and then check the box next to its name. Modifying your list later is just as simple. Tap the same star icon and select or deselect the blue checkbox next to any source.

After you reload the results, content from your sources will appear more frequently, sometimes even in a dedicated "From your sources" section below the main Top Stories block for certain queries. Google noted that during its test phase, over half of the users who opted in selected at least four sources.

This feature is currently available for English language searches in the US and India. If you had already set up your preferences back in the Search Labs phase, Google has automatically carried them over, so your settings should already be active.

As TechCrunch notes, while this gives people a way to curate their news feed, it does raise questions about creating information bubbles where users are not exposed to differing viewpoints on a subject.

In case you missed it, Google recently changed its policy affecting its goo.gl URL shortener, reversing its original "kill everything" plan. You can check out our coverage here, but the gist of it is that any goo.gl link that currently works without a warning page will keep working after the August 25, 2025, shutdown date.

This decision provides a lifeline for a massive amount of archived content across the internet.

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Posted Wednesday 13 August 2025 at 5:43 pm AEST (my time).

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