Recognizing the significant impact of artificial intelligence on website traffic, Google announced on Thursday a new initiative aimed at supporting publishers. The company is now enabling readers to designate a "favorite source" directly on a publisher's website, signaling their preference for that content to be highlighted more frequently across Google Search, Discover, and Google News.
The technology behemoth confirmed it is making this new, interactive "Preferred Sources" button available for online publishers to embed seamlessly onto their own digital platforms.
This latest rollout builds upon Google's introduction of Preferred Sources in May, which integrated the feature into its AI experiences, including AI Mode and AI Overviews. The option had previously been accessible within the "Top Stories" section.
The core objective is to streamline the process for readers to discover content from websites they recognize and trust, whether they are conducting searches, engaging with Google's AI for information, or seeking the latest news updates. Following its May launch, the company reported that users across the web had already selected over 345,000 unique sources through this mechanism.
To designate a site as a preferred publisher, users can navigate to Google’s dedicated source preferences page and then search for the desired publisher by name or website address.
Google asserts that becoming a preferred source has the potential to significantly boost traffic to publishers' websites. Earlier studies conducted by the company revealed that users are twice as likely to click through to a preferred source when it is presented. By providing these additional tools, Google aims to mitigate the adverse effects that the rapid expansion of AI-powered search functionalities has had on businesses reliant on web traffic.
Notably, Google is not alone in leveraging AI to offer personalized feed-tuning tools. In recent months, several prominent social media applications have also introduced user-controlled algorithms, empowering individuals to fine-tune the content recommendations they receive.
Beyond personalizing the Discover feed, Google also indicated that Android users will gain the ability to customize their daily audio briefings within the Google News application.
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