Google Adds 'Preferred Source' Button to Help Publishers Fight AI Traffic Losses
Google is rolling out a new feature that lets readers mark specific publishers as "preferred sources." Once selected, those outlets should appear more often and more prominently in a user's Search results, Discover feed, and Google News listings.
The move comes as publishers increasingly blame Google's AI-generated summaries and AI Overviews for siphoning off clicks that once went to their sites. Instead of a user clicking through to read an article, many now get their answer directly from Google's AI layer, cutting referral traffic significantly.
By giving readers a manual way to boost trusted sources, Google is offering publishers a partial lifeline without fundamentally changing how its AI answers work. It's unclear how many users will actually engage with the feature, since it requires active opt-in rather than passive algorithmic ranking.