Alphabet Introduces Personalization Features Across Search, Discover and News
On Thursday, 20 August 2026, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) announced a suite of personalization enhancements for its Search, Discover and Google News platforms aimed at giving users greater control over the content they see and helping publishers build direct connections with readers.
The company unveiled an interactive "Preferred Sources" button that publishers can embed on their webpages. When a reader clicks the button, the site is added as a Preferred Source on Google and the user is redirected back to the publisher’s page. Google disclosed that users have already selected more than 600,000 unique sources, and the button’s implementation code is available through the Google Search Central documentation.
In addition, Google will soon allow users to fine‑tune their Discover feed by tapping a three‑dot menu on any item to specify topics or links they wish to see more or less of, using their own wording. The feed updates instantly and retains the user’s preferences for future sessions.
The Google News app on Android also receives a customization upgrade: users can curate daily audio briefings by selecting specific topics, with each segment clearly attributing the source and providing links to the full articles. Preferred sources are displayed in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Publishers participating in Google’s news AI pilot program will contribute deeper analyses of key stories within these audio briefings.
The article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed by editor Luke Juricic. For further details, readers are directed to the article’s terms and conditions.