Google has turned up the signal on trusted reporting. Now the company is highlighting this connection between you and your news subscriptions for its products, with the initial rollout focused on the Gemini app — and expansion to other AI surfaces over time. The change is meant to make it easier to distinguish coverage from outlets you have consciously chosen to follow and add more context and attribution around AI-generated answers.
Preferred Sources Expands Worldwide for English Users
Preferred Sources, which was unveiled earlier this year, is being expanded to English-language users around the world. That setting allows you to tell Google which news sources you would like to see more often. Per HuffPost’s internal metrics, people who activate the feature click through to the outlets they select at about 2x the rate of those who don’t, a strong signal that surfacing familiar bylines drives engagement and trust.
What this means in practice is when you search, or interact with AI experiences in other ways, stories will be elevated from the publications that you have named. It’s a modest change with outsize impact: rather than showing you manageable search results and then sorting them by algorithmic measures of relevance, Google is baking your editorial preferences into the results to try and serve up known, trusted brands.
Dedicated Carousel for All Your Subscriptions
The headline new feature for news readers is a carousel that highlights articles from outlets you subscribe to. It appears in the Gemini app and then, next up (but not immediately), to AI Mode and AI Overviews. If you are paying for The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, or subscribe to a local paper or tech site you’re particularly fond of, fresh pieces from those publishers will also appear together for easy access.
This approach simply acknowledges one simple fact: When readers pay for news, they want to see that investment reflected in how they consume the news every day. By highlighting subscribed publications, Google cuts the friction of having to hunt down coverage you might already be allowed to read elsewhere, a strategy that could help publishers build loyalty and reduce subscriber churn.
AI Mode Comes With Context And More Links
Google is also changing how it references sources in AI Mode. We’ll have more links embedded directly in responses and a brief explanation of why a source is relevant. These inline cues are one answer to ongoing feedback we receive; AI’s answers are great, as long as they’re understandable and discoverable.
The overall net effect, for readers, should be speedier pivots away from a synthesized summary to the original reporting. Clarity and an extra link could mean more referral traffic for publishers — especially when the subscription carousel and Preferred Sources weighting are added to the mix.
Why This Matters for Reader Habits and Trust
Subscribing to news is still a minority activity globally, but it’s engaged. According to the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2024, 17% of respondents in their surveyed markets are now paying for online news, with it rising to as much as 39% in Norway, and even an estimated figure of around 21% in the United States. Those readers tend to come more often, spend more time and be more loyal to particular brands.
Surface subscriptions, preferred outlets more prominently: This would be a remedy to the “one-size-fits-all” feel of algorithmic feeds. It nudges people toward reporting they do in fact trust, while trying to weigh relative discoverability of new sources. And in the age of AI-generated content and misinformation fatigue, this kind of personalization targeted at user intent is a practical move.
Rollout Timeline and What’s Next for Google News
Subscriptions carousel comes to Gemini app first, with AI Mode and AI Overviews support to come. Preferred Sources rollout is coming to English-language users worldwide, and Google said it will keep testing ranking and presentation with an azimuth of engagement and feedback.
Parallel experiments are taking place in Google News, where it seeks to fill some of the space with other formats such as audio briefings and AI-generated text summaries from participating publishers — features designed for quick updates without replacing full articles.
Google also says its Web page Guide experiment, which organizes search results in convenient summaries using Gemini, is showing more often and now runs double fast for users who opt in.
The strategy is clear: Embrace attribution, elevate the publishers readers already trust and make it seamless to move from AI summaries to original journalism. If the early 2x lift in clicks holds up as the rollout continues, expect these subscription forward prompts to become a part of Google’s news experience.
