Google has announced three new personalisation features across Discover, Search and Google News. These new additions are aimed at making the feed experience more personalised for every user and giving them control over what they want to see and what they do not.
Google Discover Now Supports Natural Language Feed Controls
According to the Google Newsroom, in the coming days, Google app users will be able to tap the three-dot menu on any Discover card and tell Google in plain language what they want to see more or less of.
Google gives the example of a user wanting to see more kitchen renovation ideas, but only eco-friendly ones, and videos about weekend road trips, but nothing involving camping. This fine-tunes the entire feed to the user's exact requirements and remembers these changes for future sessions.
Image Credit: Google
Image Credit: Google
This is a meaningful step up from what Google Discover offers today. Users can already follow or unfollow topics and tell Google which sources they would rather not see or see more of. However, there is no way to further personalise exact topics or sub-topics.
That's why using natural language processing, typing out exactly what users want, adds a more precise way to ensure each user has a feed of their own. Google has not confirmed a specific launch date beyond stating that the new update will roll out "in the coming days." It is also unclear which regions will get it first.
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Customisable Audio Briefings in Google News
Moving on, Google is also fine-tuning the Google News app experience on Android, specifically the daily audio brief feature. Users will now be able to choose specific topics and each briefing will include clear source attribution and links out to the full articles.
Image Credit: Google
Image Credit: Google
Google also says briefings will offer deeper coverage of major stories, crediting the range of publishers taking part in its news AI pilot programme. That said, this level of personalisation will only be limited to the audio briefs and users will be able to customise their Google News feed as usual.
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New Preferred Source Button for Publishers
Aside from the above two changes, Google is also releasing an interactive Preferred Sources button that websites can embed directly on their pages. Moving forward, whenever a reader will click the new button on a publisher's website, it automatically adds that site as a Preferred Source on Google.
The reader is led straight back to where they left off on the page, thus keeping the information flow intact. This is a neater implementation compared to the current one, where a user is redirected to a separate web page and has to manually add their Preferred Source option. Google is automating this process.
That said, these three new personalisation features across Discover, Search and Google News are currently rolling out across the globe for every user. While Google has not shared the exact timeline of release and exact regions, all three features should go live in the coming weeks.
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