For years, publishers focused heavily on SEO. Optimise headlines. Improve metadata. Speed up pages. Structure content correctly. Chase Google Discover. Analyse ranking volatility. Adjust to every algorithm change.

But as search traffic has become irrevocably unstable, there may be another lever worth paying attention to:

Getting users themselves to send signals to Google about which brands they trust.

Last year, Google introduced a feature called “Preferred Sources.” It allows users to tell Google which news publishers they would like prioritised inside Top Stories. In simple terms, users can nominate the brands they trust most.  

Publishers have tried to optimise primarily for algorithms. But, increasingly, the strongest signal may simply be audience preference itself.

This creates an interesting strategic shift.

Instead of only asking: “How do we rank better?”

Publishers may also need to ask: “How do we become the brand audiences actively choose?”

At INMA, we’ve been talking about the importance of brand loyalty. Over lunch in Berlin, Riske Betten from Mediahuis NL showed me a simple technical signal, not just a marketing concept.

Publishers can actively encourage readers to set them as a preferred source in Google Search. That could become a new type of audience conversion funnel — somewhere between newsletter sign-ups and app downloads.

How to do it? Very simply, as described in this blog post here.

Not every user will do it. But your most loyal readers probably will. And those readers may end up becoming increasingly valuable ranking signals in an AI-shaped search ecosystem.

The irony is that as distribution becomes more machine-driven, human trust may matter more than ever. 

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