Google has two, well, maybe three, features that are being confused as one. The preferred sources, the tailor your feed and also search profiles. All kind of customize what you see across Google Search features including Google Search, AI Mode, Discover and so on. But they are all different features.
Rajan Patel from Google confirmed on X that at least preferred sources and the Google Discover tailor your feed are different.
He said, "Not the same thing, but two different ways to tailor what you see across search," when asked to confirm.
Here are those tweets:
Not the same thing, but two different ways to tailor what you see across search.
— Rajan Patel (@rajanpatel) August 27, 2026
So what are these features?
- Preferred sources: This feature is designed to give people more control over their Search experience, by enabling them to select the sites they want to see more of in Top Stories, whether that is a favorite blog and their local news outlet. This also shows now in AI Mode and other areas.
- Tailor your feed: This is specific to Google Discover and lets you see customize the type of content you want to see on Discover, not necessarily by source but by category of content.
- Search profiles: Search profiles are a dedicated, shareable space to highlight content across platforms, and help audiences find accurate, up-to-date information about sources on Search. You can follow your favorite publishers from the profile page, see a large header image, find the publisher's other social profiles, the latest articles and more.
So they all customize Google Search but in different ways.
Forum discussion at X.
