In our own interest: Set up heise online as a preferred source in Google

For many readers, Google is still the first point of entry to the internet. With the “Preferred Sources” feature, you can specify in Google Search and Google News which media outlets should be preferentially displayed in the headlines section for relevant search queries – and signal to the algorithm which sources are important to you.

If you enter a source there, you will see its articles more frequently in the future – either in the usual “Top Stories” section or in a dedicated “From Your Sources” section. A Google account is required; the selection can be adjusted or reversed at any time.

If you want to list heise online there, you have two options:

• Preferred Source in Google Search: Via the Google Source Settings, heise online can be saved directly as a preferred news source. Alternatively, in Google Search, a star symbol will appear in the headlines section for current topics, allowing you to add sources directly from the search results.
• Follow Google News: In the Google News app, heise online can be subscribed to via the “Follow” button. New articles will then appear regularly in your personal news feed.

Google initially tested the feature only in the USA and India. According to Google, the click-through rate on articles from a preferred source is twice as high – an indication that personalization is actually effective. Recently, Google has released “Preferred Sources” for all languages.

By actively selecting sources, you give the algorithm a clear signal and can thus influence which content is prominently displayed to you – and which is not. The feature gives you more control than the pure algorithm ever could. If you generally do not use Google services, you can find all content from heise online as usual via our RSS feeds.

(vza)