\n<\/p>\n
As you\u2019ve probably<\/span> noticed, Google has gotten \u2026 weird lately. Weirder? It can be hard to find the search results you\u2019re looking for. Between AI summaries and algorithm changes resulting in unexpected sources, it can be tricky to navigate the most popular search engine in the world. (And publishers are feeling the strain, too.)<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Google updated its algorithm. This is nothing new\u2014Google updates its algorithms hundreds of times per year, with anywhere from two to four major \u201ccore updates\u201d that result in significant changes. And while it’s tricky to determine exactly what changed, publishers and websites large and small noticed significant traffic drops and lower search rankings\u2014even for content that had previously been doing well. \u201cGoogle Zero\u201d (as Nilay Patel of The Verge first called it) is thought to be caused, at least in part, by AI overviews.<\/p>\n Google Search has shown a slow crawl toward this for a couple of years, but the most recent blow was delivered over the summer. When you search for something and you get a neat little summary of various reporting completed by journalists, you’re less likely to visit the websites that actually did the work. And, in some instances, that summary contains incorrect AI hallucinations or reporting from websites you might not trust as much. It’s hard to say whether the next core update will make your search results show what you expect, but in the meantime, there’s a tweak that can help it feel more tailored to your preferences.<\/p>\n Take back control of your Google search results with the new Google \u201cPreferred Sources\u201d tool. This can help you see more of WIRED, from our rigorous and obsessive Reviews coverage to the important breaking stories on our Politics desk to our Culture team\u2019s \u201cWhat to Watch\u201d roundups. (And, yes, this works for other publishers you know and trust, too.)<\/p>\n Preferred Sources are prioritized in Top Stories search results, and you\u2019ll also get a dedicated From Your Sources section on some search results pages.<\/p>\n To set WIRED as a Preferred Source, you can click this link and check the box to the right. You can also search for additional sources you prefer on this page and check the respective boxes to make sure they\u2019re prioritized in your Google searches.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Google via Louryn Strampe<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As you\u2019ve probably noticed, Google has gotten \u2026 weird lately. Weirder? It can be hard to find the search results you\u2019re looking for. Between AI summaries and algorithm changes resulting in unexpected sources, it can be tricky to navigate the most popular search engine in the world. (And publishers are feeling the strain, too.) Earlier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1137,2016,12079,2653,7191],"class_list":{"0":"post-19686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-add","9":"tag-google","10":"tag-preferred","11":"tag-source","12":"tag-wired"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}