Google trialling 'preferred site' feature

Preferred sites in action
Preferred sites in action

Google is trialling a new feature that lets you set your preferred sites for search – enabling you to prioritise your favourites when you're looking for something specific.

Google Preferred Sites is being trialled by a limited number of Google users – you'll know if you've been selected by looking in the Google Preferences Page when you're logged in.

Essentially, the feature allows Google to look at your frequently-visited sites, or for you to add your own preferences, and these are then prioritised within your results.

Preferred site

Ergo, if you had TechRadar as one of your preferred sites (and why wouldn't you?) searching for a review of a laptop would add weight to TechRadar's review when your results are returned.

"The preferred sites feature lets you set your Google Web Search preferences so that your search results match your unique tastes and needs," explains the feature's help page.

"Fill in the sites you rely on the most, and results from your preferred sites will show up more often when they're relevant to your search query."

Perhaps fearful of stagnating after so long as the dominant search engine, Google has recently been tinkering with its search functionality, and Google Preferred Sites is not the first example of this.

Google also recently brought in a Digg-like voting system to move sites up and down the results page.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.