How to Make El Mostrador Your Preferred News Source on Google in Under a Minute

Google's algorithm has become a gatekeeper, and most people don't realize they have a key. The company's relentless tweaks to how it surfaces news—layering in AI summaries, reshuffling what appears first—have made it harder to find the outlets you actually trust. Instead, you get what the algorithm decides you should see: generic, often unreliable content that crowds out the journalism that matters to you. But there's a fix, and it takes less than sixty seconds.

The problem runs deeper than inconvenience. When artificial intelligence generates those summary boxes that appear at the top of search results, it sometimes pulls from sources that haven't been properly vetted. A New York Times investigation found that these AI-generated previews can contain errors or misleading references, especially when they draw from amateur or unverified outlets. In a media landscape where algorithms are increasingly the arbiter of what you see, the ability to choose your sources becomes something closer to a necessity.

Google recently introduced a tool called preferred sources, and it does exactly what the name suggests: it tells the algorithm which outlets matter to you. Once you mark a publication as preferred, Google learns to prioritize that content in search results, in Google Discover (the feed you see when you open a new tab on Chrome or use the Google app), and in Google News. It's a small act of resistance against algorithmic determinism—a way of saying to Google: I decide what I read, not your code.

The fastest way to set this up is direct. You can click a link, check a box, and you're done. El Mostrador, for instance, can be added as a preferred source in a single action. But if you prefer to train the algorithm gradually, Google Discover offers another path. Scroll through your feed until you find an article from the outlet you want to follow. Tap the three vertical dots in the corner of the card, then select "Follow" or "Show more from this source." The algorithm begins to understand, article by article, what you're looking for.

Google News works similarly. Search for the outlet's name, click on the result with its logo, and tap the star icon in the upper right corner. That star marks it as a source you follow, and it will appear in your "Following" section with priority in your personalized feed. Each action is small, but together they shift the balance of power—from the algorithm back to you.

There's another dimension worth understanding. That same three-dot menu that lets you follow sources also lets you block them. If there are outlets you don't want to see, you can choose "Don't show content from this site." Controlling what enters your feed is as important as choosing what you want to read. In an age when algorithms filter nearly everything, the ability to curate your own information diet—to say yes to some sources and no to others—is a form of literacy itself. The tools exist. The question is whether you'll use them.