Google has switched on a new tool for UK users that lets you choose which publications show up first when you search for Man United news. For supporters who check their phone for updates before kick off, during half time, and long after the final whistle, that matters. It means less sifting through noise and more time with the reporting you actually trust.
Under Michael Carrick, the daily routine at Old Trafford throws up plenty to follow: team news, fitness updates, and the usual debate over selection. Picking preferred sources means that coverage lands at the top of your results rather than buried below aggregator posts and recycled wire copy. It’s a small change in settings, but for anyone glued to their phone on matchday, it changes how quickly the right story reaches you.
The Core Mechanisms behind Google’s Preferred Source Rollout
The feature works by letting Google remember which outlets you read most often and then weighting your search results and Top Stories carousel towards them. It’s rolled out specifically for UK accounts, so if you search for United news from a British IP address and a Google account signed in to your phone or browser, you should see the option appear.
Crucially, this isn’t about blocking other publications outright. Google still shows a spread of coverage. What changes is the order. Your chosen sources get pushed higher, so the first headline you see is more likely to be one you’d have clicked anyway, rather than something you’d scroll straight past.
That ordering matters more than it sounds. Most of us don’t scroll far past the first few results before deciding what to read, so having a trusted outlet sitting near the top saves time without cutting off the wider picture entirely.
Step-by-Step Breakdown: Customising Search and Article Settings
There are two routes into the settings, and neither takes more than a few taps.
The first sits right inside the article itself. Scroll to the bottom of a story and you’ll find a button that lets you mark that publication as a preferred source there and then. It’s as direct as it gets: finish reading, tap the button, and future searches favour that outlet.
The second route runs through Google Search proper. Type in a topic, such as the latest from the club, and look for the Top Stories section. Click “customise” and you’ll be shown a list of outlets covering that subject. From there you can select the Manchester Evening News or any other publication you rely on, as reported by the Manchester Evening News. Once chosen, that preference carries across future searches on similar topics.
Neither method requires an app download or a subscription. It’s a setting, not a product, and it can be adjusted again at any point if your reading habits change. If you follow more than one outlet for different angles, say match reports from one and transfer lines from another, you can set several preferred sources rather than picking just one.
It’s also worth checking the setting periodically. As Carrick’s squad changes through the season, you might find your reading habits shift too, and the preferred sources list is built to be edited rather than fixed in place.
The Evolving Digital Landscape for Supporters at Old Trafford
This kind of control fits where fan behaviour has been heading for a while. Supporters increasingly build their own feed of trusted writers rather than accepting whatever an algorithm serves up by default, and Google’s move effectively hands that curation power back to the reader.
For United fans, that could mean faster access to pieces like our top Premier League matches feature or the latest injury update on the squad, surfacing above general news aggregation the moment they’re published. With Carrick’s side generating a story most days, whether through results, fitness news, or squad decisions, being able to prioritise reliable, dedicated coverage is a genuinely useful change rather than a gimmick.
It won’t replace checking your usual sites directly, and plenty of fans will still open their favourite apps out of habit. But as a layer on top of that habit, it gives supporters a say in how their Man United news actually reaches them, rather than leaving it to whichever outlet happened to publish first or push hardest for clicks.
For a club with a fanbase as large and as vocal as United’s, that sort of control is overdue. It won’t change what happens on the pitch under Carrick, but it does change how quickly and how clearly supporters hear about it.
