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Tell Google Discover What You Want | Analysis by Brian Moineau

Posted on by Brian Moineau

Tell Google What You Want: “Tailor your feed” Brings Prompt-Powered Control to Discover

Imagine opening Google Discover and being able to say, in plain English, “Show me cozy home-cooking videos, but only dairy-free recipes,” or “Keep politics out for a while — show me science and college basketball instead.” That’s the idea behind Google’s new experimental Labs feature called “Tailor your feed,” spotted in testing this week.

Why this feels different

For years, Discover has quietly learned from what you search, click, and ignore. It nudges you toward topics it thinks you’ll like, but the control panel has always been a bit clunky: tap three dots, mark something “not interested,” or favorite a source. “Tailor your feed” moves that control into natural language prompts — you talk to Discover like you would a helpful friend, and its AI updates your recommendations instantly.

This is not a full public rollout. It’s a Search Labs experiment in the Google app, currently limited to early testers (US English was reported), but the approach signals a bigger shift in how Google wants us to manage passive, algorithmic content.

What to know right now

  • The feature appears in the Google app’s Search Labs (tap the beaker icon in the top-left).
  • You open a prompt box labeled “Ask for the kind of content you want,” type a request, and Discover updates your feed instantly.
  • Prompts can include topics, formats, tones or “vibes,” publishers to prioritize, or content to avoid (e.g., “Stop showing me negative news”).
  • Google says Discover will remember these preferences and you can adjust them anytime; activity links back to My Activity.
  • The experiment is early and rolling out slowly — not everyone will see it yet. (Reported Dec 15–16, 2025.)

The practical examples that caught attention

  • Add a project-based topic: “I signed up for my first half marathon; give me training advice.”
  • Remove a stale topic: “I’m back from a NY trip — stop showing me travel tips.”
  • Narrow formats or dietary constraints: “Show me meal-prep videos that are dairy-free.”
  • Adjust tone: “Make my feed feel calm and cozy.”
  • Favor publishers: “Show more from The Washington Post.”

These examples illustrate how specific you can be — goals, formats, sources, and even mood are fair game.

Why Google is doing this

  • Personalization, made faster: Natural-language prompts shortcut the months-long feedback loop of behavior-based learning.
  • Engagement and retention: If people get what they want, they’ll spend more time in Discover (and the Google app).
  • Better signals for relevance (and ad targeting): More explicit preferences are valuable for content ranking — and for ad relevance.
  • Experimentation culture: Google Labs lets the company try riskier UI and AI ideas without committing to a wide release.

The potential upside

  • Faster, clearer control: Users can correct misfires quickly without hunting through menus.
  • Useful for life changes: Short-term goals (training for a race, planning a move) become easier to surface.
  • Better format discovery: If you want videos, explain it — Discover can prioritize that format.
  • Reduces noise: If you need a break from heavy topics like politics, you can simply say so.

The trade-offs and concerns

  • Filter bubbles deepen: Explicitly asking to favor certain topics or tones may reduce exposure to diverse viewpoints.
  • Publisher discoverability: Smaller outlets might lose traction if users ask for a narrow set of sources or vibes.
  • Privacy and activity linking: The prompt history links to My Activity; anything you tell Discover becomes another personalization signal.
  • Misunderstanding and misuse: Natural-language interfaces can misinterpret vague prompts, requiring additional back-and-forth.

How this changes the Discover experience

Think of Discover sliding along a spectrum from passive surfacing to semi-curated reading list. “Tailor your feed” pushes it closer to a hybrid: still recommendation-driven, but with on-demand curation. That could make Discover feel more intentional for users who want it — and more “sticky” for Google.

My take

Giving users a conversational way to tweak their feed is a smart move. It matches how people already describe preferences — in goals, vibes, and formats — and it reduces friction. But expect the usual tension: personalization makes life easier and more pleasant, yet it also tightens your content bubble. Ideally, Google will offer nudges that encourage variety and let users reset or explore outside their requested tastes.

If you’re curious and see the Labs beaker in your Google app, it’s worth trying — it’s an experiment, after all. Use it deliberately: try a goal-based prompt for a few weeks, then toggle it off to see how much Discover relied on that instruction.

Sources



Related update: We recently published an article that expands on this topic: read the latest post.