Google Preferred Sources: Help Your Users with a New SEO Signal

I think I found a good topic for this week, so I'm writing about it while it's still fresh in my mind.

On August 20, Google released a button that publishers can add to their pages. When a reader clicks the button, the site becomes one of their preferred sources.

From then on, articles from that site show up more often for that reader in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

preferred sources in Google Search on Best AISO

According to Google, people click through to a chosen source about twice as often.

What is Google’s Preferred Source?

Google's preferred source is a new search feature that allows readers and publishers to select their preferred platforms.

With Google's Preferred Sources feature, users can select trusted news outlets and websites, causing their content to appear more frequently in Top Stories, Google Discover, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

The New Feature Availability

The Preferred Sources feature is available globally for the "Top Stories" feature in all languages where Google Search is available.

These sources can also appear in AI Mode and AI Overviews in all locales and languages where these features are available.

Only domain- and subdomain-level sites are eligible to appear in the source preferences tool. For instance, https://www.bestaiso.com/ and https://example.bestaiso.com/ qualify as preferred sources, whereas the subdirectory https://www.bestaiso.com/blog does not.

How It Works for Users

Select Your Favourite Sources: Search for any topic. Click the star/cards icon next to the "Top Stories" header and check the boxes next to your favorite websites.
Reload Search Results. Refresh the search page to see content prioritized from your chosen publishers.
AI Integration: Your starred choices are highlighted with a special "Preferred" badge in AI-generated search results.

How It Works for Publishers

Global Availability: This feature is active worldwide and supports all languages used by Google Search.
Eligibility: Both domain- and subdomain-level sites are eligible, but individual subdirectories (e.g., /blog/) are not.
Add Buttons: Website owners can add custom buttons or HTML tags, as outlined in the Google Search Central guide, to allow readers to easily star their publication.

Here's the guide link from Google: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/preferred-sources

As a website owner, you can help your audience find your publication as a preferred source on Google Search.

When users select your site as a preferred source, your content is more likely to appear in "Top Stories" and be highlighted with a "preferred" badge.

Here's an example of Best AISO

Link: https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=bestaiso.com

Check the box and click the "Take me to Google Search" button!

The AI prompt, if you want to use it for your website:

Add an "Add us as a Preferred Source on Google" button to every blog post. Build and activate one tiny single-file plugin — do not edit the posts themselves. It appends a centered button after the content of every single post (via the the_content filter), linking to https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q= followed by this site's own domain. Style it as a simple rounded button that fits the theme, with the line above it: "Enjoying our content? Make us a preferred source on Google." Also register a [google_preferred_source] shortcode printing the same button for manual placement; if a post already contains the shortcode, skip the automatic one there. Verify the button renders on one published post.

List Of 16 Languages With Downloadable Buttons For Google's Preferred Sources at Best AISO

Danish
English
Estonian
Finnish
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese (Brazil)
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian

The original documentation stated that the feature was "available globally in English," but this has now been replaced with language confirming its full international availability.

AI SEO Takeaways

Expanding Preferred Sources to all supported languages increases opportunities for publishers to influence Google Search and display their websites to users.

Although publishers and SEOs cannot manipulate the signal itself, they can positively influence their site visitors to do so.

For website publishers, this means:

The ability to participate in Google's Preferred Sources, regardless of language
New opportunities to build audience signals tied to Top Stories
Clearer guidance on how to implement Preferred Source prompts
Preferred Sources is now available in all languages supported by Google Search
Publishers worldwide can now use Preferred Sources to build audience preference signals

Read more about Google’s Preferred Sources at Best AISO.