Google has introduced an embeddable Preferred Sources button that lets publishers encourage readers to prioritize their sites across Top Stories, AI Overviews and AI Mode, giving publishers another audience-building tool as AI search continues to pressure referral traffic.
TL;DR
- Publishers can add Google's Preferred Sources button to their websites, with the standard implementation requiring just two lines of HTML.
- Google says users have selected more than 600,000 unique sources, while earlier data found readers were twice as likely to click a site after marking it as preferred.
- The launch arrives as publishers face declining Google search referrals and growing concerns about AI-generated answers reducing click-throughs.
Google Makes Preferred Sources Easier For Publishers
Google is making it easier for publishers to turn loyal readers into a direct preference signal inside Search.
“We’re releasing a new interactive ‘Preferred Sources’ button that publishers can embed on their pages,” Google said recently.
When a reader clicks the button, the publisher is added to that person’s Preferred Sources on Google before the reader is returned to the page they were viewing. Google Search Central says content from a selected site is more likely to appear in Top Stories and can receive a “preferred” badge inside AI Overviews and AI Mode.
The feature is available globally for Top Stories across languages supported by Google Search. Preferred Sources can also surface in AI Mode and AI Overviews wherever those products are available.
For publishers, implementation can be fairly lightweight. Google's recommended JavaScript setup requires two lines of HTML and automatically creates a localized Google-styled button, while publishers can also use custom designs or deeplinks if required.
Google notes that only domains and subdomains are eligible. A standalone subdirectory, such as a site's /blog section, cannot separately become a Preferred Source.
Google Says Preferred Sources Can Generate More Clicks
Google says more than 600,000 unique sources have now been selected by users through Preferred Sources. That's considerably higher than more than 345,000 unique sources Google reported when it brought Preferred Sources into AI Overviews and AI Mode in May.
Earlier, when Google expanded Preferred Sources globally in April, the company said readers were twice as likely to click through to a site after marking it as a Preferred Source. At that stage, more than 200,000 unique sites had been selected.
AI Search Traffic Pressure Is The Bigger Story
TechCrunch framed Google's new publisher button as a way to help websites fight traffic losses associated with AI-powered search, while HyperAI similarly described it as a tool aimed at mitigating traffic declines. Google itself uses more measured language, saying the update is designed to help publishers build stronger connections with readers.
However, independent industry data shows why publishers are concerned.
A preregistered experiment involving 1,100 participants, released as a research preprint in August 2026, also found that removing AI Overviews and AI Mode increased click-through rates to publishers. As the research is currently a preprint, its findings should be treated as preliminary.
Google Is Also Giving Users More Control Over Discover And News
Preferred Sources isn't the only personalization feature Google announced.
In the coming days, Google says users will be able to open the three-dot menu on Discover and describe, in natural language, which topics or links they want to see more or less frequently. Discover will adjust the feed and remember those preferences.
Topics for more insights:
Android users can also customize daily audio briefings in the Google News app by selecting topics, with Google promising source attribution and links to the original articles.
For publishers, the Preferred Sources button offers a clearer way to ask loyal readers to actively prioritize their content within Google's ecosystem. What remains unknown is how much incremental traffic the new embeddable button will generate across publishers as a whole, since Google has not disclosed a publisher-wide traffic lift for this specific rollout.
