A preferred source is a vote you earn.
Google now lets readers pick the sites they want to see more of. Setting your site up for it takes minutes. Deserving the pick, and knowing whether it worked, takes longer.
A Google preferred source is a site a reader has chosen in Google Search settings. That site becomes more likely to appear for that reader in Top Stories, and can be highlighted with a badge in AI Mode and AI Overviews. You enable it with Google's button on your pages, or a link to your bare domain.
What it is, and what you control
Readers choose the sources. Nothing you publish, mark up or submit makes Google prefer you. What you control is how easy it is for someone who already likes your site to say so. Google documents the Top Stories feature as available globally, in every language Google Search supports, while AI Mode and AI Overviews follow those features' own language and locale availability.
Where the badge shows matters. In Top Stories, a source the reader chose carries a "preferred" badge. In AI Mode and AI Overviews the badge appears only for readers who selected your site, so a stranger sees the same answer as before. The feature rewards an audience you already have, and does nothing for one you do not.
The eligibility rule that trips people up
Only domain-level and subdomain-level sites are eligible in Google's source preferences tool. https://www.example.com/ and https://code.example.com/ qualify. A subdirectory such as https://www.example.com/blog does not. A blog that lives in a folder cannot be picked on its own, so every button and link should point at the bare domain, never at the blog path.
For AI Mode and AI Overviews there is a second requirement: the site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. Check that setting in your property before assuming the AI badge is possible. Then type your domain into the source preferences tool to see whether it is listed yet. If it is not, the button is harmless to ship, and it works the day the listing appears.
Three ways to add it
- Standard JavaScript, the recommended route. One async script from news.google.com and one div carrying the attribute google-add-preferred-source-btn. Google renders a localized button, lets the reader add the site, and returns them to your page. Set data-theme to light or dark, and data-lang to the page language.
- Advanced JavaScript, for a custom design. The same flow behind your own button, for when Google's badge cannot fit your design system.
- A deeplink with no JavaScript: https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=yourdomain.com. It suits newsletters, email signatures, PDFs and social posts, anywhere a script cannot run.
We use the first. The button sits at the end of every post on this blog, loads after the page is interactive so it never blocks first paint, and points at the bare domain unboundgeo.com. It does not appear in checkouts, forms or client deliverables, because a reader should meet it right after finishing something they liked.
Check the implementation after deploy. The script should load from news.google.com, the div should render a button rather than sit empty, and data-lang should match the page language. Google states that none of these methods is required for a site to appear as a preferred source, so a missing button costs you the invitation, not your eligibility.
What no tool can tell you about it yet
Google does not publish how much a preferred source choice changes what a reader sees, so anyone quoting you a lift is inventing it. The choice also lives in the reader's own account, which is exactly what a measurement taken from a clean position cannot see.
unbound geo reads the generated answer at the top of Google results for the keywords you track: whether one is present and whether it cites your domain, measured the same way every time from a clean position. That is a valid reading of your standing with a stranger. It is not a reading of your standing with a reader who picked you, and we have not tested whether the setting shifts what the clean check sees. We do not track Top Stories.
A practical test follows from that. Pick the keywords where a generated answer already appears, record across three runs whether it cites your domain, add the button, and repeat after a month. A flat result does not prove the button failed, because the check cannot see readers who chose you. A clear move in the citations is worth noting, but it still needs the interval test below before anyone credits the button.
If you want to know whether the button moved anything, the rule is the one that governs every lever here. Take at least three runs before and three after, and treat a change in share of voice smaller than about 4.3 points as the instrument, not the market. In our testing, two identical runs of one question, minutes apart, agree on only 36% of the brands they name.
When it is worth the effort
Preferred sources are audience building. They help readers who already like a site say so to Google, and nothing in Google's documentation makes them a requirement for appearing. If people return to your site by choice, setting it up is cheap and worth doing today. If nobody returns yet, the button has nothing to amplify, and the time is better spent becoming a source worth choosing.
The short answers
How do I add my website as a preferred source in Google?
Add the standard button: one async script from news.google.com and a div with the attribute google-add-preferred-source-btn. Readers click it to add your domain. Where scripts cannot run, share the link https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=yourdomain.com.
Can a blog folder be a preferred source on its own?
No. Only domain-level and subdomain-level sites are eligible, so a path such as example.com/blog is not. Point the button and links at the bare domain, or move the blog to a subdomain.
Does the button guarantee I appear in Top Stories or AI Overviews?
No. A reader has to choose you, and the badge only reaches that reader. For AI Mode and AI Overviews your site must also be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console.
Can unbound geo measure whether it worked?
Not directly. We read the generated answer in Google results from a clean position, which has no reader choosing us. We do not track Top Stories, and we have not tested whether the setting changes the clean reading.
What if my domain does not appear in the source preferences tool?
Ship the button anyway, since it is harmless, and record the status. For the AI badge, also confirm the Search Console setting for generative AI features is on for your property.
When should I not bother?
When no one returns to your site on purpose. A preferred source is a reader saying they want more, so with no existing readers the button has nothing to amplify.
Find out in under ten minutes
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Every figure quoted here comes from a real question put to a real assistant, saved with the date and the assistant that answered it. This piece was written to answer the search "how to add a website as a preferred source in google".