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Google Preferred Sources lets you choose news publishers you want to see more often in relevant Search results. It launched in the United States and India in 2025, then rolled out globally in supported languages in April 2026. You can set preferences from a Top Stories selector when one appears or through Search personalization; the feature prioritizes selected sources but does not guarantee a placement or remove other publishers.
What Google Preferred Sources does
Preferred Sources is a personalization control for publishers and websites in Google Search. When you select a source, Google says it is more likely to appear in Top Stories when it has fresh content relevant to your query. The selection can also affect AI Mode and AI Overviews where those experiences are available for your language and locale. Google may display a Preferred badge for selected publishers in those AI experiences. See Google’s Search Help and its publisher guide.
This is prioritization, not an exclusive news filter. Google still selects Top Stories algorithmically, and a chosen site must have relevant content. Other publishers can appear alongside your selections. Google first announced the feature for the U.S. and India on August 12, 2025; on April 30, 2026, it announced a global rollout for all supported languages. Top Stories availability is global wherever Google Search is available, while AI Mode and AI Overviews depend on language and locale availability. See the 2025 launch announcement and 2026 rollout announcement.
How to add favorite news sites
Google offers two entry points. The Top Stories route is useful when the selector is visible for a search; Search personalization lets you manage preferences from settings.
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Use the Top Stories selector on desktop
- Search Google for a recent, significant event that displays a Top Stories section.
- Select the star icon beside the Top Stories heading.
- Search for a publisher or site, select its checkbox, and choose Reload results. Repeat to add more sources.
- To change your choices later, reopen the selector, select or clear sources, and reload the results.
The selector is conditional: not every query produces Top Stories, so the star may not be available. Google’s current Preferred Sources instructions describe the selector and other management options.
Use Search personalization
- Open Google.com or the Google app and select your profile menu.
- Go to Search personalization, then Source preferences.
- Search for sources and select the ones you want to prioritize.
Google says sites that are not updated regularly may not appear in the selector. If you save preferences while signed in to a Google Account, they stay the same in each browser where you sign in. You can return to the settings to remove or change sources.
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Why you may not see a source or selector
- No Top Stories section: The star-based route depends on a query that triggers Top Stories. Try managing sources in Search personalization instead.
- A site is missing from the picker: Google says infrequently updated sites may not appear. For publishers, eligibility is limited to domain- or subdomain-level sites; a path such as
example.com/blogcannot be selected independently. - A selected site does not appear in a result: Selection raises the likelihood of showing a site, but Google requires relevant content and determines Top Stories algorithmically. It does not promise that every chosen source will appear for every query.
- No Preferred badge in an AI feature: AI Mode and AI Overviews have separate language and locale availability, and a badge is not guaranteed for every result.
What publishers can do
Publishers can enter their site in Google’s Preferred Sources publisher guide to check whether it appears in the tool. A root domain or subdomain may be eligible; an individual URL path is not a standalone source. Google says promotional integrations are optional and are not required for eligibility.
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- Standard JavaScript button: A Google-styled, automatically localized control that returns readers to the page after selection.
- Advanced JavaScript integration: For a custom design or a programmatic trigger.
- Deeplink: A link to the source-preferences tool that includes the publication’s domain; it can be shared on a website, in an email newsletter, or in a social post.
These are audience-engagement options. Google’s documentation does not say that adding a button or deeplink improves rankings, guarantees traffic, or qualifies a publisher for payment.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Google’s adoption figures do—and do not—show
Google’s August 20, 2026 personalization update reported that users had selected more than 600,000 unique sources. In its April 30, 2026 global rollout announcement, Google reported that users were twice as likely to click through after marking a site as a Preferred Source. That is Google’s comparison; the announcement does not provide detailed methodology or independent validation, so it should not be read as proof that selecting a source causes higher click-through. The same announcement reported more than 200,000 unique sites selected at that time, while the initial August 2025 launch post said over half of early Labs users chose four or more sources. Those early-user figures describe different dates and populations, not a universal usage pattern.
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Sources: Google’s August 2026 personalization update, April 2026 rollout announcement, and August 2025 launch announcement.
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