Google Preferred Sources HOWTO 1 Oct 2025

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Google launched a feature called Preferred Sources in the U.S. and India.*

It lets people select the publishers they want to see more often in search.

Once chosen, those publishers show up in Top Stories and in a new box called From Your Sources:

This is a real Google feature now. It’s called Preferred Sources, and it lets users in the U.S. and India pick news publishers they want prioritized in Google Search’s Top Stories section (and in a “From your sources” box). blog.google+2Search Engine Journal+2

Here’s a breakdown of how it works (for users), what it means for your site, and how you can “code” or integrate support / promotion for it.

What Google’s Preferred Sources Does (for users)

So from the user side, it’s largely a UI in Google Search itself (not something you host).

What It Means for Your Website / Publisher

Because Preferred Sources is a Google-side feature, you don’t need (and cannot) “embed” a Google widget on your site that directly marks you as preferred. But there is some things you should / can do to support it, help your users, and maximize your chances of being selected and surfaced.

Here are key things to do:

1. Meet Google’s existing news / search best practices

If Google is going to trust your site and surface your content, you need to already follow SEO / news content best practices:

  • Use proper structured data (e.g. NewsArticle, Article, Organization) so Google can correctly identify your content.
  • Use valid meta tags, proper HTML, good URL structure, good site performance, mobile-friendliness, etc.
  • Publish news / timely / fresh content with consistency.
  • Be recognized as a legitimate news / publisher domain (build authority, backlinks, domain reputation).

If your content is not visible in Top Stories or recognized by Google News / Google Search as news content, being “preferred” is moot.

2. Promote to your users to “Add us as preferred source”

One of the articles about the feature says:

“Publishers can encourage their followers and subscribers to select their website as a preferred source on Google by using resources found in [Google’s help center].” blog.google+2Search Engine Journal+2

So what you can do on your site is:

  • Show a banner or button: “Add us as a Google Preferred Source” (or “Star us in Google Search”).
  • Provide instructions or a link that helps users jump to the Google interface to add you (e.g. point them to search for your site in Google Search -> click the star icon).
  • Possibly build a deep link / “Add Source” URL (if Google supports that) — more on that next.

3. Use a deep link / “Add to preferred sources” URL (if Google supports it)

Some of the news coverage suggests Google might support a direct link your readers can click to add your site to their preferred sources. For example, Lifewire notes:

“Publishers can create deeplinks for readers to add their website to their favorites / preferred source list.” Lifewire

If Google documents (or later publishes) a URL scheme like:

https://www.google.com/preferences/sources?site=yourdomain.com

or something similar, then on your site you could include a “Add us to Google Preferred Sources” link that goes directly there.
(Note: I haven’t found in Google’s official documentation a public “deeplink format” yet — Google’s blog doesn’t list a specific URL structure in the announcement. blog.google)

So keep an eye on Google’s help center / developer docs — if they publish a link format, you can build it.

4. Code / markup best practices

Even though Google handles the “preferred sources” UI and storage, your site should:

  • Make sure canonical URLs are correct (no duplicate content).
  • Use structured data (NewsArticle / Article) to help Google parse your content.
  • Provide your brand / publisher identity clearly (Organization name, logo) so Google knows the source name.
  • Include links or calls to action (CTAs) aimed at your loyal readers to “Add us as a preferred source in Google Search.”
  • Optionally, conditionally show that CTA only to users likely eligible (e.g. U.S. / English / news readers), to avoid user confusion.

5. Monitor and encourage adoption

  • Track how many users click your “Add us as preferred source” button or CTA.
  • Educate your audience (blog posts, emails, tooltips) how to do it in Google Search.
  • Over time, having more of your audience choose you increases the likelihood Google surfaces your content more often for those users.

Yes — Google does support a “deeplink” that publishers can use to make it easy for users to add their site as a Preferred Source. (Google Help)

✅ Deeplink format

The canonical deeplink format is:

https://google.com/preferences/source?q=<your website URL>

Replace <your website URL> (URL-encoded) with your site’s domain or home URL. (Google Help)

For example, if your site is example.com, the link would be:

https://google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com

When users click that, it should (if they are in a supported region and logged in) take them to Google’s “Preferred Sources” interface with your site prefilled, making it easier for them to add you. (Search Engine Roundtable)

Google’s support page explicitly states:

“Example deeplink URL: https://google.com/preferences/source?q=” (Google Help)

📄 Example: Button/link markup

Here’s how you might embed this on your site:

<a href="https://google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com"
   target="_blank"
   rel="noopener noreferrer">
  ➕ Add us as a Google Preferred Source
</a>

You can also combine it with a little JavaScript or UX flows:

<button id="addPreferredBtn">
  Add us as Preferred Source
</button>
<script>
  document.getElementById('addPreferredBtn').addEventListener('click', () => {
    const url = 'https://google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com';
    window.open(url, '_blank');
  });
</script>

You could even wrap that in a conditional UI (only show it to users in the U.S. / India, or only show it when the feature is available) to avoid confusing users outside supported regions. (Some publishers use geotargeting to only show the badge in U.S./India. (Coywolf))

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