Google Preferred Sources Now Surface in AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google extended its Preferred Sources feature to AI Overviews and AI Mode on 27 May 2026. The setting is available at google.com/preferences/source and lets users nominate publishers they want surfaced more frequently in search results. Google also confirmed the signal will go further than labelling: preferred sources will be surfaced more frequently in AI answers, making it an active input into citation selection, not just a display indicator.

The update applies wherever AI Overviews and AI Mode are available. It follows the global language rollout on 30 April 2026, which extended the feature to all languages supported by Google Search.

What changed on 27 May

When a user has marked a publisher as a preferred source and that publisher is cited in an AI Overview or AI Mode response, a “Preferred” badge now appears next to the link. The badge is visible only to the user who set the preference.

Beyond the badge, Google stated that preferred sources will be used to influence which publishers appear in AI responses when the query is relevant and the publisher has published recent content on the topic. This is a meaningful shift: the signal moves from personalising Top Stories placement to affecting AI citation selection directly.

Google also launched two new carousels. The first surfaces Preferred Sources prominently on searches about developing topics. The second is separate: a carousel showing “firsthand perspectives from online discussions, forums, and social media” for relevant queries. The two are distinct features; the forum carousel is not limited to preferred sources.

The Highly Cited badge

Alongside the Preferred Sources expansion, Google introduced a “Highly Cited” badge for web article links. Google describes it as helping users “find the primary reporting that other articles are referencing.” The badge marks articles that other reporting has referenced frequently, indicating they are influential or widely corroborated within a news cycle.

A secondary indicator will also appear on articles that explicitly reference a highly cited source, extending a degree of reflected credibility to follow-up reporting that links to the original. The two signals are independent: a site does not need to be a preferred source to receive a Highly Cited badge, and preferred status does not produce the Highly Cited badge.

The publisher action

Google’s Preferred Sources guide provides two mechanisms for publishers to promote their own selection:

• A deeplink at google.com/preferences/source?q=your-site-url that takes users directly to the preference toggle for a specific publication
• Downloadable “Add as preferred source” buttons in 16 languages, intended to be placed on-site alongside social follow CTAs

Over 345,000 unique sources have been selected by users since launch, up from 200,000 at the April global expansion. Google’s internal data continues to show users are twice as likely to click through to a preferred source than to an unmarked site in the same position.

Which sites are eligible

Google’s stated eligibility criteria are minimal. The announcement post says: “Any website that publishes fresh content is eligible.” The only structural restriction is that a site must be at the domain or subdomain level: example.com/blog would not qualify, but example.com would.

In practice, not all sites that meet those criteria appear in the system. The mechanism Google uses to populate the preferred sources pool is not publicly documented, which makes it difficult for publishers to diagnose why their site might be absent. Google has not explained the gap between its stated eligibility and which sites are actually discoverable in the preferences UI.

What this means for publishers

The April expansion made Preferred Sources relevant to publishers in all markets. The May update makes it relevant to publishers with any meaningful presence in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

The confirmation that preferred status influences citation frequency, rather than just labelling existing citations, is the more significant detail. A publisher with a base of users who have marked them as preferred now has a marginal advantage in AI citation selection on relevant queries. The scale of that advantage is not quantified, and Google’s standard relevance and quality signals still apply, but the direction is clear: audience loyalty has a direct connection to AI search visibility.

The practical implication mirrors the point from the April rollout: publisher tools like email lists, social channels, and on-site prompts are now worth using to drive Preferred Sources selections. The deeplink format makes that ask straightforward to include in newsletters or post-read CTAs.

The Highly Cited badge is less actionable in the short term. It rewards original reporting that others reference, which is a function of editorial output rather than any specific technical change a publisher can make. It is worth monitoring as a signal of how Google is weighting primary sources within AI responses.

Sources

• New ways to find your favorite sources and original content in AI Search — Google Blog
• Google AI Mode and AI Overviews will highlight your Preferred Sources — 9to5Google
• Guide to Preferred Sources for Web Publishers — Google Search Central