Google has a feature that lets a reader say "show me more of this site." Once they do, your pages turn up more often for them in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Top Stories. Most sites have not added the button yet, which means the people who already like you have no way to tell Google so. This page gives you the eligibility check, the exact code, and the wording to ask readers with.
Source: Google Search Central, "Guide to Preferred Sources in Google Search for Web Publishers", checked October 2026.
Where to start
- Not sure your site qualifies? Run the check in Step 1 first — subdirectories are not eligible and people waste an afternoon finding that out.
- Already know you qualify and just want the code? Jump to Step 2.
- Button is live but nobody clicks it? That is an asking problem, not a code problem. Go to Step 3.
Check your site can be picked at all
Preferred sources work at the domain and subdomain level. yoursite.com works. news.yoursite.com works. yoursite.com/blog does not, and no amount of code will change that. If your publication lives in a folder on a larger corporate site, this feature is not available to you until it moves to its own subdomain.
There is a second gate for the AI surfaces. To show up as a preferred source in AI Mode and AI Overviews, your site has to be included in Google's generative AI features, which you can see in Search Console. Top Stories does not have that requirement and is available in every language Search runs in.
Eligibility check and link builder Example data
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Type the address people use for your site, with or without https.
https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=northline.com
That second box is your deeplink. It opens Google's source preferences screen with your site already filled in. You can put it in a newsletter, an email signature or a social post, no code needed.
Paste the two lines into your template
Google ships a small script that renders the button for you. The script tag goes in the head of your site. The empty div goes wherever you want the button to appear — footer, end of article, sidebar. The div stays empty; Google fills it in.
Pick a theme that matches your site and set the language explicitly if your audience is not in the same locale as their browser settings. Then paste. On Shopify this is Online Store → Themes → Edit code → theme.liquid. On WordPress it is your theme's header file, or any header-scripts field your theme or an SEO plugin gives you. On Webflow it is Project settings → Custom code → Head code, with an embed block where the button should sit.
Badge snippet builder
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Choose your options and copy the result.
The fix: paste this
<!-- 1. in your <head> --> <script async src="https://news.google.com/swg/js/v1/publisher.js"></script> <!-- 2. where the button should appear --> <div google-add-preferred-source-btn></div>
If you cannot add JavaScript at all, Google supports a plain link instead. It is the same deeplink the tool in Step 1 built for you, wrapped around text or an image. It does not render Google's official button, but it lands the reader on the same screen.
Ask your readers, because the button does nothing on its own
This is where almost everyone stops, and it is the half that matters. A button sitting in a footer gets ignored. The sites that get picked are the ones that ask, in the moment someone has just finished reading something good.
Ask the people who already like you: your newsletter list, your repeat readers, the end of your best-performing article. One clear sentence beats a banner. Be straight about what you are asking for and what it does for them, which is that they see more of what they already chose to read.
Ask-your-readers kit Example data
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Put your details in and copy the three lines.
Questions
Does adding the badge make me a preferred source automatically?
No. The badge is only a shortcut for readers. Google says sites can appear in the source preferences tool whether or not they add any of this code. The code exists to make it one tap instead of a hunt through settings.
Can I use it if my blog is at mysite.com/blog?
Not as a separate source. Only domains and subdomains appear in the tool. The preference would apply to the whole of mysite.com, and you cannot register the folder on its own.
Will the script slow my site down?
It loads with the async attribute, so it does not block your page rendering. It is a small third-party request like any other; if you are strict about performance, load it only on article templates rather than every page.
How do I know if anyone actually picked me?
Google does not currently expose a count of preferred-source selections. The honest measure is indirect: track clicks on your own button as an event in your analytics, and watch whether impressions in Top Stories and AI surfaces move in Search Console over the following months.
Does this work outside the United States?
For Top Stories, Google says it is available globally in every language Search runs in. For AI Mode and AI Overviews, it follows wherever those features have launched.
Sources: Google Search Central documentation on preferred sources for web publishers, and Google Search Console documentation on generative AI feature inclusion. Both checked October 2026. Implementation details change; re-check the official page before a large rollout.