Help your readers find your site through preferred sources in Google Search

If you're a website owner, you can help your audience find your publication as a preferred source in Google Search. When a user selects your site as a preferred source, your content is more likely to appear for them during relevant news queries in "Top Stories".

Preferred sources in Top Stories in Google Search A site appearing more prominently in Top Stories when the user has selected it as a preferred source

Feature availability

The preferred sources feature is available globally in English for queries that trigger the "Top Stories" feature.

Only domain-level and subdomain-level sites are eligible to appear in the source preferences tool. For example, https://www.example.com/ and https://code.example.com/ are eligible for preferred sources, but the subdirectory https://www.example.com/blog isn't eligible.

How to help users find your site as a preferred source

If your site appears in the source preferences tool, you can use the following methods to guide your readers to select your site as a preferred source:

  • Add the deeplink to your social posts or promotions. Use the following URL format, which takes users directly to your site in the source preferences tool: 
    https://google.com/preferences/source?q=Your_Website's_URL

    For example, if your site is https://example.com, use the following URL: 

    https://google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com
  • Include a button on your site alongside other social Call to Action (CTAs). You can download and use these button assets provided by Google or your own button.