Google is rolling out Preferred Sources globally after launching it in the US and India last August. Google also announced Spotlighting subscriptions, a feature that highlights links from your news subscriptions in Gemini and will soon appear in Google Search through AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Preferred Sources. Preferred Sources let searchers star publications in the Top Stories section of Google Search, and Google uses that signal to show more stories from those starred outlets. The feature entered beta in June, rolled out in the U.S. and India in August, and is now expanding globally.
Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search, wrote:
- “We’re now launching this feature globally: in the coming days, it will be available for English-language users worldwide, and we’ll roll it out to all supported languages early next year.”
- “People have selected a wide range of preferred sources — nearly 90,000 unique sources, from local blogs to global news outlets.”
When someone chooses a preferred source, they click through to that site twice as often on average, Google told me.
How it works. You click the star icon to the right of the Top Stories header in search results. After that, you can choose your preferred sources – assuming the site is publishing fresh content.
Google will then start to show you more of the latest updates from your selected sites in Top Stories “when they have new articles or posts that are relevant to your search,” Google added.
Spotlighting subscriptions. Google also announced Spotlighting subscriptions, a new feature that highlights links from your news subscriptions, “making it easier to spot content from sources you trust and helping you get more value from your subscriptions.”
- Google will prioritize links from your subscribed publications and surface them in a dedicated carousel.
- The feature is coming first to the Gemini app in the next few weeks, with AI Overviews and AI Mode to follow.
Why we care. Top Stories can drive meaningful traffic to publishers, so becoming a reader’s preferred source can be a valuable boost. You might look for a tasteful way to encourage loyal visitors to star your site—such as adding a small icon in your site or newsletter that reminds readers they can set your publication as a preferred source. With any luck, this gives publishers more ways to capture traffic and revenue.
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