Google integrates favorite sources into AI Mode and AI Overviews, and launches new carousels

Preferred sources land in Google AI responses

Initially launched in Top Stories, the Preferred Sources feature (Preferred Sources) allows users to select their favorite sites to see them highlighted in the results. Since May 27, 2026, it extends to AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Concretely, when an AI response contains links to articles, those that come from sources selected by the user will be clearly labeled “Preferred”. The objective is to allow everyone to identify at a glance content from publishers they already follow or consider reliable.

Duncan OsbornProduct Manager at Google Search, put it this way: Google wants “ bring users’ favorite sources directly into its AI experiences, and launch new features to help discover original content, creator points of view and unique perspectives. »

Setup is simple : simply go to the Google search personalization settings, “source preferences” section. Any site publishing regular content is eligible. Google reports that users are twice as likely to click on a link from a preferred source, and that more than 345,000 unique sources have already been selected from around the world. The functionality is available in all languages.

For publishers, Google has updated its documentation to tell them how to encourage their readers to add them as a preferred source, and how to integrate a dedicated button on their site.

Two new carousels to promote articles and discussions

In addition to preferred sources, Google is rolling out two new types of carousels directly integrated into AI Mode and AI Overviews responses.

• The first carousel is dedicated to current topics. For queries relating to events or evolving themes, Google will now display a carousel of links to recent articles, with pronounced visual emphasis. The user’s favorite sources will also be reported there. The idea is to make news articles more visible across a wider range of queries, particularly those where the user is looking to understand the latest developments on a topic.

• The second carousel targets online discussions and perspectives. For certain searches where the user is looking for opinions or feedback, Google will soon display a similar carousel aggregating content from forums, online discussions and social networks. This type of result is part of a logic already visible with Reddit integrations and forum content in classic results.

Both formats aim to meet a documented need: users asking questions about developing topics often want to read a full article or feedback, but they need initial context and a choice of sources to decide where to delve deeper.

The “Highly Cited” badge expands to more results

The third novelty concerns the “Highly Cited” label (“Very cited”), launched in 2022 in Top Stories. This badge indicates that an article has been cited by many other publications, often making it the primary source of information subsequently reported by other media outlets.

Until now limited to Top Stories, this label will now appear on more article links present in classic search results. This is therefore not a feature specific to AI Mode or AI Overviews: Google has confirmed that it extends “ to article links on the search results page » more generally.

In addition, Google will also indicate when an article explicitly refers to a source labeled “Highly Cited”. This makes it easier for the user to navigate back to the original story, rather than reading a secondary replay.

What this changes for publishers and SEO professionals

These updates are aimed at both users and online publishing professionals. For publishers, the extension of preferred sources to AI represents a concrete opportunity for loyalty: a reader who adds a site as a preferred source will see it stand out including in the responses generated by AI, not just in traditional results.

There official Google documentation has been updated to support publishers wishing to integrate an “Add as preferred source” button on their site.

The “Highly Cited” badge, for its part, introduces a new form of editorial quality signal in the SERPs. For sites whose content is frequently cited by other publications, this can result in better visibility and a higher click-through rate.

Important reminder: AI Mode and AI Overviews remain unavailable in France to this day. These features are being deployed primarily in the United States. French-speaking publishers and SEO professionals can nevertheless anticipate their arrival by taking note now of the personalization mechanisms put in place by Google.