Enter your domain, we only use the domain, since subdirectories aren't eligible.
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Preview & code
Inline button — paste directly into your content.
<a href="https://google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://mypreferredsources.com/badges/en-light.png" alt="Add as a preferred source" height="40" style="display:block;height:40px;width:auto;border:0"></a>Paste this wherever you want the badge to appear in your content.
Link directly to the Google Preferred Source page for your domain, no script needed.
Google built this and the search world hasn't stopped talking about it
Preferred sources isn't a workaround or a third-party trick. Google shipped it, wrote the documentation for publishers, and keeps widening where it shows up.
If you want to understand the feature before you paste anything on your site, start with the coverage below.
- Google · The Keyword
The original announcement, explaining how readers star the sites they trust and what changes in their results. - Google Search Central
The official publisher guide documents eligibility rules and the deeplink format this generator is built on. - Search Engine Journal
Ongoing rollout coverage, including how fast publishers and readers have adopted the feature. - Search Engine Roundtable
Reporting on preferred sources arriving in AI Mode and AI Overviews, not just Top Stories.
Build your Google preferred source button in three simple steps with Contentpen
You don't need a developer or an account. Follow these simple steps to create a button for your site that makes it the easiest for your readers to mark your site as a preferred source.
Step 1: Add your domain
We use only the domain itself, since Google matches preferred sources at that level and ignores anything deeper in the URL.
Step 2: Style it
Light or dark, a few sizes, and the language of the badge. What you see in the preview is exactly what you'll copy.
Step 3: Paste it
Put it next to your share buttons, in your footer, or inside an article. You can also share the plain link in a newsletter or a post.
Why one tap button wins more picks than sending readers into Google's settings
A reader can already add you as a preferred source on their own. The catch is that almost nobody will dig through Search settings to do it.
Your button removes every step in between. One tap opens Google's tool with your site already loaded, and they're done.
Once they've picked you, Google shows more of your fresh stories and marks them with a "preferred" label that readers learn to recognize.
Where a preferred pick places your stories across Google Search and AI
The best part is that a reader's choice doesn't stay in one place. The same preference follows them across the surfaces where they actually look things up.
- Top Stories: Your articles surface more often in the carousel on news searches, each carrying the "preferred" label.
- AI Mode: When Google answers a question conversationally, your stories can show up flagged for the readers who chose you, so you're inside the answer instead of below it.
- AI Overviews: The links Google pulls into an overview get the same treatment, keeping your brand visible right where the summary lives.
This works in every language Google Search supports, wherever those AI features have rolled out.
One pick that strengthens both your search ranking and AI visibility
Search is splitting into two front doors.
Some people still scan a list of blue links and Top Stories. A growing number read an AI answer and never scroll.
A preferred-source pick reaches both.
On the classic side, you get more room in Top Stories for timely content, with the badge attached. On the AI side, your material is more likely to be cited and labeled inside the generated answer.
Same button, same one-tap action from your reader, two places it pays off. No extra content to produce.
The three ways readers can make you a preferred source
There are three ways a reader can name you a preferred source, and two of them ask a lot.
The slow way is through a news search: tap the icon by the Top Stories header, find your site, tick it, reload.
The slower way is buried in their Google account, under Search personalization and then Source preferences. Both work, but both assume the reader is motivated enough to go looking.
Your button is the third door. It opens Google's official tool with your site already selected, so the only thing left to do is confirm. That's the version people actually finish.
Who is it for?
If people already seek out your work, this gives them a fast way to tell Google to show them more of it.
- News publishers defending their spot in Top Stories.
- Independent blogs whose regulars want them surfaced first.
- Niche and trade sites that mean to be the default in a specific field.
- Newsletters and creators turning an email list into search visibility.
- Local outlets staying present in their own community's results.
- Reviews and magazines whose editorial voice readers deliberately choose.
The common thread is loyalty. The button just makes that loyalty count where Google can see it.
With Contentpen's free Google Preferred Source button generator, there's no paid tier waiting behind a feature you actually need. Build as many buttons as you want, for as many sites as you want, without an account. If it's useful, use it.
Preferred sources, questions answered
Here are the answers to some common queries that people ask before pasting the button on their site.
What are preferred sources?
A Google Search setting that lets a reader name the sites they want to see more of. After someone picks you, your content is more likely to appear, and to be labeled "preferred," in their Top Stories and their AI Mode and AI Overviews results.
If someone picks me in Top Stories, does that affect the AI results too?
Yes. The preference carries across surfaces. A choice made in Top Stories also shapes that reader's AI Mode and AI Overviews, and the reverse is true as well. One selection covers all of them.
Do preferences stay the same across a reader's devices?
When a reader is signed in to their Google Account while saving the setting, it stays consistent on the browsers where they're signed in.
Will adding this guarantee I show up?
No, and anyone promising that is overselling it. The button only makes it easy for your readers to choose you. Whether you appear still depends on them picking you and on Google's own ranking.
Is my site eligible?
Eligibility is at the domain and subdomain level, so example.com or news.example.com qualify. A subdirectory like example.com/blog does not. You can confirm by entering your site in Google's source-preferences tool.
Why does the tool cut off everything after my domain?
Because Google matches at the domain level. The generator strips the path, any query strings, and a leading "www" so the link points exactly where Google expects.
Which languages can the button use?
Any of the languages Google ships an official badge in, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and more. You can edit the text yourself.
Your readers are one tap from picking you
Becoming a preferred source comes down to one thing: making it effortless for the people who already trust you to say so.
Generate your button now and paste it where they already spend time. According to Search Engine Journal, readers have already chosen 345,000+ preferred sources — make sure you aren't left behind.
If you want to keep earning those preferred picks, it helps to publish the kind of fresh, consistent content readers come back for, and that's exactly what Contentpen is made to help you do. Try our AI blog writer to generate SEO & AEO optimized content now!