A few months ago, Google rolled out a feature that I believe is a much bigger deal than it gets credit for: Preferred Sources.

The idea is refreshingly simple. When reading the news, you can now tell Google, "I want to see more from this site." Mark a publication as a preferred source, and its stories start showing up higher—and more frequently—in your Top Stories.

As AI Overviews increasingly decide which handful of sites get cited and which disappear entirely, this "who do you trust" signal is exactly the direction search is heading.

For readers, it’s a great feature. But for content creators, it is huge. For the first time in a long while, Google is handing a piece of ranking power directly back to your audience. Your most loyal readers can finally vote for you.

The Problem

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There is just one catch: almost nobody knows this setting exists. It is tucked away in a buried menu that most people have never opened. Even your biggest fans would have to go digging to add you.

That bugged me. So, I built a fix.

The Solution: MyPreferredSources.com

MyPreferredSources does exactly one thing. You type in your website, and it generates a small, copy-paste button. You can drop this button anywhere—your homepage, your newsletter, or the footer of every article.

When a reader clicks it, they are taken straight to Google's Preferred Sources screen with your site already filled in. One click for them, and it's done.

mypreferredsource.com
  • No accounts required.
  • No backend.
  • No tracking cookies.
  • No "free trial" that quietly turns into a $29/month subscription.

It runs entirely in your browser, and it is 100% free. Why? Because this is the kind of utility that should simply exist.

Why a Little Button Matters

So much of how search is changing feels like it's happening to publishers rather than with them. Preferred Sources is one of the rare levers that pulls in the opposite direction. It allows a real human to say, "This site is worth my attention," and forces Google to listen. I just wanted to make that lever as easy to pull as possible.

If you run a blog, a newsletter, a news site, or honestly any platform you want people to follow—go grab your button. It takes about thirty seconds, and it might be the easiest win you get all year.

👉 mypreferredsources.com

If you have ideas on how to make it better, let me know. I built this for people like us.

Emre Elbeyoglu