Overview
- Google is rolling Preferred Sources into AI Overviews and AI Mode so links from sites a user has flagged will be visibly labeled inside AI-generated answers and link panels.
- The company is expanding its
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- badge to more articles and is launching a prominent carousel for timely reporting with a promised carousel for forum and social perspectives coming soon.
- Google, which announced the rollout on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, said people have selected more than 345,000 unique Preferred Sources and that users are roughly twice as likely to click links from those sources.
- Users add Preferred Sources in Search personalization settings so AI responses reflect individual trust choices rather than generic site rankings.
- Independent reporting notes Google may later use Preferred Sources as a ranking signal inside AI features, but that change is described as a future step rather than a current global setting.
- Publishers see potential traffic gains from highlighted links, yet the update follows earlier May changes that have already raised concerns about how AI summaries can shift referral flows and source attribution.