How to add Google's Preferred Sources button to your site (2026)

. It's async, so it won't block rendering. Loading it once globally is cleaner than dropping it into individual templates and avoids double-loading on pages that already include it.","url":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button#step-2"},{"@type":"HowToStep","position":3,"name":"Place the button where a reader finishes the piece","text":"Drop the container where you want the control to appear: . The library hydrates it into the live button. Put it at the end of an article, in the byline area, or in a footer callout — a spot a satisfied reader reaches, not a banner over the headline of someone who hasn't read a word yet. On dark backgrounds, add data-theme=\"dark\" to the div so the button stays legible.","url":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button#step-3"},{"@type":"HowToStep","position":4,"name":"Use the deeplink where the script can't run","text":"The JavaScript button only works on pages you control the markup for. For your newsletter, social posts, or a CMS that strips scripts, use the plain deeplink instead: a normal link to https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com (swap in your domain). It opens the same 'Add as a preferred source on Google' confirmation. This is the version that travels — it's how you put the ask in front of readers who are not currently on your site.","url":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button#step-4"},{"@type":"HowToStep","position":5,"name":"Give readers a concrete reason to tap it","text":"'Make us a preferred source' means nothing to a reader; a reason does. Pair the button with one line of value — 'Get our reporting first in your Google feed' — and place the ask at a moment of goodwill, right after a piece someone clearly valued rather than as a sitewide nag. The button rewards an existing relationship; it will not manufacture one, so it converts in proportion to how much a reader already wanted more of you.","url":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button#step-5"},{"@type":"HowToStep","position":6,"name":"Push the deeplink to the audience you already reach","text":"The button on your page can only ever reach people who found their way to your page — the readers you're trying to grow are somewhere else. So carry the deeplink outward: a line in every newsletter, a pinned post and periodic reminders on the social feeds where your audience already follows you, a note in your email signature. The people most likely to tap are the ones who already chose to hear from you elsewhere, and the on-site button never reaches them.","url":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button#step-6"},{"@type":"HowToStep","position":7,"name":"Measure whether it is actually moving anything","text":"Treat this as an experiment, not a set-and-forget install. Watch Search Console for Discover and Top Stories impressions and clicks on the pages carrying the button, and note any lift after you start promoting the deeplink. Track it as one input to a healthier traffic mix — preferred-source amplification plus your owned and native channels — not as a standalone fix. AI referral traffic is still a low single-digit share of most publishers' visits, so size your expectations accordingly.","url":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button#step-7"}]},{"@type":"FAQPage","inLanguage":"en-US","isAccessibleForFree":true,"mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I add Google's Preferred Sources button to my website?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"First confirm your publication is selectable in Google's source-preferences tool — the button surfaces existing eligibility, it doesn't grant it. Then load Google's publisher library once in your page head (the async news.google.com/swg/js/v1/publisher.js script) and drop the button container div where you want it, typically at the end of an article. For places a script can't run — email, social, a locked-down CMS — use the plain deeplink to google.com/preferences/source with your domain instead."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is the Preferred Sources button free, and do I need Google News approval?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The button and its embed code are free, published through Google's Search Central documentation. There's no separate 'button approval,' but your site does need to be eligible to be selected as a preferred source in the first place — check Google's source-preferences tool. If your publication isn't selectable there, installing the button won't change that; the button only exposes an eligibility you already have."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Does the Preferred Sources button actually increase traffic?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It can, but as an amplifier rather than a fix. Google reports that results from a reader's preferred sources get clicked about twice as often, and the mechanic now spans Top Stories, Discover, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. But a reader only marks a source they already trust, so the button's yield is capped by how strong your audience relationship is. It's most effective layered on top of owned channels like email and native social, not as a standalone traffic play."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What's the difference between the button and the Preferred Sources deeplink?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"They open the same 'add as a preferred source' confirmation, but they run in different places. The button is a JavaScript element that hydrates on pages you control the markup for and returns the reader to their spot after they add you. The deeplink is a plain URL to google.com/preferences/source?q=yourdomain that works anywhere a link works — your newsletter, social posts, email signature — which makes it the way to reach readers who aren't currently on your site."}}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://kompozy.io"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How-to","item":"https://kompozy.io/how-to"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to add Google's Preferred Sources button to your site (2026)","item":"https://kompozy.io/how-to/add-google-preferred-sources-button"}]},{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".speakable-intro",".speakable-faq"]}]}

Last verified · 2026-08-29 · by Moe Ameen

The steps

1. Confirm your site is eligible before you embed anything. The button surfaces an existing eligibility, it does not create one. Search for your publication in Google's source-preferences tool first; if you can't be selected there, the button will render but do nothing. Preferred Sources works at the root-domain (example.com) or subdomain (news.example.com) level, not a subdirectory — so a blog living at example.com/news can't be marked on its own. Fix eligibility before you spend time on placement.
2. Load the Google publisher library once in your <head>. Add the script a single time, site-wide — in your theme, application shell, or a small plugin, ideally in the document head so it's present on every page: <script async src="https://news.google.com/swg/js/v1/publisher.js"></script>. It's async, so it won't block rendering. Loading it once globally is cleaner than dropping it into individual templates and avoids double-loading on pages that already include it.
3. Place the button where a reader finishes the piece. Drop the container where you want the control to appear: <div google-add-preferred-source-btn></div>. The library hydrates it into the live button. Put it at the end of an article, in the byline area, or in a footer callout — a spot a satisfied reader reaches, not a banner over the headline of someone who hasn't read a word yet. On dark backgrounds, add data-theme="dark" to the div so the button stays legible.
4. Use the deeplink where the script can't run. The JavaScript button only works on pages you control the markup for. For your newsletter, social posts, or a CMS that strips scripts, use the plain deeplink instead: a normal link to https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=example.com (swap in your domain). It opens the same 'Add as a preferred source on Google' confirmation. This is the version that travels — it's how you put the ask in front of readers who are not currently on your site.
5. Give readers a concrete reason to tap it. 'Make us a preferred source' means nothing to a reader; a reason does. Pair the button with one line of value — 'Get our reporting first in your Google feed' — and place the ask at a moment of goodwill, right after a piece someone clearly valued rather than as a sitewide nag. The button rewards an existing relationship; it will not manufacture one, so it converts in proportion to how much a reader already wanted more of you.
6. Push the deeplink to the audience you already reach. The button on your page can only ever reach people who found their way to your page — the readers you're trying to grow are somewhere else. So carry the deeplink outward: a line in every newsletter, a pinned post and periodic reminders on the social feeds where your audience already follows you, a note in your email signature. The people most likely to tap are the ones who already chose to hear from you elsewhere, and the on-site button never reaches them.
7. Measure whether it is actually moving anything. Treat this as an experiment, not a set-and-forget install. Watch Search Console for Discover and Top Stories impressions and clicks on the pages carrying the button, and note any lift after you start promoting the deeplink. Track it as one input to a healthier traffic mix — preferred-source amplification plus your owned and native channels — not as a standalone fix. AI referral traffic is still a low single-digit share of most publishers' visits, so size your expectations accordingly.

Common gotchas

• Embedding the button without checking eligibility. If your publication doesn't appear in Google's source-preferences tool, the button renders but adds nothing — verify selectability first, then install.
• Pointing it at a subdirectory. Preferred Sources operates on root domains and subdomains only, so a section at example.com/news can't be marked independently; the button has to represent the whole domain or subdomain.
• Loading the publisher.js script on every template separately. Include it once site-wide in the head — duplicate loads are wasteful and can double-render the button on pages that already have it.
• Treating the button as a traffic fix. It amplifies an audience relationship you already have; a site with few loyal readers will see few taps. It's a multiplier on loyalty, not a substitute for building it.
• Only using the on-page button. The deeplink is the higher-leverage version because it reaches readers off your site — skipping it in your newsletter and social feeds leaves the biggest opportunity on the table.
• Nagging with a sitewide banner. Placed over unread content it annoys strangers and converts no one; the button belongs at the end of a piece a reader clearly valued.

Where Kompozy fits

Here's the ceiling this button hits, and it isn't the code. A reader taps 'preferred source' for a publication they recognize on sight and already want more of — a stranger scrolls past it. So the button's real yield is set by two things it can't produce itself: how consistently recognizable you are everywhere a reader meets you, and how far the deeplink ask travels beyond the one page it's embedded on. Both of those are distribution outputs, and distribution is what Kompozy is — a full AI content generation and multi-platform publishing engine spanning [18 output formats](/glossary/output-buckets) across the eight social platforms plus blog and email. The recognition half: every post, short, carousel, and newsletter Kompozy generates is governed by one [Persona Brief](/glossary/persona-brief) with [HyperFrames](/glossary/hyperframes) locking your look pixel-exact and a consistent avatar fronting the [Persona Shorts](/glossary/persona-shorts), so the identity a reader has to recognize before they'll tap the button is the same on Instagram, YouTube, and their inbox — not five different-looking accounts a reader can't connect to the site they're being asked to prefer. The reach half: the deeplink is the version that leaves your site, and Kompozy is how it gets in front of people who aren't on it — brief the engine to fold your 'mark us preferred' line and link into the week's newsletter and native feed posts, then let [Autopilot](/glossary/autopilot) schedule and publish that spread from one queue behind a per-post review gate, so the ask reaches your off-site audience on a steady rhythm instead of once. It won't write your embed snippet or grant your Google eligibility — this page's manual steps stay yours — but it builds the recognizable, well-distributed presence that turns a rendered button into actual taps. Creator ($49/mo for 2,500 credits) fits a solo publisher keeping one brand identity across a couple of channels; Pro ($299/mo for 18,000 credits) suits a newsroom or agency running the identity-and-deeplink push across every surface at full cadence; Enterprise is custom.

Frequently asked questions

Related tutorials

• How to recover website traffic lost to AI search (2026)
• How to diversify your traffic away from Google search (2026)
• How to make content visible to AI search (2026)
• How to optimize a page to get cited by AI search (2026)

← All how-to guides · Get Started