Google announced that Preferred Sources is coming to AI Overviews and AI Mode, alongside new article carousels and an expansion of the “Highly Cited” label across search results.
Users have now selected more than 345,000 sources through Google’s Preferred Sources feature, up from roughly 90,000 when the company expanded the tool globally.
Preferred Sources In AI Overviews & AI Mode
When Preferred Sources launched, labels only appeared in Top Stories. Google then expanded the feature to all languages in April.
Starting today, those labels will also appear on links inside AI Overviews and AI Mode responses. Duncan Osborn, Product Manager for Google Search, said users will “be able to easily spot links in AI responses from the sources you’ve already selected.”
Google says people click through to Preferred Sources at twice the rate of other links. The company didn’t share how that metric was measured or whether the comparison controls for user intent.
Google notes that websites can encourage visitors to select them as a preferred source, and points to its documentation page for tips on how to do so.
CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned a related source-preference feature during his Decoder interview, describing a system where sites a user subscribes to get treated as preferred sources and calling it “a new change which we didn’t have before.”
Article & Perspectives Carousels
The announcement also includes new carousel formats for some search results on developing topics.
For some queries about evolving stories, you will start seeing a carousel of article links with brief context, highlighting any Preferred Sources in the mix. Google says this will “help make timely articles more visible on a wider range of queries.”
A second carousel is coming dedicated to firsthand perspectives, surfacing content from forums and social media. Google noted that users will “soon see” this format, suggesting it hasn’t fully launched yet.
Highly Cited Label Expansion
The “Highly Cited” badge is also expanding to appear on more web article links in standard search results. The label identifies articles that other stories have frequently referenced, pointing users toward primary reporting. It originally launched in 2022 for Top Stories on mobile.
Today’s update adds a second label. The search results page will now also indicate when an article “explicitly references a Highly Cited source.” That means users could see both the original reporting and which follow-up coverage cites it, all within the same set of results. The expansion applies to standard search results, not specifically to AI Mode or AI Overviews.
Why This Matters
Preferred Sources is now one of the few user-controlled settings that can affect which sources stand out inside AI-generated responses. For websites, the feature creates a direct connection between audience loyalty and AI search visibility.
The 345,000 selected sources represent almost four times the figure Google reported in December. That growth happened as Google expanded Preferred Sources to all languages and publishers began promoting the feature to their audiences.
The Highly Cited expansion gives original reporting another visibility label in search results. The two-directional version, where Google also flags articles referencing a Highly Cited source, makes citation relationships more visible and could benefit publishers who consistently attribute their sourcing.
Looking Ahead
The Preferred Sources labels in AI Overviews and AI Mode are rolling out now. Google hasn’t shared a timeline for the perspectives carousel featuring forum and social media content.
Google’s John Mueller recently addressed whether Preferred Sources could override quality signals, clarifying that the feature works alongside ranking systems rather than overriding them.
Featured Image: Google
