TL;DR Summary:
Global Launch Now: Google Preferred Sources now works in all supported languages for customized Top Stories.Three-Step Setup: Search news topic, star Top Stories, add favorite outlets to prioritize them.Double Click Boost: Preferred sites appear twice as often, doubling user click-through rates.How do I set up Google Preferred Sources in my language?
Google just rolled out Preferred Sources globally for all supported languages. This means you can now customize your Top Stories results no matter what language you search in.
The feature launched in December 2025, but only worked for English content. Now it works in every language Google supports.
What Google Preferred Sources Does for Your Search Results
Google Preferred Sources lets you choose which news outlets appear more often in your Top Stories. When you mark a site as preferred, Google shows it more frequently when you search for news topics.
The results speak for themselves. Readers are twice as likely to click through to a site after marking it as a Preferred Source. Over 200,000 unique sites have already been selected, ranging from small local blogs to major international news organizations.
How to Set Up Google Preferred Sources in Any Language
Setting up your preferred sources takes three simple steps:
- Search for any news topic that triggers Top Stories results
- Click the star icon (⭐) next to “Top Stories”
- Search for your favorite outlets and add them to your list
Once you add sources, refresh your search results. You’ll see more content from your selected sites in both “Top Stories” and a new section called “From your sources.”
Google updated their help documentation to include buttons and instructions in numerous languages. The star icon and setup process work the same way regardless of which language you use.
Why Publishers Should Care About Google Preferred Sources
Publishers now have a direct path to increased visibility. When readers mark your site as preferred, they see your content twice as often in Top Stories results.
This creates a 100% increase in click-through rates from those users. The math is simple: more visibility plus engaged readers equals more traffic to your site.
To take advantage of this opportunity, your site needs to meet Google’s technical standards for Top Stories inclusion. Page speed, mobile optimization, and Core Web Vitals all affect whether Google considers your site eligible for news features.
Screpy helps publishers monitor their Top Stories visibility and track technical SEO issues that could hurt their news placement. With Google Preferred Sources driving twice the click-through rates, you need to ensure your site performs well when that extra traffic arrives. Screpy’s unified dashboard tracks your site’s Core Web Vitals, uptime, and technical health so you don’t waste the Preferred Sources opportunity with poor user experience.
