Joe Maring / Android Authority
When we talk about Google Search in 2025, it’s usually not for a good reason. AI Overviews are more prevalent than ever, despite still not being particularly good. Google widely rolled out (the very flawed) AI Mode to users in May, and the traditional Google Search experience remains cluttered with ads and low-quality results.
This has made me (understandably) hesitant when Google launches a new feature for Search, but the company’s latest one — Preferred Sources — is incredible.
After soft-launching Preferred Sources as a Search Labs feature earlier this year, Google has just rolled it out widely to all users in the US and India. Preferred Sources allows you to tell Google which websites you prefer reading, customizing your Search results so links from those preferred websites appear higher up and more often.
On paper, it sounds almost too good to be true. However, after testing Preferred Sources myself, I’m here to tell you that it actually works, and it’s kind of a game-changer.
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How to get started with Preferred Sources
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Finding and using Preferred Sources is pretty simple, though if you don’t know where to look, it can be easy to miss. To get started, open Google Search and search for any recent news topic. I’m using the Pixel 10 for this example, but it could be anything.
Once you do this, simply do the following: After searching for a recent news topic in Google Search, tap the Preferred Sources icon to the right of the “Top Stories” section. Tap the search bar and type the name of a website or the site’s URL you want to add. Tap the check box next to your preferred site. Once selected, tap Reload results near the bottom of the screen.
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