Google published an embeddable Preferred Sources button on 20 August 2026, documented on Google Search Central and last updated that same day. It is a loyalty lever, not a discovery lever. It changes what a reader sees only after that reader has already chosen you. Google says more than 600,000 unique sources have been selected.
What this covers
- What Google actually shipped on 20 August 2026
- What Preferred Sources does not do
- The adoption numbers, and who owns each one
- Why this is a loyalty lever, not a discovery lever
- What to do instead for cold discovery
This is a technical summary. The full guide — with the tables and worked examples — is on our site: *Google Preferred Sources: The Reader-Controlled AEO Lever*.
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