What are Google Preferred Sources?

Preferred Sources is a Google Search personalization setting. You pick the publishers you trust in Google's source preferences tool, and Google then shows those sites more prominently for you — inside Top Stories, and increasingly inside AI Mode and AI Overviews. It changes your own results, not everyone's rankings.

Does adding a preferred source change Google rankings for other people?

No. Preferred Sources is per-account personalization. Adding a site raises how often you see that site's coverage; it does not raise that site's position in anyone else's results and it is not a sitewide ranking factor.

How do I add Smart Money Media as a preferred source?

Open Google's source preferences tool, type smartmoneymedia.org in the search box, tick the checkbox next to Smart Money Media, then return to Google Search. Our AEO, GEO, PR, and zero-click research will then surface more often in your Top Stories and AI answers.

Can I remove a preferred source later?

Yes. Go back to the same source preferences page and untick any site under 'Your sources'. There is no limit on how often you can change the list, and removing a source takes effect immediately.

Which sites are eligible to be preferred sources?

Google lists sites that publish regularly enough to appear in news-style surfaces. Google notes that sources which are not updated regularly may become unavailable in the tool, so eligibility follows publishing cadence rather than an application process.

Make Smart Money Media a preferred source

Google lets you choose the publishers you want to see more of. Sources you select get a "preferred" marker and show up more often in your Top Stories, AI Mode, and AI Overviews. It takes about 30 seconds and you can undo it any time.

Make Smart Money Media a preferred source on Google

How to add us in three steps

1. Open Google's source preferences
Use the button above, or go to google.com/preferences/source while signed in to your Google account.
2. Search and tick the box
Type smartmoneymedia.org in the 'Search by name or website' field, then tick the checkbox beside Smart Money Media.
3. Return to Search
Our coverage now carries a 'preferred' marker and appears more often in your Top Stories, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.

What it changes — and what it doesn't

Preferred Sources is personalization, not a ranking lever. Adding a site changes what you see; it does not move that site up in anyone else's results. That distinction matters if you work in SEO: treat it as a direct-audience loyalty signal, closer to a newsletter subscribe than to a backlink.

Where it does compound is repeat exposure. Readers who add a publisher see that publisher's answers surfaced again and again — including inside AI Overviews, where the citation slot is scarce. For a brand competing on generative engine optimization, that repetition is the point.

Frequently asked questions

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