Google’s Preferred Sources feature now works in every supported language, not just English. “Preferred Sources is now rolling out globally in all supported languages,” Google announced on its blog this morning. “This feature gives you more control over the news you see on Search by letting you choose the outlets and sites you want to appear more often in Top Stories,” the company explained. Back in December, Google launched Preferred Sources worldwide, but it was limited to English. Now, it’s available in all supported languages across the globe.
Stats. Google shared some notable data points, including: “Readers are twice as likely to click through to a site after marking it as a Preferred Source” and “People have already selected over 200,000 unique sites — from niche local blogs to global news desks.”
Preferred Sources. With Preferred Sources, searchers can star publications in the Top Stories area of Google Search. Google then uses that preference signal to surface more content from those starred outlets. The feature entered beta in June, launched in the U.S. and India in August, and is now being rolled out worldwide.
How it works. You click the star icon to the right of the Top Stories label in the search results. From there, you can pick your preferred sources, as long as those sites are actively publishing new content. Google will then begin showing you more recent coverage from your chosen sites in Top Stories “when they have new articles or posts that are relevant to your search,” Google said. You can find additional information over here.
Why we care. Earning traffic from Google Search is challenging…