Google now emails you when readers favorite your site
Several SEOs got the new emails this week, and nobody can see the number inside Search Console yet.
Google has started emailing site owners to tell them how many people have added their site as a Preferred Source. Preferred Sources is the Google setting where a reader picks the sites they want to see more of in search results. Until now, site owners had no way of knowing how many people had picked them.
Glenn Gabe was first to flag it, saying he had just received a flurry of the emails from Google. Marie Haynes posted that she got one too. So the emails are going out to more than one site, though nobody has said how widely.
The number is not in Search Console
Gabe's main complaint is where the number lives. He wrote that it would be cool to see the count inside Google Search Console, the free Google tool that shows how your site performs in search. Right now it only arrives by email, so if the email goes to an address nobody checks, you miss it.
Why the count might matter
One SEO, Eli Schwartz, says sites chosen by users as preferred sources will see a visibility boost in AI Mode and AI Overviews, the AI written answers Google puts at the top of results. That is his claim, not something Google has stated in the sources here, so treat it as unconfirmed.
Cyrus SEO points at testing suggesting the effect shows up most on searches you already rank for. In other words, it is not a shortcut into rankings you do not have. It nudges what your existing fans see.
What to do
Check the email address tied to your Search Console account and look for a message from Google about Preferred Sources. If you have a mailing list or regular customers, you can ask them to add your site as a preferred source in Google. If you do nothing, nothing bad happens, this is a count, not a warning.
For context on how AI answers are already changing what shows up for your own brand name, see our earlier story.
Whoa, GSC is now telling site owners how many people are adding them as 'Preferred sources'.
When you encourage users to select your website as a "Preferred Source" in Google, the difference they see in search results can be significant
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.