Google is folding its Preferred Sources labels into AI Overviews and the new AI Mode, aiming to make machine‑generated answers feel more trustworthy. The move places vetted publishers directly beside the summary, while a hover‑only badge remains for now. Google says users click Preferred links twice as often as standard results, a metric it hopes will boost engagement across mobile and desktop platforms.

Beyond labels, Google is amplifying original reporting by surfacing a more prominent carousel of articles beneath each AI Overview, mirroring the Top Stories layout. The company also widens its “Highly Cited” tags to flag pieces that other outlets frequently reference. This shift follows an I/O overhaul and earnings‑call remarks that AI‑powered Search now drives a sizable slice of growth for news consumers.

Critics note the Preferred badge still hides behind a hover, limiting its visibility compared with the AI summary itself. Nonetheless, surfacing trusted sites directly inside AI answers marks a clear effort to preserve publisher traffic as generative results dominate screens. Google’s tweaks signal that the search giant intends to keep human‑curated content front‑and‑center in search results amid its AI rollout.