09:10Edward Sturm · Podcast
How to Build Backlinks for a Brand New Website (From Zero Authority)
A daily SEO podcast reads through a Reddit thread on link building for a brand-new site and adds real-world context to the best answers.
January 29thThe argument in one line.
Google's Preferred Sources feature just became a global ranking signal that any publisher can influence directly by getting readers to click a button, and the highest-leverage move right now is building a custom, well-placed button before most webmasters even know the feature exists.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You run a blog, company blog, or publication and want a direct, user-controlled lever over Google Discover, Top Stories, and AI Overview visibility.
- You're an SEO or agency operator looking for a new, underused tactic to pitch to clients before competitors catch on.
- You build or manage a WordPress/Elementor site and want a copy-pasteable way to add a converting call-to-action.
SKIP IF…
- Your content lives entirely on subdirectory pages of someone else's domain (e.g. a hosted blog platform) — subdirectories aren't eligible for source preferences.
- You're looking for a technical deep dive on how Google's ranking algorithm weighs the signal — this is a practical how-to, not an algorithm breakdown.
The full version, fast.
Google's Preferred Sources feature went global on May 1: readers can now flag specific publishers they want to see more of, and Google's own documentation confirms that being a preferred source boosts visibility in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Google also shipped a pop-up version of the "add as preferred source" button so clicking it no longer sends readers off-site. The host shows how he built custom-styled buttons for his footer, blog post endings, and high-engagement moments, and pulls Google's own documentation to explain the mechanics: preferred status doesn't override relevance (Discover still favors fresh, interest-matched content), and only domain-level or subdomain-level sites are eligible, not subdirectories. The practical move is to hand Google's documentation to an AI coding assistant, generate a styled button, and place it where readers are already convinced.
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00:00 – 00:53
01 · Cold open: Preferred Sources goes global
Edward opens hyped about Google's Preferred Sources feature going global on May 1, explaining it lets users flag which publishers they want to see more often in Top Stories and Discover.
00:53 – 02:19
02 · What preferred-source status unlocks
Google's own documentation confirms preferred-source status boosts visibility in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Edward shows the older-style button Search Engine Journal already runs in its sidebar.
02:19 – 04:06
03 · The new pop-up button + where to place it
Google shipped a pop-up version of the button so clicking it no longer sends readers off-site. Edward walks through the placements he chose on his own site: footer, end of blog posts, and right after a strong paragraph.
04:06 – 05:02
04 · Almost nobody knows about this yet
Edward argues webmasters are slow to move and few people will catch onto this for years, making it a rare window of low-competition opportunity.
05:02 – 06:38
05 · Building the button with AI + why relevance still rules
He explains handing Google's documentation page to an AI coding assistant to generate a styled button, then pivots back to the Search Engine Journal article: preferred-source status doesn't override relevance, Discover still favors fresh, interest-matched content.
06:38 – 07:22
06 · Eligibility: domain-level only
Google's documentation states only domain-level and subdomain-level sites are eligible for source preferences; subdirectories are excluded, which has implications for bottom-of-funnel landing pages.
07:22 – 08:22
07 · Compact Keywords pitch + guest testimonial
Edward pitches his Compact Keywords course on bottom-of-funnel SEO landing pages, playing a clip of a guest testimonial about how bottom-of-funnel content has kept sites ranking for over a decade.
08:22 – 08:54
08 · Sign-off
Edward closes out episode 1,145 of the show, thanking YouTube and podcast listeners.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Google's Preferred Sources feature went from a little-known setting to a global SEO signal on May 1, and it now visibly influences Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.
- Any website can become a preferred-source candidate just by publishing on some regular cadence — a company blog with a handful of posts already qualifies.
- Google's newest version of the preferred-sources button opens as an on-page pop-up instead of redirecting visitors off-site, removing the friction that used to kill conversions.
- The highest-converting placement for a custom preferred-source button is directly after your strongest paragraph, right when a reader is most persuaded.
- Only domain-level and subdomain-level URLs are eligible for source preferences; individual subdirectories like a /blog path can't be added.
- Preferred-source status doesn't override relevance: Google Discover still requires fresh content that matches a reader's interests before it will surface a preferred source more often.
- A custom-styled preferred-source button can out-convert Google's stock HTML button because it can be designed and placed to match the page it lives on.
- Short, low-effort bottom-of-funnel landing pages built to convert buyers can outperform long informational blog posts that take far more resources to produce.
Preferred Sources is a live ranking lever most sites haven't touched yet.
WHAT TO LEARN
Google's Preferred Sources went global on May 1 and now feeds Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode, and the publishers who win it are the ones who build a well-placed, custom button before the feature becomes common knowledge.
01Cold open: Preferred Sources goes global
- Preferred Sources became a global signal on May 1, and Google's own documentation confirms it boosts visibility in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.
- Any site qualifies with a modest, regular publishing cadence — you don't need to formally sign up or hit a traffic threshold.
02What preferred-source status unlocks
- Google's older button sent readers off-site to a separate preferences page, which added friction and likely cost conversions.
03The new pop-up button + where to place it
- The current version opens as an on-page pop-up, so readers can toggle a site as preferred without ever leaving the page they're reading.
- The best placement for a custom button is right after your strongest, most-convincing paragraph, when a reader's trust is highest.
- Too many calls to action in one place causes decision fatigue, so pick a small number of high-intent placements rather than cluttering navigation.
04Almost nobody knows about this yet
- This is genuinely underused: most webmasters move slowly, so acting now is a low-competition window rather than a saturated tactic.
05Building the button with AI + why relevance still rules
- You can hand Google's own documentation page to an AI coding assistant and get back working, styled button code for your specific CMS.
- Preferred-source status doesn't override relevance — Google Discover still requires fresh, interest-matched content before it favors a preferred source.
06Eligibility: domain-level only
- Only domain-level and subdomain-level URLs are eligible for source preferences; a subdirectory like example.com/blog cannot be added on its own.
07Compact Keywords pitch + guest testimonial
- Short, conversion-focused bottom-of-funnel landing pages can outperform long informational posts that took far more time and resources to write.
Terms worth knowing.
- Preferred Sources
- A Google feature that lets a signed-in user pick specific publishers they want to see more often in search surfaces like Top Stories, AI Overviews, and Google Discover.
- Google Discover
- A recommender feed built into the Google app and mobile browser homepage that surfaces fresh, relevant articles based on a user's interests and preferred sources.
- AI Overviews
- The AI-generated summary Google shows above traditional search results for many queries, citing a handful of sources underneath.
- Source Preferences Tool
- The Google settings page (google.com/preferences/source) where users search for and toggle on the publishers they want prioritized across Google's surfaces.
- Bottom-of-funnel SEO landing page
- A short page, roughly 400 words, built to convert a reader who is already close to buying, rather than to rank for broad informational searches.
Things they pointed at.
00:02linkSearch Engine Journal: "Google's Preferred Sources Is Now A Global SEO Signal" (Roger Montti)
02:58linkGoogle Search Central: "Help your readers find your site through preferred sources in Google Search"
04:35toolElementor Pro, WordPress, WP Code plugin
Lines you could clip.
00:01
“This is absolutely major.”
02:25
“Google has a new feature where the preferred sources button opens in a pop up... you don't have to leave the page or the website that you are on.”
04:14
“This is a new feature from Google that so many webmasters don't know about, which is absolutely crazy.”
06:52
“Only domain level and subdomain level sites are eligible to appear in the source preferences tool. Subdirectories are not eligible.”
08:07
“Bottom of the funnel doesn't die.”
Word for word.
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This is absolutely major. Everybody needs to do this right after this podcast if you have not done it already.
If you have not heard of preferred sources with Google, this is from search engine journal. As of May 1, Google's preferred sources is now a global SEO signal. Google's preferred sources feature gives users a way to choose specific publishers they wanna see more often in top stories and other search surfaces like Google Discover.
Preferred sources is a direct user controlled signal that works alongside Google's ranking systems to up rank websites users have indicated they want to see more of. The effect on Google Discover is that users will see more of their preferred sources in their feed. The preferred sources feature is one of the few ways that publishers and SEOs can indirectly influence Google's algorithm to show their sites more often to users.
So Google's own documentation doesn't say that if you are listed as a preferred source, you will be shown more in Google Discover, but it does say that if you are listed as a preferred source, you will be shown more in top stories, AI overviews, AI mode, and maybe Google Discover too, according to Search Engine Journal.
But this is what's so major now is this is a new feature, and I just spent the last several hours customizing how this looks on my own website, figuring out where to put these buttons. So prior to this announcement, you would have a button on your site that would say, like, you could well, you could write whatever you want, and it would say, add search engine journal as a preferred source on Google.
And you actually see this in search engine journal's sidebar. It says add search engine journal as a preferred source on Google. They made it look really nice.
It's really big text. They don't want people to miss this. And then you click it, and it takes you off-site to source preferences where you can toggle on search engine journal so it is a preferred source, and you can find different websites here to add preferred sources.
You don't need to sign your website up to this. If you have a website where you're publishing, our vibe coded SaaS where we put out company announcements on our blog, is listed in preferred sources. And we put out, like, a small handful of posts.
So there's nothing special you need to do for this. Just have some cadence of posting. If you wanna see if you're even eligible to become a source preference, just go to the source preferences page.
It's google.com/preferences/source, and you can see if your website is there. So people can go to this page.
They can add their own preferred sources, find websites to add. But if you have this button, it just makes it really easy. But the thing is it takes you off-site.
And so Google has a new feature where the preferred sources button opens in a pop up. And that way, you don't have to leave the page or the website that you are on. It doesn't open in a tab.
It opens as a pop up. You click it right there, and you're still within the content that you are looking at. And with this button, what's super cool is you can put it in multiple places on your site and customize the way that it looks.
You can use Google's normal button. Google will just give you HTML to use and it has its own button. But that's no fun.
And honestly, you can make a way higher converting button if you do it yourself. And maybe you wanna style the button for different areas of your website. So right now, I have a button in my footer.
And in my footer, says, make me preferred on Google. And I have a Google icon. And then at the bottom of blog posts, it says make me a preferred source on Google with the Google icon, and I have the Google blue color as a background, and when you hover over it, it turns to the Google green color, and it's really smooth.
The hover effect is really smooth. The button moves up. I made the button in the footer look different to match my footer.
There's a hover effect on this as well. I'm also thinking about adding it to my heading navigation, but, you know, if you have too many call to actions, then people just have decision fatigue and they don't take any action. Another place that you can put it, and this is what's so awesome.
Let's say you drop an absolute banger in one of your blog posts or something. Put it right after that banger that you drop. So people are reading, they're getting hyped up, they're they're like, wow.
This blog post is sharing such great information. Put the preferred source button right there to make it really easy when people are really loving you to just add you as a preferred source. This is a new feature from Google that so many webmasters don't know about, which is absolutely crazy.
I don't think a lot of people will know about this honestly for the coming years because webmasters are slow to move. I'm so hyped about this, about making the buttons look cool, and it's really easy. Google gives you documentation.
Help your readers find your site through preferred sources in Google search. Copy this entire page. Give it to Claude.
Tell Claude, your CMS, your page builder, whatever it is you're using to make your website. I'm using Elementor Pro and WordPress and the WP code plugin, which actually I didn't really use that much of. For this, I mostly just use Elementor Pro.
And Claude's gonna tell you exactly how to style some sweet buttons. You can add color changing effects. I was experimenting with having the Google blue, red, yellow, and green going around the border with an animation.
And it looked kinda clean, but ultimately, I just liked the solid background for the button more. This is back to the search engine journal article. This is from Richard Monty who is great.
I'm always sharing his stuff on the podcast. Preferred sources selections don't override relevance. A publisher must still publish content that aligns with the user's interests.
Google Discover is a recommender system that shows users web pages that are relevant to a user's interest, especially favoring fresh content. Google's February 2026 Discover core update documentation made it clear that source preferences play a role in which sites are shown to users in Discover. Preferred sources functions as a way for users to signal which sites they would like to see more of, a signal that works alongside other ranking factors.
The feature is one of the ways SEOs and publishers should use to build an audience. Publishers can guide users to select them through buttons and links, and this is available globally. But, yeah, I think it's so exciting that this literally affects AI mode and AI overviews.
Geo agencies need to be selling this so much. Come on. Top stories as well.
This is so wild. The opportunities to put this to embed this into your content after getting readers or viewers hyped up.
I love it. So please go and do this. It's super easy to set up, super easy to figure out.
Again, you can just copy all the documentation into your LLM of choice. And it's not just traditional publishers.
If you are a brand with a company blog, you can use that too. Oh, and this affects your whole website. It affects your whole website.
Website. In fact, it literally says in the documentation, only domain level and subdomain level sites are eligible to appear in the source preferences tool.
Subdirectories are not eligible. It literally says that.
So this could mean bottom of funnel SEO landing pages, all sorts of content on your site. Come on.
I hope you're as hyped as I am. That's everything that I got for you on this episode of the show. I'm recording this at a cafe at a lovely, crazy, crowded cafe.
Tons of people around me. I got my coffee. If you wanna save years learning how to do search engine optimization that makes money, that literally targets people looking for what you sell, People who want to become users, who want to buy from you, become customers, who wanna make a discovery call with you, and then how to target them with content that is most likely to convert them.
Not 4,000 word informational blog posts that take forever to write, take a ton of resources to write, and do a terrible job of converting easy 400 word bottom of funnel SEO landing pages made to convert these people.
If you want to learn this, I have a thirteen and a half hour course, compact keywords at compactkeywords.com that you will honestly, you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it so much.
Here's a testimonial from a really, really awesome SEO. Sites that I built over eleven years ago and how steady the rankings have been Dude, the bottom of the funnel. It's the bottom of the funnel, man.
Bottom of the funnel doesn't die.
Exactly. Yeah. And I'm I'm I took your compact keyword course as well.
Great great program especially for the price. Thanks so much. Stuff.
Yeah. I'm a big believer in bottom of the funnel keywords as well. It has it's the sole reason I've survived with SEO with all these different sites.
Copy keywords.com.
This is everything for episode 1,145 of the podcast. One thousand one hundred forty five crazy days in a row doing this show.
If you watch this on YouTube, thank you so much for watching. If you listened on Spotify or Apple Podcast, thank you so much for listening. And I will talk to you again tomorrow.
Bye.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Edward Sturm opens hyped: Google's Preferred Sources feature, once a quiet setting almost nobody used, became a global SEO signal on May 1 and now visibly influences Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. He spent the hours before recording customizing exactly where to put the button on his own site.
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
07:47product
“I have a thirteen and a half hour course, compact keywords at compactkeywords.com”
Soft-pitched near the end after establishing credibility with a played guest-testimonial clip; ties directly back to the episode's own thesis (short bottom-of-funnel pages convert) rather than reading as a generic sponsor break.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
Visual structure at a glance.
