FREE TOOL · DAY 1 OF 7
Preferred Sources Button
A free WordPress plugin that gets your readers to tell Google: show me more of this site.
Hey {{first_name|there}},
Welcome to a little experiment. For the next 7 days I'm sending you one free tool a day. No pitch at the end, no catch. Just something you can put to work the same afternoon.
Let's start with the one I'd install first.
Google quietly added a follow button, and almost nobody has switched it on
It's called Preferred Sources. When a reader clicks it while signed into Google, they're telling Google they want more of your site. From then on Google shows them more of your work in Top Stories, AI Overviews and AI Mode. It's the closest thing Google has to a follow button.
Being straight with you: this doesn't lift your rankings across the board. It personalises results for the individual reader who picked you. So it's the good kind of visibility, aimed at the people who already like what you publish.
Why the plugin exists
Google's button only shows to the right visitors, and it has to hide itself when it can't render. Fiddly to wire up by hand. So I built a free WordPress plugin that handles all of it:
Drops Google's official button straight into your posts
Shows it only to signed-in Google users on eligible sites, and hides itself otherwise
Lets you place it before your first heading, after a few paragraphs, at the end, or with a shortcode
Stays light: no jQuery, no tracking, no layout shift
The outcome: your regular readers get a one-click way to say "more of this, please," and Google listens the next time they search.
It's free, GPL licensed, works on WordPress 5.8 and up, and there's no signup.
Want the 5-minute background on why this matters first? I wrote it up here: Google Now Lets Readers Choose You.
Know someone who'd use this?
Forward this email to a friend or colleague who runs a site or a newsletter. This is exactly the kind of thing that's easy to miss and quick to switch on.
And I'd genuinely like to know: hit reply and tell me one site you'd add as a preferred source. I read every response.
Tomorrow, tool #2.
Talk soon,
Anthony
P.S. Installed it? Reply "done" and I'll make sure you don't miss the rest of the week.