KudoMetrics Google Preferred Sources Button – 40+ Custom Styles

Make it easy for your readers to add your website as a Preferred Source on Google. KudoMetrics Google Preferred Sources Button lets you add a Preferred Source button anywhere on your WordPress site. Use Google’s official button design or choose from 40+ custom styles, customize the text and appearance, and control exactly where the button appears. When a visitor clicks the button, Google’s Preferred Sources page opens, where they can choose your website as one of their preferred sources. Content from preferred sources is more likely to appear in that reader’s Top Stories, and Google says readers click through to a site about twice as often after selecting it (Google, Apr 2026). Key features

• Official Google button — Use Google’s official Preferred Sources button design
• 40+ custom button styles — Choose from a wide range of ready-made designs
• Live preview — See your button on desktop and mobile before publishing
• Custom button text — Change the label to suit your site and audience
• Custom site name — Insert your publication name with the {site_name} merge tag
• Supporting text — Add a short line above or below the button, shown always, on hover or from an info (i) icon
• Design customization — Adjust the icon, border or fill, text color, background, tooltip background, corner radius and font size
• 12 automatic placements — Top, middle or end of articles, below the post meta, near the table of contents, in the sidebar, above comments and more
• Floating button — Keep the button visible in a corner while visitors scroll
• Floating triggers — Show it immediately, after a time delay or after a set scroll percentage
• Device controls — Show automatic buttons on mobile and desktop, desktop only or mobile only, with separate text for each
• Multiple content types — Posts, pages, homepage/blog, category, tag and author pages, search results, archives and supported custom post types
• Per-post control — Enable or disable the button on individual posts
• Exclusion rules — Hide the button from specific posts, pages or categories
• Bulk controls — Enable or disable the button across existing posts at once
• Shortcode — [kmpsbg_preferred_source_button]
• Gutenberg block — Insert the button anywhere in the block editor
• Widget — Add the button to any sidebar
• Custom Google domain — Set the domain used in the Preferred Sources link
• Open in new tab — Choose whether the Google link opens in a new tab
• Cache-friendly — Automatically clears page cache in WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache and LiteSpeed Cache when you save settings, so changes show up right away.

40+ button styles

• Hero cards: Dark, Light, Blue, Soft grey, Floating, Frosted glass, Editorial serif, Luxe dark.
• Pills and chips: Dark pill, Compact pill, Duo pill, Toolbar pill, Accent chip, Small tag.
• Minimal and outline: Quiet minimal, Soft outline, Bold outline, Material outline, Minimal underline, Ghost / glass, Inline text link, Bordered card.
• Gradients: Gradient card, Aurora, Sunset, Gradient ring, Rainbow border card, Dark rainbow card.
• Banners and panels: Banner strip, Split bar, Stacked promo panel, Icon panel card, Accent rail.
• Badges and CTAs: Google-style light badge, Follow button, Soft CTA, Neon edge, Icon bubble, Elevated card, Custom solid button.

Placement options | Placement | Where the button appears | | --- | --- | | Beginning of article | Near the start of the article content | | Middle of article | After a paragraph you choose | | End of article | After the article content | | Below post meta | Under the author, date and read-time line | | Above table of contents | Before a detected table of contents | | Below table of contents | After a detected table of contents | | Below featured image | Under the featured image | | After first heading | After the first heading in the article | | Sidebar, below sharing | Below the “Share this article” box | | End of sidebar | Near the end of the sidebar | | Above comments | Before the comments section | | Floating corner | A fixed corner of the screen while scrolling | You can turn on more than one placement at a time. Post meta, table of contents and sidebar spots are found automatically, with no CSS selector needed. Detection depends on your theme, so use the block, shortcode or widget if a spot isn’t found. How it works

1. Choose your button design — Open Settings → Preferred Source and pick Google’s official button or one of 40+ custom styles. The live Desktop / Mobile preview shows the button before it goes live.
2. Customize your button — Personalize the button to fit your website:
3. Button name/text — For example, “Add as preferred on Google”
4. Site name — Add your website or publication name
5. Supporting text — Optionally add a short explanation above or below the button (always, on hover, or info icon) For custom styles, adjust colors, borders, background, font size, corner radius and icon visibility. With Mobile and desktop selected, you can set different text and tooltip behavior for each device.
6. Choose where it appears — Pick one or more of the 12 automatic placements, or add a floating button that stays visible while readers scroll.
7. Control who sees it — Choose where automatic placement should be enabled, including posts, pages, homepage/blog, categories, tags, search results, author pages, archives, and supported custom content types. You can also control visibility by device and exclude specific posts, pages, or categories. For complete manual control, use the shortcode, block, or widget.
8. Save and publish — Save your settings and the button appears according to your display rules. Readers click it, open Google’s Preferred Sources page and select your site as a Preferred Source.

Why use KudoMetrics Google Preferred Sources Button? Google provides the official button code (light or dark), a direct link and button images, but you have to add them to your theme yourself, and anything more takes custom development. KudoMetrics lets you control how the button looks, where it appears and who sees it, all from your WordPress dashboard.

• More design choice — Google's official button plus 40+ custom styles: hero cards, pills, outlines, gradients, banners and badges.
• Placement without code — 12 automatic positions, including below the post meta, around the table of contents and in the sidebar. Spots are detected automatically, and you can run several at once.
• A floating button that waits — Show it after a time delay or once readers scroll a set distance, so it appears when they're engaged.
• Copy that fits each screen — Separate desktop and mobile button text, plus supporting text shown always, on hover or behind an info icon.
• Show it only where it belongs — Choose content types, enable per post, exclude posts, pages or categories, and bulk-update existing posts.
• Light on your pages — Custom styles don't load Google's script, front-end files load only when the button is on, and saving settings clears popular page caches.
• Free and simple — No API key, no account, and your settings are kept if you deactivate the plugin.

Before you start Only domain-level and subdomain-level sites that already appear in Google’s source preferences tool can be selected as a preferred source. For example, example.com and news.example.com qualify, but example.com/blog does not. The plugin creates the button and link for eligible sites. It does not register your site with Google or change your eligibility. Disclaimer KudoMetrics Google Preferred Sources Button is an independent WordPress plugin and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google. Google and related trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Adding a Preferred Source button does not guarantee higher rankings, more traffic or inclusion in any Google Search feature. Custom styles use an original multicolor G icon, which is plugin artwork, not a Google trademark file. The optional official button loads Google’s own script from news.google.com and is subject to Google’s terms.

Install from your WordPress dashboard

1. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. Search for “KudoMetrics Google Preferred Sources Button”.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

Install manually

1. Download the plugin ZIP from WordPress.org.
2. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the ZIP and click Install Now. Or upload the folder to /wp-content/plugins/kudometrics-preferred-source-button-for-google.
3. Activate the plugin from the Plugins screen.

Configuration

1. Go to Settings → Preferred Source.
2. On the Design tab, choose Custom or Google official, pick a style, and set the button text, supporting-text trigger and devices.
3. On the Display tab, turn on “Show the button on your site”, choose who sees it, pick content types and select your placements.
4. Save your settings, then check the button on a live post on desktop and mobile.

Add the button manually (optional)

• Gutenberg block: In the editor, search for “Preferred Source Button” and insert the block.
• Shortcode: Add [kmpsbg_preferred_source_button] anywhere shortcodes are supported.
• Widget: Add the Preferred Source Button widget to a sidebar under Appearance → Widgets.

1.7.46

• Fix: Prevented nested form submission conflicts on admin settings bulk actions.
• Fix: Improved custom CSS selector saving and JSON synchronization in settings.
• Fix: Allowed wildcard (*) characters in custom CSS selector validation.
• Fix: Enhanced button placement detection for themes with hero/slide sections and Genesis child themes.
• Fix: Cleaned up legacy placement settings flags.

1.7.45

• Moved settings-page admin CSS from inline style to assets/css/admin.css (Plugin Check).

1.7.44

• Moved settings-page admin JavaScript from inline script to assets/js/admin.js (Plugin Check).

1.7.43

• Bulk post actions now use POST via admin-post.php instead of GET links.
• Added post revision/autosave guard on per-post meta save.
• Block editor script translations, directory index.php files, and minor Plugin Check fixes.

1.7.42

• Renamed to KudoMetrics Preferred Source Button for Google (slug: kudometrics-preferred-source-button-for-google).
• Prefixed functions, options, shortcode, block, and script handles with kmpsbg_ (6 characters).
• Documented Google external services in readme (Terms of Service and Privacy Policy links).
• Fixed admin bulk-action URLs to use the new settings page slug.