Hello Lunch Break. Last Thursday’s fast-moving thunderstorm tearing through Wilmington after lunch is one storm I won’t soon forget. I got caught running and thought those 60 mph winds might just take me out. Absolutely not in control, with a mile to go. My shoes needed a full day to dry out. Might need a second pair.

But, control is something Google has been thinking about. And they handed a little control back this week, not everyone gets to use it though.

Alright. Clock's ticking. Back to work.

THE GAME CHANGED

Last week, Google gave you a little control. Have a preferred source? Mark a site as preferred, and its links carry a "Preferred" badge right inside the AI answer. Preferred Sources used to live only in Top Stories. Now it's inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. 

Oh and AI Mode passed a billion monthly users this month. Query volume has more than doubled every quarter since its launch last May. 

That's where the searching is going. 

A badge with your name on it, inside the answer, in front of a billion people.

THE WINDOW IS NOW

Wanna be a preferred source? You're in it, or you're not. I ran four sites I know of through the tool. One came up. Google leans toward domains that publish fresh content. No particular setting or payment can move you in. 

Test your own site. Open google.com/preferences/source and type your URL.

If you ARE in the tool, here's what you should do. 

Grab your deeplink (google.com/preferences/source?q=yourdomain.com), send it to five regular customers, ask them to tap and add you. 

Here’s the reality. Even if you’re eligible, it only works if people like you enough to tap. 

You earn eligibility by publishing. You earn loyalty by being worth choosing. AI Overviews and AI Mode reward both.

YOUR COMPETITORS ARE ASLEEP

Getting cited by AI isn't just about a great website.

Profound and SEMrush found AI engines look for agreement across independent sources before naming a business. Reviews, directories, local press, your own pages, all saying the same thing. 

And Google warned against buying mentions to fake it. The corroboration has to be earned.

WHAT’S THE PROMPT

Run this in ChatGPT. Fill in your business, category, city. It maps the third-party sources AI checks before recommending you, ranks them by influence, and hands you a 30-day plan.

Run the prompt →

Or copy it in by hand:

I own [business name], a [category] in [city, state]. When someone asks an AI engine like ChatGPT or Perplexity to recommend a [category] in [city], I want to understand why it might not name me. List the independent, third-party sources (directories, review sites, local press, industry sites, forums like Reddit) that an AI engine would check to decide whether to recommend a business like mine. For each source, describe what a strong presence looks like, and rank them by how much they influence AI recommendations in my category. Then give me a prioritized 30-day plan to close my biggest gaps first.

CITED

About those soaked shoes. I took my own advice. Asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity the same specific question: best place for running shoes in Wilmington NC, by people who know feet?

This one is really not a surprise to me. I met the owner, Michelle Fogle, at a WILMA event years ago and she runs a great business.Their pages speak to their FITLOSOPHY and the 3D foot-scanning technology. They host events and participate throughout the community. The directories echo it. The story agrees everywhere. And specific gets cited.

Oh and, just in case another crazy storm rolls through, I’ve got a second pair. Stay safe out there and let me know if you’re eligible to be a Preferred Source.

- Anna

THE POLL