Google's August 2026 Spam Update - Case Studies and Analysis From Glenn Gabe of GSQi

Glenn covers four case studies based on Google's August 2026 spam update. The update was powerful and impacted many sites that were violating Google's spam policies. Glenn covers a number of important topics, including 'Scaled content abuse', AI-generated content, programmatic content, 'Thin affiliates', 'Malicious functionality', and more.Read the blog post:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/august-2026-google-spam-update-case-studies/Chapters:00:00 The August spam update rolls out.01:27 First stop, Google's spam policies.02:45 Recovery is possible from spam updates.03:41 Case One: Programmatic AND AI-Generated Content in an ultra-YMYL niche.05:42 Case Two: Thin Affiliate (Amazon) AND AI-Generated Content08:30 Case Three: Scaled Content Abuse, Programmatic Content, Yet Has A Human Element10:40 Case Four: Scaled Content Abuse and Misleading Functionality 13:19 Recommendations for site owners that are impacted.15:25 Summary: Google's August 2026 spam update was powerful.Follow Glenn on X: https://x.com/glenngabehttps://x.com/glenngabeConnect with Glenn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/ He's on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

The May 2026 Google core update was a powerful algorithm update that rolled out on May 21, 2026 and completed on June 2, 2026. Unlike the March 2026 core update, the May update was extremely powerful and caused a lot of volatility across sites, categories, and countries. In this video, I cover several interesting cases and findings based on my analysis of the update. That includes the rollout, two powerful tremors during the rollout, YMYL impact (especially gambling), if sites gaming AI Search were impacted, how sites impacted by the January 2026 update fared during the update, why Grokipedia surged, and then specific unique cases I tracked and analyzed. This is the companion video to the blog post I published covering my findings. You can find that post here:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/core-roars-back-google-may-2026-core-update-analysis/Chapters:00:00 The May Core Update Lands01:59 Massive impact returns.02:58 YMYL Impact Especially Gambling Sites04:12  Two powerful tremors06:33 Did sites gaming AI Search get hit?09:23 How did sites impacted by the January 2026 updatefare?11:00 Interesting case: Manual action and then the May core update.12:27 Grokipedia Rises (again), but for how long?15:08 Scaled Content Abuse with Translations17:17 Summary: The May Core Update Was PowerfulFollow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

I coined the phrase “Mt. AI” based on seeing many sites scale with AI-generated content, surge in Google, only to crash as Google’s systems pick up what’s going on (or Google applies a manual action to the site for “Scaled content abuse”.) Well, there was a great example of this happening recently, which provided a unique opportunity to see how citations in ChatGPT were impacted in real-time.The website National Today added a new directory recently containing over 850K AI-generated local news articles. And no, they are not a local news site... The site surged in Google and in AI search platforms like ChatGPT. But those articles got noticed... And then Futurism wrote an expose about the situation, Google picked up the issue, and then applied a manual action for “Scaled content abuse”. And as you can guess, the site tanked in Google’s 10-blue links, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.But how did the site fare in ChatGPT? Well, that's the topic of my case study, which I cover in this video. I dug into AI Search visibility for National Today’s /us/ directory where all of the AI-generated local news content resides. Like I would expect, citations dropped heavily in ChatGPT once the manual action was applied. My video contains all of the details.Chapters:00:00 When “Mt. AI” crumbles, ChatGPT citations follow suit.00:52 Scaled content abuse with 850K AI-generated news articles.01:27 “Mt. AI” and the problem with scaling AI-generatedcontent heavily.03:14 Google applies a manual action for “Scaled content abuse”03:54 The site drops in AI Overviews and AI Mode.04:24 What happens with ChatGPT when a site tanks in Google?05:52 Examples of citations dropping in ChatGPT.08:05 Some ChatGPT citations did remain (for now).09:14 Summary: Don’t become the next “Mt. AI”. Beware.My blog post covering the case study:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/when-mt-ai-crumbles-chatgpt-follows/Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

“What do I need to do in order to be visible in AISearch?" I get that question a lot. So the "Gabeback Machine" is back, but with an AI Search twist :) In this video, I cover my blog post titled, “Straight From the (AI) Source: Is AEO/GEO different than SEO? Google, Microsoft, and others explain how to be visible in AI search [Quotes, videos, articles, and more]”. There's a lot of debate about how to make sure you are visible in AI Search. Some say AEO/GEO strategy and tactics are different than what you should be doing for SEO, while others say what you do for SEO should cover AI Search. Well, just like I did when covering Google's site-level quality evaluation, Iwanted to provide a central place where site owners could find all of the information that the various AI search platforms have explained about how to be visible across AI search.Join me as I cover quotes, videos, articles, and more covering what Google, Microsoft, and others have explained about SEO versus AEO/GEO. There is some great information directly from the source. I also plan to update my post as we learn more from the various platforms about AI search visibility. My post about AEO vs GEO vs SEO and information from AIsearch platforms about how to be visible across AI search: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/straight-from-the-ai-source-is-aeo-geo-different-than-seo/Chapters:00:00 AEO vs. GEO vs. SEO – Is there a difference?02:03 Straight from the source: What the AI platforms aresaying about AEO vs. SEO.02:20 Google’s Jeff Dean about traditional search versus LLMsearch.04:27 Google’s Danny Sullivan said Good SEO is Google “GEO”.05:50 Google’s John Mueller and Danny Sullivan cover AEO vsSEO via the SOTR podcast.07:27 Part two of John Mueller and Danny Sullivan covering AEO vs SEO in the SOTR podcast. 10:40 A quick note about chunking of content.10:58 A quick warning about spamming for AI searchvisibility.11:50 Business Insider interviewed Google, Microsoft, andPerplexity about AI search visibility.14:47 Google’s Nick Fox on the AI Inside podcast about optimizing for AI search.15:53 Google’s Gary Illyes about ranking in AIOs, simply usenormal SEO practices.16:40 Microsoft’s Krishna Madhavan about optimizing for AIsearch.19:28 Microsoft Advertising’s AI search demystified.21:12 Summary: What you do for SEO should cover what’sneeded for AEO.Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I'm on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

Many sites are being impacted by a powerful Google algorithm update that was released in late January. And it sure looks like a reviews update to me based on analyzing many sites impacted... In addition, Lily Ray dug in and noticed many self-serving listicles were being impacted. Like we have both said over time, "It works until it doesn't..." Join me as I provide "Reviews update notes" based on what I'm seeing across sites impacted. Chapters:00:00 The January 2026 Reviews Update. Maybe?00:40 A self-serving listicle twist via Lily Ray02:40 Beyond listicles, a big Google reviews system update.05:00 Volatility at the end of June. Big movement.06:05 Lily Ray's blog post about self-serving listicles dropping.08:52 Don't publish self-serving listicles. It won't end well.10:34 Algorithm updates impacting AIO and AI Mode visibility.12:57 "Reviews Update Notes". A lot of impact across review sites.15:18 Wirecutter impacted backs the idea of a reviews update.16:07 AI search platforms need to build strong anti-spam systems.18:44 Summary: The January 2026 Google Reviews UpdateLily's post about the listicle situation:https://lilyraynyc.substack.com/p/is-google-finally-cracking-down-onMy post about AI search platforms needing to build strong anti-spam systems:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/ai-search-core-systems-anti-spam/Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I'm on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

The Google December 2025 broad core update is in full swing and I’ve been covering my “Core Update Notes” daily on social media based on heavily analyzing the rollout.  In this video, I’ll cover findings based on my analysis of sites across verticals, including the impact they are seeing based on the broad core update. Topics I’ll cover include when the update actually landed, heavy YMYL impact (like finance and health and medical), impact to news and media publishers, how sites impacted by previous spam updates are being impacted, a big tremor we saw on December 20th, impact to career/jobs sites, and then some interesting cases like Wirecutter and X dropping with the update. I also cover how the various search visibility tracking tools like Sistrix, ahrefs, and Semrush handle AIOs (how they affect visibility trending). I end the video witha wild situation where I messaged a publisher with a warning just one day before the update rolled out about a super-aggressive ad situation. You can learn what happened at the end of the video.The December broad core update should take two to three weeks to complete and I will post more information as the update rolls out (based on my analysis).“Core Update Notes” thread on X: https://x.com/glenngabe/status/1999478656352076012Chapters:00:00 The December 2025 Broad Core Update Rolls Out01:00 Glenn’s “Core Update Notes”02:13 Smaller core updates during the fall of 202504:24 The update lands!05:59 YMYL Impact including heavy Finance movement.07:09 Top Stories impact for news and media publishers.8:08 Reversals from the June 2025 core update.09:06 Sites impacted by previous Spam Updates.10:23 How the visibility tools handle AIOs for searchvisibility trending.11:31 Massive health and medical volatility. 12:52 Major news publishers impacted.13:57 The first tremor of the December 2025 broad coreupdate.16:49 Wirecutter heavily impacted (again).18:50 Career and Jobs sites impacted.20:07 X drops with the update.21:38 Wild situation – Messaging a publisher with a broadcore update warning.24:02 Summary of “Core Update Notes”Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

For companies translating content into other languages, andpossibly using hreflang tags, it’s important to understand how that content is being surfaced across AI Search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude. The AI Search platforms are in their infancy and will continue to evolve, but it’s important to understand the current state ofaffairs with multilingual content.In this video, I provide several examples of translated content and how the various AI Search tools surface that content (or not). I also cover Google’s 10-blue links, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. And Bing results are covered as well.Blogpost: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/ai-search-hreflang-multilingual-queries/Chapters:00:00 AI Search and multilingual content.00:32 International SEO, hreflang, and AI Search01:30 Example 1 – Google’s Search Documentation for Sitemaps05:50 Example 2 – Google’s Search Documentation for HTTPResponses07:37 Example 3 – Cloudflare blog post10:25 Quick recap of other tests.11:18 Key points and recommendations for site owners.12:34 Summary – Why AI Search needs to improve (and willneed to).Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

The AI Search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude,and others are in their infancy and some are taking advantage of that by implementing tactics that spam those platforms. But that will not always be the case. I cover how the AI Search platforms are building their own search indexes, will need to developer their own core visibility systems, while also building strong anti-spam systems. And when they do, sites gaming the system can potentially tank as those updates roll out. In addition, the AI Search platforms could even have their own version of Google’s webspam team that can place manual actions (penalties) on websites spamming to rank across AI chatbots. And beyond that, I cover the importance of understanding site-level quality and authority to ensure high-quality and trusted content can surface across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and others. The AI Search platforms have work to do on that front. I cover all of this, and more, in my video. Blog post: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/ai-search-core-systems-anti-spam/ Chapters:00:00 The spamming and gaming of AI Search platforms.02:36 With spamming Search or AI Search, it works until itdoesn’t…04:13 AI Search platforms are building their own indexes.05:40 The need for anti-spam systems in AI Search.07:20 How are companies spamming AI Search now?09:56 Site-level quality and trust in AI Search.11:47 AI Search and “Authority”14:42 Combining site-level quality and anti-spam systems.15:58 The AI Search core systems and anti-spam systems arecoming. Follow me on x: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

For news or media publishers syndicating content, or thinking about syndicating content, it's important to understand the visibility impact across Google surfaces and AI Search (like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude). For example, does the original content rank or does the syndication partner rank instead? In 2023 I wrote a case study analyzing the ranking impact of syndicating content to third-party sites across Google surfaces. Now that AI Search is here, and growing, I decided to run a new study but for AI Search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. The results were super interesting... In this video, I cover four different cases of publishers syndicating content and how that impacted visibility across both Google and AI Search tools.Like traditional search, rankings and visibility were all over the place. So once again, it's important to control what you can control. Noindexing the syndicated content is still the path forward in my opinion. That's easier said than done, but the results were clear -- you can't guarantee that your content will be more visible in AI Search than your syndication partners. There was one unicorn, though, and you can read more about that in my post. Blog post covering my case study:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/ai-search-and-syndicated-content/Chapters:00:00 AI Search and Syndicating Content 01:15 An introduction to the case study.02:14 The influence of traditional search rankings on AI search visibility.03:00 Case 1: Mixed results.05:05 Case 2: A ranking mess.07:21 Case 3: Even more confusion across surfaces and AI tools.09:58 Case 4: A unicorn for AI Search and syndicated content.11:24 Recommendations for news and media publishers syndicating content.13:14 Summary: Control what you can control when syndicating content.Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I'm on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

Wirecutter dropped heavily in search visibility during the spring and summer of 2025. That was surprising given the high-quality, insightful, and thorough reviews content they publish (and have published over the years). In addition, it's a site within a site, and resides on the New York Times domain (which is a powerful news publisher). In this video, I cover the situation, my analysis of the rankings drop, and explore several theories about what happened. For example, were Google reviews updates to blame, was it Google's 'Starkly different' algorithm or system at play, or was vertical expertise rewarded? I definitely noticed many smaller, niche publishers with reviews content surging as Wirecutter dropped. One thing is for sure, Wirecutter tanked in Google losing 69% of its search visibility over several months according to Sistrix data. So join me as I explore a massive drop in rankings for one of the most authoritative sites on the web.Blog post:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/wirecutter-drops-google-reviews-system/Chapters:00:00 Wirecutter drops in rankings heavily.00:47 Finding the drop. And it was a big one.01:14 Visibility trending tanks across all three tools.02:26 3.6M queries dropped in the US alone.03:29 AI Overviews and AI Mode drop.04:44 Theories about what happened starting with Reviews updates.05:44 Google's 'Starkly Different' algorithm/system.07:13 Wirecutter wasn't alone. Many reviews sites have dropped.08:18 Vertical expertise rewarded?09:45 Closing thoughts.Follow me on Twitter: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I'm on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social