SEO From The Front Lines

When “Mt. AI” crumbles and sites drop in Google, ChatGPT citations drop as well [Case Study]

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/ [https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/when-mt-ai-crumbles-chatgpt-follows/] Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe [https://x.com/glenngabe] Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/] I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social]

Is AEO/GEO different than SEO? Google, Microsoft, and others explain how to be visible in AI search.

“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 [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnRYYWt3MWJMSXpJZEJCcGNwUzZDUGdjY0VoZ3xBQ3Jtc0tucGFVd2M0MUpHQ014LVgwekZXczY2SU1TaGxOZWIxQlF4WE9EMWJ5U0gxdTUzQUR4a1pLMkFsd0pKbGF5VERabzJBaG9RakxyTlF2UnBKZS0tOEp5cjJqMXRmcjZGOWEtQjFZd3NjUjZoaXp1ZXR5cw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Fglenngabe&v=k-tX0L2xfVE] Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/]I'm on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social]

The January 2026 Google Reviews Update... Maybe?

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 Ray 02:40 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 Update Lily's post about the listicle situation: https://lilyraynyc.substack.com/p/is-google-finally-cracking-down-on My 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/glenngabe Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/ I'm on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social

Google’s December 2025 Broad Core Update – "Core Update Notes", Heavy Impact, Tremors, and More

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/1999478656352076012 [https://x.com/glenngabe/status/1999478656352076012] Chapters: 00:00 The December 2025 Broad Core Update Rolls Out 01:00 Glenn’s “Core Update Notes” 02:13 Smaller core updates during the fall of 2025 04:24 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/glenngabe [https://x.com/glenngabe]Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/]I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social]

AI Search, hreflang, and translated content. How ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more handle multilingual queries?

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/ [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 Search 01:30 Example 1 – Google’s Search Documentation for Sitemaps 05:50 Example 2 – Google’s Search Documentation for HTTPResponses 07:37 Example 3 – Cloudflare blog post 10:25 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/glenngabe [https://x.com/glenngabe]Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/]I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social]