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

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
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/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 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/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/I’m on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glenngabe.bsky.social