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/

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“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.

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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/

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