AI Search Updates: What Changed in Google, Maps and ChatGPT
This page logs the changes in Google Search, Google Maps, ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI search tools that affect how businesses get found. Each entry has the date, what changed, what to do about it, and a link to the source. Newest first. Bookmark it and check back on Fridays.
Mar 2026
Spam update, then core update24 to 25 Mar, then 27 Mar to 8 Apr
May 2026
FAQ rich results end, May core update7 May, then 21 May to 2 Jun
Jun to Sep 2026
Three spam updates24 Jun, 18 Aug and 24 Sep
Oct 2026
GPT-6 in ChatGPT, AI Mode link changes7 to 8 Oct and 15 Oct
15 Oct 2026 · AI features
Google moves links higher in AI Mode and AI Overviews
- What changed
- Google announced five changes to how links show inside AI answers. Inline links will appear higher in responses more often. Links at the end of answers get a more clickable "Dive deeper" design with image thumbnails. Article carousels for timely stories and Preferred Sources roll out to more countries and languages, and Google said use of Preferred Sources has grown 7x since it launched. Google is also testing an "official sources" section at the top of some answers, and clickable creator names on video results.
- What to do
- Make the first lines of each section answer the question directly, since inline links attach to specific claims. If your site is where people complete a task (book, apply, buy, register), say so plainly on that page. Ask loyal readers to add you as a Preferred Source.
Source: 9to5Google
7 to 8 Oct 2026 · ChatGPT
GPT-6 arrives in ChatGPT
- What changed
- OpenAI started rolling out GPT-6 models in ChatGPT: GPT-6 Sol on paid plans from 7 October and GPT-6 Luna for Free and Go users from 8 October. OpenAI says live web search answers come back 44% faster on average than with GPT-5.6, and answers now stream while the model keeps working.
- What to do
- Re-run your ChatGPT prompt checks. A new model can change which sources get cited, so compare this month's results with last month's before drawing conclusions.
Source: Android Headlines
1 Oct 2026 · Google guidance
Google says fact-check AI content, including titles, schema and alt text
- What changed
- Google updated its guidance on using generative AI content. It now says it is critical to manually fact-check and review all AI-generated content before publishing, and it names title elements, meta descriptions, structured data and image alt text as part of that. Google added no new penalty or ranking signal.
- What to do
- Add a human check to every AI-assisted page, and include the hidden parts: SEO title, meta description, schema and alt text. Wrong facts in schema are easy to miss because readers never see them.
Source: Google Search Central, Relevant Audience
24 Sep 2026 · Ranking
September 2026 spam update
- What changed
- Google's Search Status Dashboard lists a spam update that started on 24 September 2026 and ran for 13 days and 16 hours, finishing around 8 October. It is the longest spam update of the year so far.
- What to do
- If traffic dropped in late September or the first week of October, check the spam policies first: link schemes, thin location pages, scraped or auto-generated content.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard
28 Aug 2026 · Google guidance
Google revises its spam policies page
- What changed
- Google's spam policies were revised on 28 August 2026. The scaled content abuse section lists five patterns: using generative AI to produce many pages without adding value, scraping feeds or other sites (including automated synonymising or translation), stitching together content from different pages, spreading output across multiple sites to hide its scale, and publishing keyword-laden pages that make little sense to a reader.
- What to do
- If you publish at volume, check each pattern against your own process. A page per city or per keyword with only the place name swapped is the most common way small businesses run into this.
Source: PPC Land, Google spam policies
18 Aug 2026 · Ranking
August 2026 spam update
- What changed
- A spam update started on 18 August 2026 and finished after 2 days and 16 hours, according to Google's Search Status Dashboard.
- What to do
- Compare clicks for 15 to 17 August with 21 to 23 August. A sharp change across many pages in that window points to spam systems.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard
24 Jun 2026 · Ranking
June 2026 spam update
- What changed
- A spam update started on 24 June 2026 and finished after 2 days and 1 hour, according to Google's Search Status Dashboard.
- What to do
- Same check as other spam updates: look for a sudden drop between 24 and 26 June and review the pages that fell.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard
21 May to 2 Jun 2026 · Ranking
May 2026 core update
- What changed
- Google's second broad core update of the year started on 21 May and finished on 2 June, after 11 days and 21 hours. Google described it as "a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites."
- What to do
- Compare Search Console clicks for the two weeks before 21 May with the two weeks after 2 June. Judge pages by query groups, not one keyword, and fix the pages that lost the most clicks first.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard, TechWyse
7 May 2026 · Rich results
FAQ rich results stop showing in Google
- What changed
- Google stopped showing FAQ rich results for all sites on 7 May 2026, ending a phase-out that began in 2023. The FAQ search appearance, its rich result report and support in the Rich Results Test were dropped in June 2026, and Search Console API support in August 2026. FAQPage markup itself is still a valid schema type.
- What to do
- Keep FAQ sections where they answer real questions, since AI engines still quote them and the markup still helps Google read the page. Stop adding FAQ blocks only to win extra space on the results page.
Source: TechWyse
27 Mar to 8 Apr 2026 · Ranking
March 2026 core update
- What changed
- Google's first core update of 2026 started on 27 March and completed on 8 April, a rollout of 12 days and 4 hours.
- What to do
- If you saw a drop in April and another in early June, the two core updates may have hit the same pages. Look at those pages first.
24 to 25 Mar 2026 · Ranking
March 2026 spam update
- What changed
- Google ran a spam update on 24 and 25 March that finished in 19 hours and 30 minutes, one of the fastest spam updates Google has confirmed. It came three days before the March core update.
- What to do
- A sharp drop on 24 or 25 March points to spam systems, not the core update. Review link schemes, thin location pages and auto-generated content.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard
5 Feb 2026 · Discover
February 2026 Discover update
- What changed
- Google ran an update aimed at Discover that started on 5 February 2026 and took 21 days and 17 hours to finish.
- What to do
- If your traffic comes from Discover (news and fresh articles on phones), look at the Discover report in Search Console for February separately from web search.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard
11 Dec 2025 · Ranking
December 2025 core update
- What changed
- A core update started on 11 December 2025 and ran for 18 days and 2 hours, ending just before the new year.
- What to do
- Holiday traffic is seasonal for many businesses, so compare December 2025 with December 2024 before blaming the update.
Source: Google Search Status Dashboard
3 Dec 2025 · Google Maps
Google removes Q&A from Business Profiles and adds Ask Maps
- What changed
- Google confirmed it would remove the Questions and Answers feature from Google Maps and replace it with an AI-powered Ask experience, often called Ask Maps, where Gemini answers questions about a business. The My Business Q&A API had already been shut down on 3 November 2025.
- What to do
- Ask Maps builds its answers from your profile, reviews, photos and website. Fill in services, attributes and hours completely, and put common customer questions and their answers on your website, because there is no Q&A section left to hold them.
Research worth knowing
- March 2026, Averi: across 680 million AI citations, ChatGPT and Perplexity shared only 11% of the domains they cite. Visibility in one engine says little about the other. Source
New to these terms?
Not sure where to start?Tell me what your business does and where customers find you. I'll reply with a first plan.
Book a call