Google may be cracking down on self-promotional ‘best of’ listicles

Google may finally be starting to address a popular SEO and AI visibility “tactic”: self-promotional “best of” listicles. That’s according to new research by Lily Ray, vice president, SEO strategy and research at Amsive.

Across several SaaS brands hit hard in January, a pattern emerged. Many relied heavily on review-style content that ranked their own product as the No. 1 “best” in its category, often updated with the current year to trigger recency signals.

What’s happening. After the December 2025 core update, Google search results showed increased volatility throughout January, according to Barry Schwartz. Google hasn’t announced or confirmed any updates this year, but the timing aligns with steep visibility losses at several well-known SaaS and B2B brands. According to Ray:

• In multiple cases, organic visibility dropped 30% to 50% within weeks. The losses were not domain-wide. They were concentrated in blog, guide, and tutorial subfolders.
• Those sections often contained dozens or hundreds of self-promotional listicles targeting “best” queries. In most cases, the publisher ranked itself first. Many of the articles were lightly refreshed with “2026” in the title, with little evidence of meaningful updates.
• “Presumably, these drops in Google organic results will also impact visibility across other LLMs that leverage Google’s search results, which extends beyond Google’s ecosystem of AI search products like Gemini and AI Mode [and AI Overviews], but is also likely to include ChatGPT,” Ray wrote.

Why we care. Self-promotional listicles have been a shortcut for influencing rankings and AI-generated answers. If Google is now reevaluating how it treats this content, any strategies built around “best” queries are in danger of imploding.

The gray area. Ranking yourself as the “best” without independent testing, clear methodology, or third-party validation has been considered (by most) to be a sketchy SEO tactic. It isn’t explicitly banned, but it definitely conflicts with Google’s guidance on reviews and trust.

• Google has repeatedly said that high-quality reviews should show first-hand experience, originality, and evidence of evaluation. Self-promotional listicles often fall short, especially when bias is not disclosed.

Yes, but. Self-promotional listicles likely weren’t the only factor impacting organic visibility. Many affected sites also showed signs of rapid content scaling, automation, aggressive year-based refreshes, and other tactics tied to algorithmic risk.

• That said, the consistency of self-ranking “best” content among the hardest-hit sites suggests this signal could now carry more weight, especially when used at scale.

What to watch. Whether self-promotional listicles earn citations and organic visibility. Google rarely applies changes evenly or instantly.

• If this volatility reflects updates to Google’s reviews system, the direction is clear. Content designed primarily to influence rankings, rather than to provide credible and independent evaluation, is becoming a liability.
• For brands chasing visibility in search and AI, the lesson is familiar: SEO shortcuts work until they don’t.

The analysis. Is Google Finally Cracking Down on Self-Promotional Listicles?