What Changed in SEO This Quarter: A Plain-English Update for Malaysian Businesses (June–September 2026)

Last updated: 29 September 2026

Quick answer: Since Google’s last core update finished on 2 June 2026, there has been no other core ranking update, two spam updates, and a set of new Search Console reports, including one that finally shows whether its AI answers feature your pages. It also confirmed that llms.txt files don’t affect Google, and that FAQ markup no longer earns a special result. For most Malaysian businesses the job hasn’t changed: useful pages, an accurate Google Business Profile, and genuine reviews.

Meet Aina, who panicked on a Monday

Aina is made up, but her Monday is a common one. She runs a bakery in Alor Setar with a small website and a Google Business Profile. One morning a friend forwards her a video titled “Google just changed EVERYTHING,” and by lunchtime she has three messages from agencies offering an “AI optimisation package”.

So what actually changed this quarter? Here is what Aina would need to know, in plain language, with the source for each point so you can check it yourself.

1. There was no big ranking shake-up

Google’s last core update, the kind that reshuffles rankings broadly, finished on 2 June. Since then there have been two spam updates, in late June and in mid-August. Spam updates target sites using manipulative tactics, such as bought links, scraped content and doorway pages.

What it means for you: if your rankings moved between June and September and you don’t use spam tactics, a Google update is probably not the reason. Look closer to home first: a slow or broken page, a competitor who published something better, a change to your Business Profile, or ordinary seasonal demand.

2. You can now see whether Google’s AI mentions you

This is the most useful change of the quarter. Search Console, Google’s free tool for website owners, gained new reports showing your impressions inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. As of 31 August 2026 every website has them, Malaysian ones included.

For Aina this answers the question behind every sales pitch she received: “Does Google’s AI show my bakery?” She can now check for free before paying anyone. It covers Google only, though: it won’t show whether ChatGPT or other assistants mention her bakery. If you haven’t set up Search Console yet, do that this week; it takes about fifteen minutes.

Google is also testing a switch that lets sites opt out of its AI features, so far with a small group of UK sites only. The catch: opted-out sites get no traffic or impressions from those features at all. For a local business that wants to be found, that trade is rarely worth making.

3. The “AI tricks” Google says you can skip

Two of the three packages Aina was offered were built around things Google has now addressed directly:

• llms.txt files. Google clarified in June that these files aren’t needed for Google Search and don’t affect rankings either way.
• FAQ markup for rich results. Google no longer shows FAQ rich results and has removed their documentation. Clear question-and-answer content still helps readers; the markup won’t earn you a special result.
• “Special AI schema”. Google’s own guidance is that its AI features need no special markup. Accurate business details in standard markup are still worth having, but they aren’t a hack.

None of this makes AI answers unimportant. It means the way into them is the same as the way into ordinary search: pages that answer real questions clearly, from a business Google can verify and trust.

Google also published guidance on judging third-party SEO tools, services and advice in June. It is exactly what Aina needed that Monday, and worth ten minutes before you reply to any pitch.

4. Reviews and your Business Profile

In July Google added a guideline against fake and undisclosed incentivised reviews for review rich results. Paying for reviews, or offering discounts in exchange for five stars without saying so, was always risky. Now it is written down.

Two smaller Business Profile changes were reported by industry press rather than announced by Google: view counts on profile posts are coming back, and some owners saw September data missing from their Insights charts in early September. If your chart looks empty, it may be a reporting gap rather than a drop in customers.

5. Two housekeeping items

• Back-button tricks are now spam. Since 15 June Google has enforced a policy against back-button hijacking: scripts that stop visitors leaving by trapping the back button. If an ad network or pop-up plugin on your site does this, remove it.
• Photo searches are now measurable. On 24 September Search Console began reporting searches made with images, such as Google Lens and Circle to Search. Shops whose customers photograph products will want to look.

The part nobody enjoys: fewer clicks

One study published this month found Google Search sent publishers in Chartbeat’s network about 40% fewer visits than a year earlier (reported by Search Engine Journal). That data comes mostly from news sites, not small businesses, so don’t read it as your number. It does confirm what many owners feel: when AI answers the simple question, fewer people click. The clicks that remain tend to come from people closer to buying, which makes a clear enquiry path on every page matter more, not less.

What Aina did next, and what we’d suggest

Aina turned down all three packages and spent one afternoon on this list instead:

1. Set up Search Console and check the new AI report.
2. Check the Google Business Profile: hours, categories, photos, and a reply to every review.
3. Ask five recent happy customers for an honest review, with no incentive attached.
4. Rewrite the one page that answers the question customers ask most, in the words they use.
5. Remove any plugin that interferes with the back button or covers the page with pop-ups.

That list costs nothing except time. If you’d rather have someone look at it with you, our free website and SEO review covers the same ground for your site, and we’ll tell you honestly if nothing needs fixing yet. For the basics behind all of this, start with what SEO is, in plain English and why AEO and GEO are mostly just good SEO.