Search Engine Land's New Research: Has Google Actually Demoted Listicles?
TLDR
Search Engine Land analyzed 60,000 queries and found listicles still appear in 55% of top-10 results, but their performance depends heavily on query intent and whether they're self-serving or publisher-created.
Optimixed Overview
Optimixed's original report on this story.
Search Engine Land conducted a large-scale study of 60,000 US-English queries across 15 verticals to assess whether Google has penalized listicles following the January 2026 update. The research found no universal demotion: confirmed listicles appear in the top 10 for 55.1% of queries and top 3 for 32.3%, but performance varies sharply by query intent—listicles rank 4.5× more often when users explicitly request a set of options. Publisher-created listicles significantly outperform self-serving brand listicles in direct SERP matchups, suggesting Google may be targeting self-promotional lists while preserving editorial roundups.