Google rolled out the September 2026 Spam Update on September 24, 2026, and said it expects the rollout to take up to two weeks. This timeline is considerably longer than recent spam updates, which each lasted less than three days.
Google’s Official Announcement
Google announced the September 2026 Spam Update on its X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn pages.
Today we released the September 2026 spam update. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/gaZTPxc9tA
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 24, 2026
What Are People Saying?
Creators reacted negatively to the September 2026 Spam Update over concerns that it would take away their traffic.
In a response to Google’s announcement, X user Xival said Google updates destroyed good sites. They also shared a report showing their clicks and impressions dropped sharply during the August 2026 Spam Update, which ran from August 18 to 21, 2026.
You just kill good websites pic.twitter.com/gneD9qV2NV
— Xival (@anime_h15788) September 25, 2026
On September 25, 2026, early in the rollout, Glenn Gabe suggested that Google was releasing back-to-back spam updates because users were gaming Google’s AI Overviews. He added that sites previously hit by the August 2026 Spam Update lost more traffic in the September 2026 Spam Update.
Good Morning Google Land! This is the 9/25 edition of "Spam Update Notes". As announced yesterday, Google rolled out yet another spam update following the powerful August spam update and spam updates in March and June. Like I've been saying, many companies are gaming AI search… pic.twitter.com/jl8b755qzJ
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) September 25, 2026
Previous Spam Updates
The September 2026 Spam Update is Google’s fourth spam update of 2026 and the third in a row, with no core or link spam updates in between. Unlike the previous two, which lasted two and three days, this one is expected to run for up to two weeks.
Here are the other spam updates we’ve documented over the past few years.
- August 2026 Spam Update: August 18 – August 21, 2026
- June 2026 Spam Update: June 24 – June 26, 2026
- March 2026 Spam Update: March 24 – March 25, 2026
- August 2025 Spam Update: August 26 – September 22, 2025
- December 2024 Spam Update: December 19 – December 26, 2024
- June 2024 Spam Update: June 20 – June 27, 2024
- March 2024 Spam Update: March 5 – March 20, 2024
- October 2023 Spam Update: October 4 – October 20, 2023
- December 2022 Link Spam Update: December 14, 2022 – January 12, 2023
- October 2022 Spam Update: October 19 – October 21, 2022
- November 2021 Anti-Spam Update: November 3 – November 11, 2021
- Link Spam Update: July 26 – August 24, 2021
- Anti-Spam Update II: June 29, 2021
- Anti-Spam Update: June 23, 2021
What’s Next – Dealing with This Update
The September 2026 Spam Update is expected to be more thorough than previous spam updates. Some sites even began seeing volatility within a day of the rollout.
In the meantime, start monitoring your site with Rank Math Analytics. If you lose traffic after the rollout finishes, review your site and content to make sure they comply with Google Search Essentials spam policies.
