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September 2026 Spam Update

September 24, 2026 Confirmed
« All Google Updates

Google rolled out the September 2026 Spam Update from September 24 to October 8, 2026. The update took two weeks, making it longer than earlier spam updates, which lasted less than three days.

Google Search Status dashboard reporting the September 2026 Spam Update

Google’s Official Announcement

Google announced the September 2026 Spam Update on its X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn pages.

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.

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.

On September 28, 2026, Glenn Gabe shared additional reports indicating that more sites were being impacted by the September 2026 Spam Updates. Many of these sites had lost traffic to previous spam updates and were losing more to this one too.

On October 1, 2026, Glenn Gabe reported that several site owners saw big traffic drops on September 30, 2026. He speculated that the update rolled out in multiple stages, which likely accounted for the staggered losses he recorded.

Barry Schwartz also posted about the September 30, 2026 spike and referred to it as the second wave of the September 2026 Spam Update.

On October 2, 2026, Barry Schwartz reported that Google had updated its AI content guidance to say publishers should manually fact-check and review AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing.

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.

What’s Next – Dealing with This Update

The September 2026 Spam Update was as impactful as expected, with some even comparing it to a core update. Many sites saw volatility within a day of the rollout.

Some also suggested that the update rolled out in stages, indicating it may have been multiple spam updates combined into one. While speculative, this wouldn’t be unusual given that it lasted two weeks, compared with two or three days for previous spam updates.

That said, you should monitor your site with Rank Math Analytics. If you lost traffic, review your site and content to make sure they comply with Google Search Essentials spam policies.

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