September 2026 spam update

What Google changed#

Google’s only announcement was the Search Status Dashboard entry: “Released the September 2026 spam update, which applies globally and to all languages.” It published no Search Central blog post and did not say which type of spam the update addresses.

Google’s spam updates page explains the general mechanism. Its automated spam detection runs constantly, and a spam update is a notable improvement to how those systems work. It names SpamBrain, its AI-based spam-prevention system, as one system it improves “to help ensure it catches new types of spam.”

When it rolled out#

The Google Search Status Dashboard logged the release on 24 September 2026 at 09:15 PDT with the note that “the rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.” On 8 October 2026 the dashboard recorded that “the rollout was complete as of October 8, 2026,” after 13 days and 16 hours, inside the two weeks Google had allowed.

The dashboard’s ranking history puts that run well above the other spam updates of 2026: the August update took 2 days and 16 hours, the June update 2 days and 1 hour, and the March update 19 hours and 30 minutes. The August update completed on 21 August, 34 days before this one began, and no other confirmed update ran alongside it.

What is known about its impact#

Google did not publish any impact figures for this update. Its spam policies state that “sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all,” but Google gave no count of affected sites or queries. Any percentage you see attributed to this update is a third-party estimate, so check its method before relying on it.

What site owners should do#

Google’s guidance for spam updates is short:

• Now that the rollout is complete, compare the week after 8 October with a week before 24 September.
• Review your site against Google’s spam policies, which cover practices such as cloaking, link spam, scaled content abuse, scraping and back button hijacking.
• Remove or fix anything that breaks them. Google detects violations through automated systems and, where needed, human review that can lead to a manual action.
• Check the Manual actions report in Search Console, since a manual action is separate from an automated spam update.
• Expect a slow recovery. Google says changes may help once its systems learn, over a period of months, that the site complies.

How to check whether it affected you#

In Search Console, open the Performance report with a daily view starting in early September 2026. A spam update effect should begin on or after 24 September; movement that started earlier predates this rollout. Use the week before 24 September as your baseline, and compare it with the week after the completion date, 8 October. The Google Algorithm Updates timeline lists every confirmed update with its dates.

Related updates#

• The August 2026 spam update was the spam update before it.
• The June 2026 spam update was the one before that.