Google is rolling out a spam update, so check your search traffic over the next two weeks

Google started its September 2026 spam update on 24 September. It applies worldwide in every language and can take up to two weeks to finish.

Google started rolling out its September 2026 spam update on 24 September, US Pacific time. It applies to search results in every country and every language, and Google says it can take up to two weeks to finish.

A spam update is an improvement to SpamBrain, the AI system Google uses to spot pages and links that break its spam policies. Google's documentation says sites that break those policies may rank lower or drop out of results altogether. If a site has been getting a boost from spammy links pointing at it, Google removes that boost, and the documentation says the lost ranking benefit cannot be regained.

Most business websites will see no change. The ones at risk are sites that bought links, published large amounts of thin or copied content, or let an agency run a link scheme on their behalf without asking many questions. If you have used a cheap SEO package in the past, or published a lot of AI-written pages quickly to target keywords, it is worth paying attention this week.

Open Google Search Console and compare your clicks and impressions for the fortnight after 24 September against the fortnight before. A normal week-to-week wobble is not a penalty. A sharp drop that stays down that lines up with the update is a sign to review Google's spam policies and ask whoever handles your SEO exactly what they have done. Google says fixing the problem can help, but its systems may take months to register the change.

Clean, useful pages written for customers are the ones that come through these updates unchanged. If your site is built that way, you should not need to do anything except keep an eye on the numbers.