Google September 2026 Spam Update: What to watch
Google September 2026 Spam Update: What to watch
摘要: Google releases September 2026 spam update
Cecilia Meis
1 min read
September 29, 2026
Table of contents
Google released the
September
正文
Google releases September 2026 spam update
Cecilia Meis
1 min read
September 29, 2026
Table of contents
Google released the
September 2026 spam update
on September 24. It applies worldwide and in all languages. This is Google's fourth spam update of 2026.
Google says the rollout may take up to two weeks to finish. Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz asked whether the two-week estimate was a typo. Google's John Mueller replied
on Bluesky
that it's "likely to take longer than some of the previous ones."
Google hasn't said what this update targets. It's the first spam update since Google changed its
site reputation abuse policy
on August 28, but Google hasn't linked the two.
Why a longer rollout makes attribution harder
The previous three
spam updates
each finished in
under three days
, which gave marketers a tight window to check their rankings against. This time, that window could stretch to two weeks.
Search Engine Roundtable reported ranking volatility
starting around September 23, the day before Google's announcement.
So treat the rollout as a watch period until Google marks it complete on the
Search Status Dashboard
. Rankings were already moving before the announcement, and a two-week rollout will overlap with whatever else shifts in that time. Before you attribute a drop to the spam update, check whether competitors moved too, and whether your visibility changed outside Google.
For sites that do see changes, Google's
spam update documentation
recommends reviewing its spam policies. It adds that making changes may help if its automated systems learn, over a period of months, that the site complies.
How to track the update's impact with Semrush
To figure out whether a drop is tied to the spam update or something else, understand when your
SEO visibility
changed, who else moved, and where.
Position Tracking
records your target keywords' positions every day. Compare your rankings from before September 23 with the da