Google began rolling out its September 2026 spam update on 24 September, and the rollout may take up to two weeks to finish. It is the fourth spam update of the year and a much slower one than the others. For most businesses that follow Google’s guidelines, it should pass without any lasting change, and so far that is what we are seeing across the websites we look after. It is still worth knowing what the update is and what to watch while it runs.
4 October 2026
Key insights
What was Announced
Google confirmed the update on its Search Status Dashboard on 24 September 2026 at 9:15am Pacific time, which was early on 25 September here in Australia. Google’s note was short: the update applies globally, covers all languages, and may take up to two weeks to complete.
Google described it as a normal spam update. That means no new spam policies came with it, and Google did not say which specific tactics it is focused on. It is simply Google’s automated spam detection systems being refreshed and applied again across search results.
What this Update Targets
A spam update is designed to reduce the visibility of pages that break Google’s spam policies. These include things like mass-produced pages with little real value, pages built only to capture search traffic for many locations, content published on expired domains to borrow their old reputation, hidden text, and keyword stuffing. Mass-produced content is one of the most common problem areas, and we explain why mass-produced pages could be costing you Google’s trust in plain terms.
That is quite different from a broad core update. A core update reassesses the overall quality and relevance of content across the web, so almost any site can move, up or down. A spam update is narrower. Sites that are not doing anything against the rules usually see little or no change, while sites that are can see sharp drops. It is also separate from Google’s dedicated link spam and site reputation abuse updates, which deal with those specific issues on their own schedule.
Rollout Timeframe
The rollout started on 24 September 2026 and Google has allowed up to two weeks, which puts the expected finish around 8 October. It is global and applies to every language.
The length is the notable part. Google’s earlier spam updates this year were fast: the March update finished in under a day, June took about two days, and August took a little under three days. A two-week window suggests either a larger or more gradual refresh, and it means any movement may arrive in waves rather than all at once.
What We Know So Far
The update is still in progress, and it is arriving in waves as expected. Rank-tracking tools picked up noticeable movement from about 22 September, just before the announcement, then again from 25 to 27 September, and a second wave was reported on 30 September. Some publishers have reported traffic drops, but it is too early to separate spam-related changes from ordinary day-to-day movement.
There is one extra complication this month. Since mid-September, Google has been blocking many of the automated tools the industry uses to track rankings, so some third-party volatility readings are noisier than usual. That is why we lean on each client’s own Search Console and analytics data rather than industry sensors alone.
For context, here is how this year has looked on Google Search:
- June 2026: a spam update, completed in about two days.
- August 2026: another spam update from 18 to 21 August, followed by a short ranking shuffle around 26 August. Our summary of the August 2026 spam update covers the detail.
- Early to mid September 2026: several rounds of unconfirmed ranking movement, including one change that reversed itself on 13 September.
- 24 September 2026: this update begins, with a second wave on 30 September.
What We’re Seeing Across Our Clients
We checked the Google Search Console data for our client websites, across a range of industries, from the weeks before the update through to 29 September, the latest day available.
So far there is no sign of a spam-related hit. In the first week of the rollout, combined impressions were almost exactly where they were the week before, down less than 1%. Combined clicks were about 5% lower. That is a small movement, and no site showed the pattern a spam action usually leaves behind: a sharp, sustained fall concentrated on one type of page. Where individual pages slipped, others on the same sites gained.
The second wave on 30 September is not in this data yet, so we will check again once the rollout finishes.
Why Search Console Impressions Dropped in Mid-September
The chart also shows something easy to misread. Impressions fell across most sites in mid-September, but that happened before the update began, and it does not mean fewer people were searching.
From about 13 September, Google began blocking many of the automated tools that check rankings by loading search results. Each time one of those tools loaded a page of results, every website on that page was counted as an impression in Search Console, even though no person ever saw it. With those tools blocked, those impressions have dropped out of the data.
Our client data fits that explanation closely:
- Desktop impressions fell by close to 30%, while mobile impressions, where most real searchers are, held steady.
- Impressions on page one held steady. The fall came almost entirely from results ranked 21st or lower, a depth few people ever scroll to but tracking tools load routinely.
- Clicks, which only real people produce, barely moved.
Google has not commented on this change, but the same pattern appeared in September 2025, when Google stopped tools from loading 100 results on a single page and impressions fell across the industry while clicks held.
If your own Search Console shows lower impressions since mid-September, this is the most likely reason, and it is not a loss of visibility. There is one side effect to be aware of: average position may appear to improve, because the deep, low-ranking impressions have dropped out of the average. That is also a change in measurement rather than a ranking gain. It is why, across this period, we judge performance on clicks and mobile impressions rather than on total impressions alone.
What We’re Monitoring
- Organic clicks and impressions in Google Search Console, compared with the weeks before 22 September.
- Organic sessions and enquiries in Google Analytics.
- Keyword positions for each client’s priority search terms.
- Page-level changes, especially on location pages, blog content and any pages built at scale.
- Local visibility for businesses that rely on Google Maps, as part of our local SEO work.
What to Expect Next
Most businesses with genuine, helpful websites should come through this update without any lasting change. If you do notice a dip over the next week or two, the best move is patience. Making big changes to content or site structure mid-rollout can make it harder to see what the update actually did, and can create new problems of its own.
Once the rollout finishes, give it another week or so to settle, then compare performance with the period before 22 September. If a meaningful drop holds, that is the time to check the affected pages against Google’s spam policies and plan a fix. Given how active Google has been this year, with four spam updates so far, it would not be surprising to see a broad core update before the end of 2026, so keeping content genuinely useful remains the best long-term protection. Our guide on how to update your old website for 2026 and make it AI-ready is a good place to start.
If you are worried about how this update may affect your website, or you have noticed a change in your search traffic, get in touch with our team. We can review your site against Google’s spam policies and your recent search performance as part of our AI Search Optimisation service, and give you a clear, practical read on where you stand.
Sources:
- Google Search Status Dashboard: https://status.search.google.com/
- Search Engine Roundtable: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-september-2026-spam-update-42163.html
- Search Engine Roundtable, second wave: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-september-2026-spam-update-two-42209.html
- Search Engine Journal: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-september-2026-spam-update/590828/
- Search Engine Land: https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-september-2026-spam-update-491267
- Search Engine Roundtable, ranking volatility: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-ranking-volatility-42157.html
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google blocking scrapers and tracking tools: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-blocking-scrapers-and-tracking-tools-42118.html
- Search Engine Journal, SEO tool outages: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-causes-global-seo-tool-outages/537604/
- Search Engine Land, why Search Console impressions fell (September 2025 precedent): https://searchengineland.com/why-google-search-console-impressions-dropped-interpret-data-463677
- Client data: Google Search Console, our client websites, Australia, 24 August to 29 September 2026
Author
Bee bowman
Bee is a digital strategist passionate about helping brands grow through thoughtful design and smart marketing. With a focus on websites, SEO, and paid media, they turn digital spaces into real business results.
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