Google finished rolling out its September 2026 spam update on October 8. It started on September 24.
The facts
- It applies globally and to all languages.
- It took about two weeks. The earlier spam updates in 2026 were much faster: March finished in under a day, June in about two days, and August in two days and sixteen hours.
- Google has not said which spam policy or tactic this one targets.
- Google says recovery from spam actions can take many months.
- The most recent core update in our sources was in May 2026. We found no confirmed new core update since. Search Engine Roundtable did report signs of ranking volatility on October 16, which Google has not confirmed.
Some people in the community said this update felt noticeable, more like a core update. That is opinion, not something Google confirmed.
What is a spam update?
It is a change aimed at pages that break Google’s spam policies: things like scaled low-value content, link schemes, cloaking and similar tactics. It is different from a core update, which re-evaluates quality across the board.
What to do if your traffic dropped
- Check the dates. Compare traffic from September 24 to October 8 with the weeks before.
- Read Google’s spam policies and carefully check your site against them, especially if you publish a lot of pages quickly or use paid links.
- Look at which pages dropped, not only the total. A pattern (all auto-generated pages, for example) tells you more.
- Fix and wait. Google says recovery can take a long time, so plan in months.
- Avoid sweeping changes to the whole site. Big changes made without a clear cause make it harder to learn what worked.
If your traffic did not move, nothing to do. Keep publishing useful content and avoid shortcuts.
