Google has started rolling out another spam update, and if you’re watching your rankings closely right now, you may want to keep an eye on your numbers.
The Google September 2026 Spam Update officially started on September 24 at 9:15 a.m. PDT. Google says the update applies globally and to all languages, with the rollout potentially taking up to two weeks.
That means it’s still early.
If you’ve noticed some strange movement in Google Search over the last few days — rankings jumping around, pages moving down, or traffic changing unexpectedly — it’s too soon to assume the update is responsible. But if those changes continue while the rollout is happening, this is certainly something worth monitoring.
What Google has confirmed
Right now, Google’s official announcement is fairly short.
The update affects Search ranking, started on September 24, and is being rolled out globally across all languages. Google has also said the rollout can take up to two weeks.
So, for website owners in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, or anywhere else, there isn’t a separate country-specific rollout to wait for. The update is global.
And that’s probably the most important thing to understand at this stage.
Don’t panic over the first few days
This is where SEOs sometimes get caught out.
You see a 20% drop in organic traffic on Monday and immediately start changing titles, deleting content, building links, or rewriting half the website.
I wouldn’t do that.
A spam update is still rolling out. Google says this one could take up to two weeks, so rankings can move while the rollout is in progress.
Give the data some time to settle.
Instead of reacting to one bad day, look at trends across several days and compare them with your normal traffic patterns.
What should you monitor?
If you manage SEO for multiple websites, now is a good time to open Google Search Console and start watching the basics.
Look at:
Organic clicks and impressions
Average position
Important landing pages
Branded vs. non-branded queries
Your main commercial keywords
Pages that suddenly lose impressions
Pages that gain impressions or rankings
Country-level performance
Queries where rankings have changed significantly
The country-level data is especially useful if you're working with international websites.
For example, a site might remain relatively stable in the US but show bigger changes in Canada or Australia. That doesn't automatically mean Google is treating those countries differently. It simply gives you another signal to investigate while the rollout continues.
What if your rankings dropped?
First, don't assume you've been hit by a spam action.
There's a difference between a normal ranking change during an algorithm update and a manual action or direct spam issue.
If your rankings or traffic have dropped, look at which pages and queries changed.
Was the decline across the whole site?
Did only a group of pages lose visibility?
Did one content category take the hit?
Did your commercial pages change while informational pages stayed stable?
Those details matter much more than simply looking at the overall traffic graph.
And honestly, this is where having clean historical Search Console data helps. Without it, you're mostly guessing.
What should SEOs do during the September spam update?
For now, I'd keep things fairly boring.
That's actually a good thing.
Keep publishing useful content where there's a genuine reason to publish it. Keep fixing technical problems. Keep improving pages that aren't serving searchers well. Review your internal links and make sure important pages are easy to find.
Most importantly, don't start making random changes just because rankings moved for a couple of days.
If a page has been sitting on page one for months and suddenly moves around during the update, give it some time before making major decisions.
Spam doesn't only mean obvious spam
Google's spam systems are designed to deal with behaviour and content that violates its Search spam policies. That doesn't mean every site affected by a spam update was necessarily doing something deliberately shady.
Search systems can change how they identify and evaluate problematic patterns, and legitimate sites can sometimes see ranking changes during broader updates.
That's why it's worth looking at the actual evidence from your website instead of jumping to conclusions.
Google has also recently clarified that its spam policies apply to generative AI responses in Google Search, which is another reminder that spam policies aren't limited to traditional blue-link results.
AI content? Don't jump to conclusions
This is probably going to be one of the first conversations around this update.
"Is Google targeting AI content?"
At the moment, there's no official statement from Google saying that the September 2026 spam update is specifically an "AI content update."
So I wouldn't frame it that way.
Using AI to help with research, drafting or editing isn't enough on its own to tell us why a particular page gained or lost rankings.
What matters is how the content actually serves the user, whether it provides useful information, and whether the website follows Google's Search policies.
If you're using AI as part of your content workflow, this is a good time to review the final output with a human eye.
Does it actually say something useful?
Does it add anything beyond what every other page already says?
Would you be comfortable putting your name or business behind it?
Those questions are more useful than obsessing over whether a piece of content was written with a particular tool.
Keep an eye on Google Search Console
Search Console should probably be your first stop if you're trying to understand what the update is doing to your site.
Don't just check the last seven days and panic.
Compare your current performance with previous periods and look at individual pages and queries. If possible, segment your data by country as well.
For international SEO, this can give you a much clearer picture of what's actually happening across markets such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
And remember — the update is still rolling out.
When will the Google September 2026 Spam Update finish?
Google hasn't given a specific completion date.
The official status page says the rollout may take up to two weeks.
Since the update began on September 24, SEOs should expect ranking volatility to potentially continue into early October.
Until Google confirms that the rollout has finished, it's difficult to make a reliable judgement about the final impact.
The takeaway
For now, the biggest mistake would be reacting too quickly.
The September 2026 spam update is live, it's global, and Google says the rollout may take up to two weeks.
Watch your Search Console data. Look at individual pages instead of just total traffic. Compare countries if you're running international SEO campaigns. And if you see a drop, investigate before changing everything.
There will probably be plenty of theories about what Google is targeting over the next few days.
Some will be right. Some won't.
I'd wait for the rollout to develop and let your own data tell you what actually changed.
