Key takeaways
- The rollout lasted 13 days and 16 hours, from 24 September to 8 October 2026, according to Google’s search status dashboard.
- Google gives no detail on what each spam update changes, but its policies do state what it penalises.
- Scaled content abuse explicitly includes using generative AI to produce many pages without adding value.
- Consequences range from lower rankings to removal from the index, and may affect only part of a site.
What was the September spam update?
The Google spam update from September is the latest of those the company rolls out against what it treats as manipulation. Google confirmed the start on 24 September 2026 and declared the rollout complete on 8 October. Thirteen days and sixteen hours passed between the two, according to its own search status dashboard.
It is worth separating these from core updates. A core update reorders results on quality criteria; a spam update acts against practices Google treats as manipulation. The consequence differs too: a core update moves you down, a spam update can make you disappear.
Google does not publish what each one touches. What it does publish, and what is worth reviewing, are its spam policies.
What exactly does Google count as spam?
The policies have names and definitions. These five matter most to an ordinary company website.
- Scaled content abuse. Producing many pages without adding value. Google explicitly mentions «using generative AI tools to produce many pages without adding value».
- Site reputation abuse. Hosting third-party content to exploit the domain's authority without integrating it. It is what publishers do when they rent a section to a coupons company.
- Expired domain abuse. Buying a domain with history and repurposing it. Google's example is casino content on a former primary school domain.
- Cloaking. Showing one thing to the search engine and another to the visitor.
- Hidden text and links. White text on a white background, zero font size and variants.
The first is the one most people brush against without realising. Google does not prohibit AI, it prohibits empty volume, which is the opposite of the citable format we describe in SEO for AI search engines.
Who does this actually affect?
Almost no company publishing its own content sensibly. The first three policies describe entire business models rather than occasional slips.
Two places are worth checking. First, sites that have generated dozens or hundreds of AI pages by swapping the city or the service. Second, sites hosting sponsored third-party content with no editorial oversight.
A third case is less obvious and common among local businesses: the duplicated page per city, same text with the name changed. That fits the definition of scaled content without value, and the fix is writing each page properly, as we explain in local SEO.
And a warning against panic: a ranking drop on 25 September does not mean a penalty. Google ships several things at once, and ordinary fluctuation looks a lot like a penalty on a chart.
How to tell whether it hit you
One check separates a penalty from a fluctuation, and it is the first we run.
- Open Search Console and look for a manual action. If there is one, there is no doubt and the notice states the reason.
- Compare organic traffic for the two weeks before 24 September with the two weeks after 8 October.
- Check whether the drop affects the whole site or one group of pages. Penalties tend to concentrate.
- Check the affected pages are still indexed by searching their exact address.
If there is no manual action, the decline is gradual and everything falls evenly, this is probably not it. That analysis sits inside SEO work.
What happens if it reaches you
Google lists the possible consequences, and they are not all-or-nothing. Lower rankings. Full exclusion from results. A manual action. Losing eligibility for features such as Top Stories or Discover. Or having just one section of the site removed from the index.
That last one causes the most confusion, because the site still appears while part of it has stopped existing for Google.
What to do this week
Three things, in order, none taking more than an hour.
First, check Search Console. No manual action, breathe. Second, count how many pages on your site nobody has ever visited: content that exists and adds nothing is the profile these policies describe. Third, if you have used AI to produce content, check that each page offers something not already on ten other sites.
What not to do is rewrite the whole site just in case. More damage gets done reacting to an update than ignoring one.
And if the drop turns out to be speed or indexing rather than a penalty, the diagnosis changes completely. That is where Core Web Vitals and site architecture come in.
Frequently asked questions
When did the September spam update start and finish?
It began on 24 September 2026 and Google declared it complete on 8 October. The rollout lasted 13 days and 16 hours according to its status dashboard.
Does Google penalise AI-written content?
Not for using AI. Its policy covers producing many pages without adding value, and names generative AI as one way of doing that. The problem is empty volume, not the tool.
How do I know if I was affected?
Check for a manual action in Search Console and compare organic traffic before 24 September and after 8 October. A penalty usually concentrates on one group of pages.
How is this different from a core update?
A core update reorders on quality criteria and you may lose positions. A spam update acts against manipulative practices and can remove you from the index.
