--- title: "Google Spam Update: What to Check If Your Rankings Dropped" description: Google's September 2026 spam update finished on 8 October. If your rankings dropped, here's how to tell if it was the update and what to fix first. image: https://jonathonshipton.com/hubfs/google-spam-update.webp --- [Skip to content](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/google-spam-update#main-content) [![Jonathon Shipton logo white](https://jonathonshipton.com/hubfs/js-logo-white.svg) ![Jonathon Shipton logo white](https://jonathonshipton.com/hubfs/js-logo-white.svg)](https://jonathonshipton.com) [Work with me](https://jonathonshipton.com/contact) - [About](https://jonathonshipton.com/about) - Services - [SEO Consulting](https://jonathonshipton.com/services/seo-consulting) - [SEO Ipswich](https://jonathonshipton.com/seo-ipswich) - [HubSpot Website Migration](https://jonathonshipton.com/services/hubspot-website-migration) - Industries - [Accounting](https://jonathonshipton.com/seo-for-accountants) - [Real Estate](https://jonathonshipton.com/seo-for-real-estate-agents) - [Construction](https://jonathonshipton.com/seo-for-construction-companies) - [Insights](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog) - [+61 493 364 801](tel:+61493364801) ###### 5 min read # Google Spam Update: What to Check If Your Rankings Dropped By: [Jonathon Shipton](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/author/jonathon-shipton) on 12 October 2026 [SEO](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/tag/seo) ![Google spam update September 2026 rollout timeline and what to check](https://jonathonshipton.com/hubfs/google-spam-update.webp) Google finished rolling out its September 2026 spam update on 8 October. If your traffic slid over the past fortnight, it's the obvious suspect, but for most business websites it won't be the cause. Spam updates go after sites that break Google's spam policies. The average accounting firm, IT provider or real estate agency isn't doing anything that would trip them, although some legitimate businesses have drifted closer to the line over the last two years through AI content and templated location pages. Here's how to work out whether the Google spam update touched your site, and what to do if it did. ## The September 2026 spam update ran for 14 days, which is unusually long Google announced the update on 24 September and confirmed it was complete on 8 October. Its ranking update history puts the rollout at 13 days and 16 hours, [according to Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-september-2026-spam-update-complete/592283/). That's slow for a spam update. Google has released 4 this year, and the first 3 (March, June and August) each wrapped up in under 3 days. Google said very little about it. It confirmed the update "applies globally and to all languages" and described it on LinkedIn as "a normal spam update". It didn't say which policies it was aimed at or how many searches were affected. So be wary of anyone claiming to know exactly what this update targeted. Only Google knows, and it hasn't said. ## Google hasn't named a target, so check the two policies that catch ordinary businesses Google's [spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) cover 16 named practices, from cloaking to sneaky redirects. Most of them describe deliberate manipulation that a professional services business would never go near. Twoof them are different. They can creep onto a perfectly respectable site through normal marketing decisions. **Scaled content abuse.** Google defines it as "when many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users", and it applies "no matter how it's created." The first example on Google's list is "using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users." If someone published 50 AI blog posts on your site last year to build topical authority, those posts sit closest to this policy. **Doorway abuse.** One of Google's listed examples is "having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page." Swap-the-suburb location pages are the common version. 30 pages for 30 suburbs, each with identical copy and a different place name, is about as close to that example as you can get. I've been saying for a while that AI content at scale is a liability, and Google's spam systems keep getting better at finding it. It's the reason a cheap content package can cost far more than it saved. ## Check your dates before you blame the update Rankings move every week for reasons unrelated to anything Google announces. Match the drop to the timeline first. Open Google Search Console, go to the Performance report and set the date range from 1 September to today. You're looking for a clear step down that starts after 24 September. Search Engine Roundtable tracked the heaviest movement on 25 to 27 September, 30 September and 4 to 6 October. A drop that lines up with one of those windows is a reasonable signal. Trackers also picked up volatility around 15 September, before the update was announced, so a drop from that date points somewhere else. If the timing doesn't fit, check what changed on your end. A migration, a redesign, a template change that wiped your title tags or a bad robots.txt edit will do more damage than most algorithm updates. I've covered that in more detail in [why websites lose traffic after a redesign](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/my-website-gets-no-traffic-after-redesign). While you're in Search Console, open the Manual actions report too. Spam updates are automated. A manual action means a person at Google reviewed your site, and it comes with a stated reason and a reconsideration process. If that report is empty, you're dealing with the algorithm. ## A spam update is a different problem from a core update Core updates reassess how relevant and useful your pages are compared with everything else competing for the same searches. Google has run two this year, in March and May. If a core update drops you, a competitor may simply have published something better. A spam update asks a narrower question: does this site break a policy? Google's documentation says sites that do "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all." That changes the fix. Rewriting content to be more helpful won't do much if the underlying issue is 200 near-identical pages. You have to remove or repair whatever breaks the policy. It also changes the timeline. Google's [guidance on spam updates](https://developers.google.com/search/updates/spam-updates) says changes may help once its "automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies." That's months, so plan for a slow recovery. ## What to do if the Google spam update hit your site If the dates line up and there's no manual action, work through it in this order. 1. **Find the pages that lost the most.** In Search Console, compare clicks by page for the 4 weeks before 24 September against the 4 weeks after. Sort by the biggest losses. 2. **Look at the losers as a group.** If they're mostly blog posts published in a burst, or location pages built from one template, you've probably found the cause. 3. **Decide what each page deserves.** Consolidate overlapping posts into one stronger page and 301 redirect the rest. Rewrite location pages for areas you really serve with local detail, like the work you've done there and how you service it. Remove or noindex the pages that only exist to catch a suburb name. 4. **Check the rest of the site against the policies.** You don't want to fix one problem and leave another sitting there. 5. **Then leave it alone.** Resist the urge to publish a fresh batch of content or buy links to rebuild authority. Buying links breaches the link spam policy in its own right, and a rushed batch of content repeats the original problem. After that, check rankings and clicks monthly. Recovery from a spam update is slow and uneven, and watching it daily will drive you mad. ## Most sites came through fine, and the reason is boring A site with fewer pages, each written for a search someone actually makes, has very little to fear from a spam update. Google has run four this year, and I'd expect a site built that way to have slept through all of them. It's the same advice I'd give for core updates, AI search and whatever Google announces next. The fundamentals keep paying off. If your traffic dropped over the last month and you can't pin down why, an [SEO audit](https://jonathonshipton.com/seo-audit) will find what changed and what to fix first. ![Jonathon Shipton](https://jonathonshipton.com/hubfs/headshot.png) About author Jonathon Shipton Jonathon Shipton is a freelance [digital marketing consultant in Brisbane](https://jonathonshipton.com). He specialises in search engine optimisation (SEO) and HubSpot website migrations. ## [Why Your Website Isn't Generating Leads](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/why-your-website-isnt-generating-leads) Manywebsites don't generate leads. Not because the business isn't credible, and not because the... ## [Website Redesign Agency vs Specialist](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/why-a-marketing-agency-isnt-always-the-right-call-for-a-website-redesign) You've been through it before. You briefed an agency, paid the retainer, sat through the discovery... ## [Is SEO Dead With AI? Reality & Future Strategy](https://jonathonshipton.com/blog/is-seo-dead-with-ai) Every year or two, someone announces that SEO is dead. This time AI is holding the knife. AI... ##### About About Jonathon Shipton is a freelance digital marketing consultant in Brisbane. 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