Google’s September 2026 spam update started on 24 September and finished rolling out on 8 October, after 13 days and 16 hours — far longer than the three earlier spam updates this year. My take: if your plan for getting pages into Google is volume and shortcuts, this is the update that makes that plan expensive.
- Released 24 September 2026 at 09:15 PT, globally and in all languages, with a rollout of up to 14 days; it finished on 8 October after 13 days and 16 hours (Google Search Status Dashboard).
- It’s the fourth spam update of 2026, after March, June and August — each of which finished in under three days.
- Since May 2026, Google’s spam policies also cover AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- Recovery isn’t instant: Google says changes may help once its systems learn “over a period of months” that a site complies.
What happened?
Google posted the update on its Search Status Dashboard on Thursday: “Released the September 2026 spam update, which applies globally and to all languages. The rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.” That window ran to roughly 8 October, and Google’s dashboard now lists the rollout as complete as of 8 October 2026, after 13 days and 16 hours.
The length is the story. According to the same dashboard, the March 2026 spam update finished in 19.5 hours, June’s in about two days and August’s in under three. A two-week allowance usually means Google expects to process a lot — or is being cautious about how it lands. Either way, don’t read too much into ranking swings in the first few days; compare against the full window.
Why this matters for indexing
Most people think of spam updates as ranking events. For small and new sites, they’re often indexing events too. When Google decides a site’s pages are low value, the symptom in Search Console usually isn’t a penalty notice — it’s pages sliding into “Crawled – currently not indexed” and new pages never making it out of “Discovered”.
That’s why I’m wary of the “just force it into the index” mindset. Pushing hundreds of near-identical pages through indexing services, or abusing the Indexing API for blog posts, can get URLs crawled. It can’t make them worth keeping — and scaled, low-value pages are exactly what spam systems look for. Google has also said since May that the same rules apply to content aimed at AI Overviews and AI Mode, so “GEO content farms” are in scope too.
How to check if your site was affected
- Mark the dates. In Search Console’s Performance report, compare clicks and impressions from 24 September onwards with the weeks before. Wait until the rollout completes before drawing conclusions.
- Watch the Page indexing report. A sudden rise in “Crawled – currently not indexed” on pages that were indexed before is a stronger signal than a ranking wobble.
- Check Manual actions. Algorithmic updates don’t send notices, but a manual action would show up under Security & Manual actions.
- Review Google’s spam policies honestly: scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse, cloaking, doorway pages, link schemes.
What if you were hit?
Google’s guidance is blunt: sites that see a change “should review our spam policies”, and improvements come if Google’s systems “learn over a period of months that the site complies” (Google). For link spam it’s harsher: any ranking benefit from spammy links “cannot be regained”. That means removing or improving thin pages, consolidating duplicates with canonicals or redirects, and then waiting — not re-submitting the same URLs every day.
Four spam updates since March is a pattern, not an accident. The sites that come through are the ones that don’t need tricks to get indexed: fewer, better pages, linked from each other, on a server Google can crawl easily. If you have to force a page into the index, ask first whether it deserves to be there.
FAQ
When did the September 2026 spam update start?
On 24 September 2026 at 09:15 Pacific time. Google said the rollout may take up to two weeks to complete; it was complete as of 8 October 2026, after 13 days and 16 hours.
Does the September 2026 spam update target links?
Google described it as a normal spam update covering its spam policies, not specifically a link spam update.
How long does recovery from a spam update take?
Google says improvements may happen once its systems learn over a period of months that a site complies with its spam policies.
Can a spam update cause pages to be deindexed?
It can reduce rankings or remove pages from results. On small sites this often shows up as more pages marked “Crawled – currently not indexed” in Search Console.