Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Digital SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
Google’s latest September spam update is coming to an end after running for 14 days. The update started on 24th September and finished on the 8th October and has been the longest spam update in 2026.
Google’s spam updates are used to target sites that violate Google’s search spam policies and with the emergence of AI content it is no surprise that this was the longest spam update to date, with 35% of new webpages now using AI content in some form.
Google Search Spam Policies
Google’s search spam policies are designed to protect the quality of its search results and user experiences. The search spam policies can lead to ranking losses or outright bans if terms are violated. Some major spam abuses include:
Content abuse – Creating large amounts of unoriginal, low quality content
Site reputation abuse – Hosting third party low quality spammy content on a reputable sights
Backlink abuse – Buying or selling links to try and manipulate rankings and increase the authority of your site
Keyword stuffing – Artificially inflating the use of certain keywords on a page unnaturally to try and rank for them on Google search engines.
What to do if your rankings drop?
A site in violation of Google’s search policies may face penalties and ranking drops. Google’s search spam update documentation lays out clear guidelines on how a site may lose rankings and what controls site owners have to recover their rankings.
“Sites that see a change after a spam update should review our spam policies to ensure they are complying with those. Sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. Making changes may help a site improve if our automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies with our spam policies.
In the case of a link spam update (an update that specifically deals with link spam), making changes might not generate an improvement. This is because when our systems remove the effects spammy links may have, any ranking benefit the links may have previously generated for your site is lost. Any potential ranking benefits generated by those links cannot be regained.”
With Google’s September spam update now complete, site owners should closely monitor their organic traffic and keyword rankings over the coming weeks to identify any significant changes.
If your website has experienced a drop in visibility, it’s important not to rush into making changes. Instead, review your content quality, backlink profile and overall SEO strategy to identify any potential violations of Google’s spam policies.
Ultimately, this update serves as another reminder that Google continues to prioritise high quality, original content that provides genuine value to users. Websites that focus on sustainable SEO practices and put user experience first will be better positioned to maintain their search visibility in the long term.
