On September 24 at 16:15 UTC, Google rolled out its September spam update for 2026, which impacts all languages and regions. According to Google, the deployment may take up to two weeks.
This marks the fourth such update for 2026, following updates in March, June, and August.
As reported by SEO publication Search Engine Roundtable, the three previous spam updates were deployed within a few days. However, a Google representative indicated that the September update will likely take longer to fully roll out.
The update is not specifically targeting link spam and does not cover all types of spam. Affected websites are advised to review Google's spam policies, with the understanding that recovery may take several months.