Spam Update Still Driving the Weather
Google's September 2026 spam update is the main weather system over search today, October 2, 2026. Google's own status dashboard lists the update under ranking systems starting September 24, and Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Land both confirm it is global, all languages, and may take up to two weeks to finish. This is not just a one-day wobble. Treat traffic swings as storm bands moving through, not final verdicts yet.
Rankings Are Holding in Moderate Turbulence
The live volatility read is 6.5/10, but that is still partial, with only 6 of 12 providers reporting so far. The completed-score story matters more: search results have been in a moderate-high stretch since September 23, peaked at 7.8/10 on September 26, and have stayed warm rather than cooling off.
Search Engine Roundtable is seeing the same pattern from the community side: a first wave around September 25-27, then a likely second wave around September 30 and October 1, including chatter about Discover and News traffic dropping hard for some publishers.
AI Search Is Still Changing the Ground
The other big pressure system is AI visibility. Search Engine Land reported October 1 that AI Overviews jumped from 26% to 80% of branded queries in DemandSphere data, while separate testing found AI summaries for 93 of 100 brands. That means even if rankings hold, clicks may not. Google Search Central's Barcelona Deep Dive also wraps today with sessions on serving, ranking, search trends, and AI features, which underlines where Google's attention is going.
What to Do
Do not panic-edit every page. Check Search Console by page and query, compare changes against September 24, September 30, and October 1, and audit obvious spam risks: thin scaled pages, doorway pages, copied content, fake reviews, and manipulative links.
