Spam Update Still Driving the Weather
The September 2026 spam update is the main storm system over Google today. Google says it started on September 24 at 9:15 a.m. PDT, applies globally, covers all languages, and may take up to two weeks to finish. Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal both frame this as the fourth confirmed spam update of 2026, after March, June, and August.
Search Engine Roundtable reported that the first hard hit showed up over the weekend, especially September 25-27, with tool data and community chatter pointing to big drops across multiple countries and verticals. Early outside observations suggest heavily templated, programmatic, and likely AI-generated pages may be getting clipped, though Google has not named a specific target.
Volatility Is Cooling, Not Calm
Today’s partial volatility score is 6.1/10, so this is not a quiet day. But the trend matters: rankings peaked hotter around 7.8/10 on September 26 and have cooled since. That means the update may be settling after the weekend blast, but site owners should not call the all-clear while the rollout is only on day 6.
AI And Visual Search Stay In The Background
Google’s recent Search Console multimodal filter is worth checking if images, products, or local visuals matter to your business. It shows traffic from Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and similar searches, though not the exact query text.
Search Engine Roundtable also flagged Google’s small AI contribution pilot, where some publishers are being paid when their content contributes to AI Overviews, AI Mode, or Gemini answers. The reported payouts look uneven and, for many, tiny compared with ad revenue.
What To Do
Do not panic-edit every page. Compare Search Console data from September 24 onward, look for pages with thin, duplicated, scaled, or doorway-like content, and fix patterns, not symptoms.
