Google says it’s rolling out the August 2026 spam update, and it expects the rollout to complete in a few days.
“Released the August 2026 spam update, which applies globally and to all languages. The rollout may take a few days to complete,” Google noted in a status update.
A search algorithm update was expected in August because of the movements we have had in SERPs, as Search Engine Watch previously reported.
Quite a lot of users have been reporting major changes to Google’s SERPs, including reduced clicks across Search and Discover.
It’s unclear if those movements were due to the spam update, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Google drops a new Core update, as it usually does after releasing a spam update.
Who is affected by the spam update?
As the name suggests, sites engaged in spam activities usually see the impact, but there have been incidents in the past when a perfectly good site was affected by it.
In Google’s own words:
“While Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly operating, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work,” Google noted in a support document last updated in 2025.
“When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.”
Are you seeing movements after the update? Let me know in the comments below.
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