Google Search Central is back at it again. Barely two months after the last one, Google recently announced the rollout of its August 2026 atualização de spam. This is the third spam update this year following June e a March 2026. Our team has already seen some publisher sites experience traffic shifts since the rollout began, so here’s what we know so far and what you can do about it.
What is Google’s August 2026 spam update?
Google has finished rolling out its August spam update. According to Google Search Central’s LinkedIn post, this is a normal spam update, and it applies to all languages and locations. It targets sites violating Google’s search spam policies. According to the Google Search Status Dashboard, the rollout began on August 18th and was complete by August 21st, taking 2 days and 16 hours in total.
This is the third spam update Google has released in 2026. If your rankings have moved recently or you noticed a shift in your traffic, it’s worth checking whether the timing lines up with this rollout.
What is a Google Search spam update?
These updates are improvements on Google’s SpamBrain AI-based spam-prevention system. They update this system regularly for it to be better at identifying spam and effectively catch new spam types and tactics.
What should publishers do about the August 2026 spam update?
No new spam policies were announced for this update, so Google recommends following its existing spam policies or your site might rank lower or not rank at all. We encourage you to review your site to make sure it complies with these policies. As a refresher, the practices Google’s spam policies cover include things like:
- Scaled content abuse (mass-producing low-value or auto-generated pages)
- Cloaking (showing search engines different content than users see)
- Expired domain abuse (repurposing an old domain’s authority for unrelated content)
- Site reputation abuse (hosting low-quality third-party content to borrow a site’s authority)
Keep in mind that if you noticed your site has been affected because Google’s spam-prevention system considers some of your practices spammy, fixing those practices is necessary. However, Google may need months of signals showing that the changes are genuine and sustained before your rankings improve.
Principais conclusões
- Google has finished rolling out the August 2026 spam update across all locations and languages. This is the third one this year after March and June.
- No new spam policies have been announced, so stick to the existing ones.
- If your site was negatively affected, focus on identifying and fixing any spam-related issues rather than expecting an immediate recovery. Google may need to see sustained improvements over time before rankings return.
Need help? Reach out to our team!
If you want us to review whether the new update is impacting your ad revenue, don’t hesitate to ask! Reach out to your Publisher Success Manager to look into your most recent performance insights.
You can also check out all our blog posts on SEO to learn more. Here you’ll find tons of articles on how to improve your visibility on the search engine results pages and how to survive the new era of discoverability.
