I had already been looking out for a Core Update in August, I wrote about it in one of my posts. Instead of a Core Update in August, we got a Spam Update. In September, when the pudding in the SERPs was already bubbling properly and we all had the feeling that Google was about to announce a Core Update, we got another Spam Update.
And this is where things get really interesting, because if we look at the official Google Search Status Dashboard, this is not the second or even the third Spam Update this year.
In 2026, Google has already launched:
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March 2026 spam update — March 24, 2026, lasted around 19 hours and 30 minutes,
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June 2026 spam update — June 24, 2026, lasted around 2 days and 1 hour,
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August 2026 spam update — August 18, 2026, lasted around 2 days and 16 hours,
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September 2026 spam update — started on September 24, 2026 and at the time of writing this article is still ongoing.
So that makes four Spam Updates in nine months, with the last two launched practically month after month.
For comparison, during the same period we had only two classic Core Updates: March 2026 core update , which started on March 27, and May 2026 core update , launched on May 21.
Read: Are We Entering Another Roller Coaster Before the August 2026 Core Update?
What exactly is a Spam Update?
Google continuously uses automated systems to detect spam. So it is not as if, between official Spam Updates, the search engine suddenly stops fighting spam. These systems operate all the time.
A Spam Update, however, means a larger change or improvement in the way Google’s systems recognize activities intended to manipulate search results. One such system is SpamBrain , Google’s AI-based system responsible for detecting spam. Google officially states that subsequent updates are intended, among other things, to enable the detection of new types of spam.
This is important because spam in 2026 no longer has to look like a website with a thousand keywords, hidden text and five hundred links to casinos.
Google itself defines spam much more broadly: it is about techniques used to deceive users or manipulate search systems in order to gain better visibility.
What is particularly interesting here is the concept of scaled content abuse . Google describes it as creating large numbers of pages primarily to manipulate rankings instead of helping users. And importantly — it does not matter whether the content was generated by AI, a human, automation or a combination of those methods. What matters is the purpose and the added value.
The spam problem is not subtle
OK, month after month we have two consecutive Spam Updates. This is not a coincidence and it has some purpose. In my opinion, Google still has a problem hunting down spam. Spam has become very subtle lately. For example, we have a website that has a plugin for automatically generating articles: one every hour, the articles are shallow but correct and SEO-optimized. If some sponsored posts appear among them, then the situation becomes obvious. But what if the content growth is one article per day, there are no outgoing links and those links only point to transactional pages within the website, while the website itself turns out to be a company website with full company details, terms and conditions, an address and a contact page. How do you determine whether this is spam or not. You will say spam, while someone who has used the services of that company will say it is not. It is not spam because they themselves used the services of that company and found the articles helpful. Do you understand? We have two distribution models for exactly the same content. The first one we will unquestionably call spam, the second one, despite being the same thing, but wrapped in a corporate package, is no longer perceived as spam.
And this is exactly where the real problem for the algorithm begins.
A machine cannot punish a website simply because it publishes frequently. A company may actually have the knowledge, employees, an editorial team and genuinely prepare good material every day. It also cannot automatically decide that content generated with the help of AI is spam, because the use of AI itself is not what Google defines as scaled content abuse.
So it has to recognize intent, repetition, added value, the relationship between the content and the entire website, and the actual usefulness of the page .
And that is much more difficult than finding 200 identical pages with only the city name replaced.
In the case of companies, the issue is often even sharper. Do you remember those local offers for your city from a company that has only one office on the other side of the country? Exactly.
Interestingly, Google even has a separate category for very similar behavior: doorway abuse . In its official documentation, one of the examples it gives is creating many pages targeted at specific regions or cities that ultimately lead the user to the same service or the same place.
Now let’s imagine something very simple.
A company offers air conditioning installation. It has one real offer. AI takes that offer and creates:
“Air conditioning installation Poznań”.
“Air conditioning installation Gniezno”.
“Air conditioning installation Konin”.
“Air conditioning installation Leszno”.
Then another 196 cities.
The texts are not identical. The headings, paragraphs, FAQ, local names and perhaps even the images change. Technically, every page is “unique”.
But did the user receive 200 new services because of that?
No.
They received one service wrapped 200 times.
And this is exactly where the fun begins for Google’s anti-spam systems.
A difficult matter, but that is not my problem, I did not invent Google.
What can we expect?
I think Google is teaching its machines to recognize this kind of subtle spam because in many industries it is what clutters the main results. As I mentioned earlier, all you need is a strong domain, you add one offer, and AI turns it into another 200 cities for you: unique text, local keywords and you are visible online — but it is simply ordinary spam, unwanted spam at that. The problem with this spam is that the Core Update rewards it LOL. So the Spam Update has to come first to wipe out this type of website, and only after that process can a Core Update be released. We will still see how the current update ends. I myself am watching several websites that are cleverly maneuvering somewhere between spam and lower-quality corporate writing, and perhaps their behavior in the SERPs will tell us more during the Core Update.
Of course, the part about “clearing the playing field before a Core Update” is my hypothesis. Google has never announced that a Spam Update has to precede a Core Update.
But the sequence of events is interesting.
May 21 — Core Update starts.
June 24 — Spam Update.
August 18 — another Spam Update.
September 24 — another Spam Update.
And there is still no Core Update.
When will the Core Update finally arrive?
If we have a Spam Update after the August Spam Update, then for me there are two possibilities: either Google missed its planned timing for the Core Update and wants to clean up the playing field a bit more, or the August Spam Update did not clean up the playing field the way they had planned. Nevertheless, expect a Core Update because this is a matter of a few weeks at most. Let’s look at the data.
The Google Search Status Dashboard currently stores history covering the last five years. If we take all the Core Updates visible there from November 2021 to May 2026 and calculate the interval between the start dates of each consecutive update, we get 15 intervals .
The average interval is approximately 109.7 days .
The median is 109 days .
So, simplifying it heavily: the historical “center” of Core Update frequency over the available period comes out to roughly every three and a half months.
The longest intervals looked like this:
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November 17, 2021 → May 25, 2022: 189 days ,
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September 12, 2022 → March 15, 2023: 184 days ,
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June 30, 2025 → December 11, 2025: 164 days ,
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March 5, 2024 → August 15, 2024: 163 days ,
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March 15, 2023 → August 22, 2023: 160 days .
And here we have a very interesting point of reference.
Last year, between the June 2025 core update and the December 2025 core update , 164 days passed. This was a record-long window in the most recent part of the history — the longest since 2023. Across the entire five-year range of the dashboard, only two intervals from 2021–2023 were longer.
Now let’s look at 2026.
The last Core Update started on May 21, 2026 .
Today is September 25 .
So 127 days have already passed.
That means we are already 18 days above the median and around 17 days above the average from the available history.
It is not a record yet. We are still some way from last year’s 164 days. But we are no longer in a normal, short interval between updates either.
If Google launched a Core Update only on October 31 , the interval would be exactly 163 days .
So practically the same as between the March 2024 Core Update and the August 2024 Core Update, and only one day shorter than last year’s exceptionally long wait between June and December.
That is why, for me, the rational maximum window remains the end of October .
Not because Google is obliged to release something by then. There is no Core Update schedule and they can just as well drag it out further.
It is simply that the deeper we go into November, the closer we get to the longest historical intervals visible in the dashboard.
And on top of that, we have just had the second Spam Update in a row.
Coincidence?
Possible.
Cleaning up the index before a bigger reshuffle?
Also possible.
For now, I’m watching the pudding. 🥣
Summary
The September 2026 Spam Update is already Google’s fourth spam update this year , and the second launched almost month after month. This suggests that fighting increasingly subtle forms of spam — including scaled content and local doorway pages — remains a major focus.
At the same time, 127 days have passed since the last Core Update , compared with a historical average and median of around 110 days. That does not prove anything, but it makes October a very plausible window for the next Core Update .
For now, all we can do is watch how the current Spam Update reshapes the SERPs — and whether a Core Update follows shortly after.