GOOGLE'S SPAM UPDATE IS DONE. IS YOUR SITE FULL OF PAGES NOBODY CHECKED?
Google's September 2026 spam update finished rolling out on October 8, 2026. The same week, SEO consultants reported more manual actions for thin and mass-produced content, including on long-standing, legitimate businesses. If your website gained a lot of pages quickly, from a tool, a cheap package or a template, now is a good time to read them the way a customer would.
AT A GLANCE
By Conqueror Capital · Published
The short answer: find pages that repeat the same text with a new city name, posts nobody in the business has read, and pages that answer no real customer question. Fix them, merge them, or remove them.
WHAT HAPPENED
Search Engine Roundtable reported that the September 2026 spam update started on September 24 and was complete on October 8, 2026. Google described it as a normal spam update for all languages and locations, with a rollout of up to two weeks.1
On the same day, Search Engine Roundtable covered reports from SEO consultants who are seeing more manual action penalties than in recent months. One consultant named the types they were seeing: thin content, pure spam and scaled content, and said most of the sites were legitimate, long-standing businesses.2
A spam update is automated. Google says sites that see a change after one should review its spam policies, and that improvements can come over a period of months once its systems learn the site complies.3
WHY REAL BUSINESSES GET CAUGHT
Most local businesses do not set out to spam Google. The risk comes from shortcuts: a package that promised a page for every town, a tool that wrote a year of blog posts in an afternoon, or old pages nobody has opened since the site launched.
Google's spam policies name the patterns. Scaled content abuse is many pages made mainly to rank rather than to help people, however they were made. Doorway pages are pages built to rank for similar searches that lead visitors to the same place. Thin affiliate and scraped content are also listed.4 A page can be written by a person or a tool; what matters is whether it adds anything.
THREE CHECKS FOR YOUR OWN SITE
- Copy-paste city pages. Open two of your location or service-area pages side by side. If the text is the same with only the town name changed, those pages are at risk. A good area page says something true about that area: the jobs you do there, how you get there, local rules or conditions.
- Posts nobody read. List the blog posts added in the last year. For each one, ask who in the business has read it and whether it is correct. A post with wrong prices, services you do not offer, or advice you would not give a customer should be fixed or taken down.
- Pages with no question. For each page, write the customer question it answers in one line. If you cannot, the page probably does not help anyone.
A simple test: if a page would not help a customer standing in front of you, it probably does not help you on Google either.
FIX, MERGE OR REMOVE
- Fix pages that answer a real question but say too little. Add the details only you know: your process, your prices if you publish them, photos of your own work, answers to the questions customers ask on the phone.
- Merge near-duplicate pages into one stronger page, and redirect the old addresses to it so visitors and links are not lost.
- Remove pages that no customer needs. Fewer, better pages are easier to keep accurate.
Our page for every town post explains when an area page earns its place, and our guide to local landing pages shows what to put on one.
WHAT CHANGES FOR MULTI-LOCATION AND ENTERPRISE SITES
The more pages a site has, the easier it is for weak ones to hide. For brands with many locations or a large service catalogue:
- Give every location page a real owner. The branch manager should confirm hours, services and local details at least twice a year.
- Set a publishing rule. No page goes live until someone who knows the business has read it.
- Audit by template. Pages built from one template share one weakness. Check a sample from each template, not just the home page.
- Watch Search Console. Check the Manual actions report and traffic by page group each month, so a drop is caught early.
Our mid-size and enterprise page explains how we support larger sites.
FAQ
When did the Google September 2026 spam update finish?
Search Engine Roundtable reported that it started on September 24, 2026 and was complete on October 8, 2026.
What is scaled content abuse?
Google's spam policies describe it as creating many pages mainly to manipulate search rankings rather than to help people, no matter how the content was made.
Are city pages with the same text a problem?
They can be. Google's spam policies list doorway pages, which are pages built to rank for similar searches. An area page should say something true and useful about that area.
How long does recovery from a spam update take?
Google says improvements can come once its automated systems learn, over a period of months, that the site complies with its spam policies.
Is AI-written content against Google's rules?
Not by itself. Google's policies focus on whether pages are made mainly to rank rather than to help people. Have someone in the business read and correct every page before it goes live.
SOURCES
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google September 2026 Spam Update Has Finished Rolling Out (October 8, 2026).
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Search Issuing More Google Manual Action Penalties? (October 8, 2026).
- Google Search Central, Google Search spam updates and your site.
- Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search.
Platforms change often. Check the sources for the current version before acting.
KEEP READING
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