Caught by Google’s spam update? Don’t make recovery harder

Google’s August 2026 spam update has caused considerable confusion across the industry. Google has confirmed that the update is complete, but a number of publishers have seen their search visibility drop considerably, including sites that had been performing well in Google Search for years.

The timing was unfortunate. The update came during the summer vacation period, when many businesses were running with reduced teams and fewer people available to investigate. Fortunately, affected retailers in particular still have a window to address the problem before Q4 sales get underway.

At the same time, Google is issuing a wave of manual spam actions, commonly referred to as Google penalties. Far fewer sites are affected by manual actions than by the latest spam update, but a significant number of publishers appear to be affected by both. That means some websites are dealing with two serious problems at once.

In either case, the consequences for an online business can be serious. When organic search is a major source of converting traffic, losing visibility can quickly become a cash flow problem. Staying calm and taking the right steps can make all the difference.

What the August spam update means for affected sites

Significant ranking drops that correlate with the release of a Google update can reasonably be attributed to poor or inconsistent signals. In the case of the August 2026 spam update, however, content quality appears to be a primary issue.

There’s been considerable speculation that the update specifically targets websites that use AI to produce content. Google doesn’t specifically target content based on how it was produced. Aggregated, spun, and generated content existed long before the arrival of LLMs. What matters is the quality of the content Google can crawl and index.

For websites affected by the update, the issue is likely insufficient human oversight to maintain a minimum standard of content quality. Without proper oversight, the quality of published content is likely to decline over time.

Dig deeper: Google’s August 2026 spam update hit rankings harder than normal

What to investigate after a ranking drop

Crawl the affected website and analyze its server log data. Server logs can reveal things that SEO tools don’t, such as sections of the website that bots frequently visited shortly before a significant ranking change. Commercial crawlers such as Lumar and JetOctopus can be useful for this type of investigation.

Have an independent third party conduct the investigation instead of the in-house team. There’s an obvious conflict of interest when the team responsible for the website’s development and daily operations is tasked with determining what went wrong. 

The objective should be to bring the website’s technical signals into alignment while maintaining strict content quality standards and full compliance with Google’s Search Essentials policies. In some cases, recovery may require changes to the business model itself. A model can work successfully for years and still conflict with Google’s policies. Mixing editorial and paid content is one example.

Once you’ve made the necessary changes in the production system, Google’s crawl frequency determines how quickly it notices and takes those changes into account. This can still take months. That’s why prevention and contingency planning are both more cost-effective and strongly recommended.

Dig deeper: How to de-risk your SEO strategy when Google keeps changing the model behind your rankings

When Google takes manual action

The impact of a manual spam action is far more daunting. It’s a targeted action that typically is confirmed through Google Search Console.

While manual actions are often applied at a granular level, for example, to a subdomain or directory, leaving even a partial penalty unresolved can increasingly affect rankings across the entire website. A manual spam action can’t be left to linger.

Prolonged poor rankings, whether caused by a manual action or poor quality signals, can have a lasting, damaging effect on visibility, even after the issue is resolved. Rankings aren’t guaranteed. If one website is no longer ranking because of its signals, another will take its place. Leaving a ranking problem unattended, even when it’s initially limited to one section of a website, is the worst possible approach.

Affected publishers shouldn’t apply for reconsideration before fully addressing the specific issue Google highlighted. Hasty actions, such as deleting content wholesale or applying for reconsideration prematurely, can lead to rejection. Each consecutive rejection can make the subsequent effort more difficult and costly.

Previously, resolving the issue identified in Google Search Console was sufficient. That, however, is no longer the case.

To have a penalty lifted today, the website must be fully compliant with Google’s Spam Policies. The website needs a full compliance audit, which can require substantial effort.

At the same time, the risk of prolonging a Google penalty and the cost of continued ranking declines usually far outweigh the expense of comprehensively addressing the underlying problem. Experience shows that the investigation and remediation should be handled by a third party that isn’t emotionally invested in the website affected by the penalty.

Dig deeper: Google penalties: Why prevention is cheaper than recovery

Reducing the business risk of Google penalties

Even after all the necessary steps have been taken, getting a manual spam action lifted can take months. Google doesn’t guarantee a turnaround time for reconsideration requests.

A conservative, preventive approach is far less costly than remediation. Staying compliant with Google’s policies, conducting regular defensive audits, and maintaining a solid due diligence process can help identify issues before they result in a penalty. 

Contingency planning is equally important, particularly when known issues, such as existing advertiser agreements, can’t be fully addressed. No business should rely entirely on a single revenue-generating source.

Relying on Google Search for 50% or more of your sales creates significant business risk. A diversified traffic acquisition strategy can reduce dependence on Google and help mitigate that exposure.

Bing Search is one option, while building a recognizable brand can increase direct traffic and reduce reliance on Google. Larger publishers may also consider developing multiple distinct and independent brands as part of a broader diversification strategy.

The best way to manage this risk is to prevent a penalty from occurring in the first place.