The June 2026 Spam update started rolling out on the 24th and it completed on the 26th of June. The update applied globally and to all languages, and Google labeled it as a regular spam update. As of now, this is the second of the spam updates of the year; the previous one was the March Spam update. As always, the information was available on the Google Search Status Dashboard.
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June 2026 Google Spam Update
What Was the June 2026 Spam Update?
The June 2026 Spam update was a standard update designed to improve Google’s automated detection of websites that break existing spam policies. One of the main purposes was to improve SpamBrain. SpamBrain is Google’s AI-powered system, trained to identify and downrank websites that don’t respect spam policies. No new spam categories were introduced with this spam update; the system was just improved to catch policy breaches more quickly and accurately.
June 2026 Google Spam Update Timeline
On June 24, Google officially announced the spam update, stating that it would take a few days to complete. The rollout began at 9 A.M. PDT, and some websites began noticing some changes in their ranking. On June 26, at 10:58 A.M. PDT, Google announced that the rollout was complete. The targets of the update were all websites that violated Google’s spam policies. All of the websites that used any kind of spam were negatively affected. The spam update was global and applied to all languages.
What Google’s Spam Policies Cover
There are a few spam policies that are known to negatively affect websites:
- Low-value scaled content is one of the most commonly broken spam policies.
- Keyword stuffing is a practice that many websites try, but Google punishes this by downranking the website.
- Cloaking, which refers to showing the search engine a version of a page and another version to the user, is one of Google’s spam policies.
- Deceptive redirects are similar, and it’s a spam tactic that sends the user to a different web address than what they clicked on.
- Expired domain abuse is a practice that involves buying an expired domain and using it to host unrelated and low-value content.
- Manipulative link tactics are another spam policy that can cause your website to be downgraded. Some examples are: hidden text, typosquatting, and buying backlinks.
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How to Check Whether Your Website Was Affected
When evaluating your search performance after a spam update, it’s important not to assume that every change is caused by it. If you noticed a performance decline between 24 and 26, know that it might not be caused by the spam update.
Review Search Console Data
If you want to know if your website was affected by the update, analyze your website’s performance on Google Search Console over a broader time frame, not just for the days the update rolled out. It’s best to compare the 4 weeks before and after the 4 weeks after the update. When comparing stats, look at the organic clicks, average positions, and impressions. Analyzing individual pages and queries allows you to spot exactly where changes occurred.
Separate Update Impact from Ranking Volatility
There are many other reasons why you would notice changes when it comes to your website’s performance that are not related to the update. Normal search ranking fluctuations and seasonal changes in user behavior are something every website deals with from time to time. If you made any recent website changes, those might be the reason for the performance changes. If your competitors improved their SEO, your website might take a hit too.
A sign that points towards the update as a cause would be drastic changes in traffic or rankings. If these changes are still present after the rollout finishes, it’s likely that they were caused by the spam update. One other sign would be that the pages that were affected share characteristics, such as manipulative SEO practices. If the performance declines are temporary or isolate, it’s unlikely that the cause is the latest update.
Spam Update
What to Do After the Google Spam Update
If you analyzed your stats and concluded that your website was affected by the June Spam update, you need to start focusing on long-term improvements. Analyze the pages that were affected the most and identify what they have in common. Remove any content that is not valuable, such as AI-written content or media, or content that is not relevant for the website. Fix all the technical problems, like slow page load speed and broken links.
You need to follow an approach that is based on data, and which aims to eliminate the root problem, not just the surface consequences. GAMIT can help you put together the most efficient strategy to support your website’s recovery and improve search visibility.
About Author
Ion G. Tudorache
As a co-founder and managing director of GAMIT I am the first contact of our clients. My job includes setting project objectives and offering SEO consulting advice to customers. My professional background and experience working in the SEO industry are essential in developing efficient SEO strategies and designing innovative techniques.
