Google algorithm updates since December 2025, with dates

Google’s September 2026 spam update rolled out from September 24 to October 8, 2026 (14 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: the update “applies globally and to all languages.”

What it means for a traffic drop: a spam update demotes sites Google finds breaking its spam policies. If your drop started in this window and your site is clean, check whether a site change landed at the same time before you blame the update.

Cases in this window: A core update, then three spam updates

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s August 2026 spam update rolled out from August 18 to August 21, 2026 (3 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: the update “applies globally and to all languages.”

What it means for a traffic drop: a short spam rollout means a drop tied to it shows up within days, not weeks. A drop that starts weeks later points somewhere else.

Cases in this window: A core update, then three spam updates

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s June 2026 spam update rolled out from June 24 to June 26, 2026 (2 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: the update “applies globally and to all languages.”

What it means for a traffic drop: if your clicks broke in the last week of June and nothing changed on your site, this update is a suspect. Check Search Console’s Manual actions report too: a manual penalty is separate from an update.

Cases in this window: A core update, then three spam updates

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s May 2026 core update rolled out from May 21 to June 2, 2026 (12 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: “The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.”

What it means for a traffic drop: a core update re-ranks pages across the web, so the effect can build over the whole rollout. If you moved domains or relaunched around the same time, test that first: domain moves are slow to recover on their own.

Cases in this window: A domain move Google hasn’t caught up with

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s March 2026 core update rolled out from March 27 to April 8, 2026 (12 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: “The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.”

What it means for a traffic drop: a drop in April 2026 lines up with this update, but that alone doesn’t convict it. In one of our cases, a redesign two months earlier had left 16 of 30 sampled old URLs returning 404.

Cases in this window: A redesign and a core update, weeks apart · A core update, then three spam updates

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s March 2026 spam update rolled out from March 24 to March 25, 2026 (1 day), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: the update “applies globally and to all languages.”

What it means for a traffic drop: it finished two days before the March 2026 core update began, so a late-March drop can have either as a suspect. Search Console’s daily clicks are the only way to tell which date your drop started on.

Cases in this window: none of our four cases is attributed to it.

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s February 2026 Discover update rolled out from February 5 to February 27, 2026 (22 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: the update was “for English language users in the US.”

What it means for a traffic drop: this update changed Discover, the article feed in the Google app, not regular search results. If your search clicks fell in February, look elsewhere; if only your Discover traffic fell, this is the suspect. Search Console reports the two separately.

Cases in this window: none of our four cases.

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Google’s December 2025 core update rolled out from December 11 to December 29, 2025 (18 days), according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.

Google’s notice: “The rollout may take up to 3 weeks to complete.”

What it means for a traffic drop: a long rollout over the holidays makes the drop date harder to read, because many sites have a seasonal December dip anyway. Compare with December 2024 before you blame the update.

Cases in this window: A core update, and nothing else changed

Did this update cause your drop? · Google’s notice

Check your old URLs before you blame the update. If pages that ranked before your relaunch now return errors or redirect to the homepage, your site is a suspect whatever the calendar says.

Your redesign · The update-overlay step

Every entry comes from Google’s Search Status Dashboard (status.search.google.com). We list confirmed ranking updates only; short serving incidents are left out. We check the dashboard within one business day of a new incident.