On 18 August 2026, Google launched another spam update. The rollout took just three days and covered all countries and languages, including Polish. Google described it as a regular update, i.e. one that improves the detection of new types of spam and the enforcement of existing policies. For the owner of a business website, this means one thing: if visibility has clearly dropped since 18 August, it is worth checking whether the cause lies in practices that Google considers spam.

How a spam update differs from a core update

A core update changes the way content quality is assessed and affects all websites. A spam update works differently: it targets specific policy violations. A website that does not break these policies should not lose out. A website that does break them can lose a lot, and quickly, and regaining rankings usually takes months, because Google has to build up trust in the site again.

The most common problem for small businesses: mass-generated content

In Google’s spam policies there is a point that applies to a surprising number of business websites: scaled content abuse. This means creating many pages mainly in order to gain rankings, without any real value for the reader. It makes no difference whether the texts were written by a person or by an AI tool.

A classic example is several dozen subpages of the service + city type that differ only in the name of the town. A company from one city publishes pages for Szczecin, Rzeszów and Białystok, even though it has never worked there. For years, this tactic worked. Today it is a warning sign for the algorithm.

We are writing about this from our own experience. Our website also had subpages like these, inherited from an old strategy. Data from Google Search Console showed that they generate practically no impressions, while diluting the topic of the entire site. In September 2026, we are redirecting 34 of them to two proper service pages and keeping only the cities where we actually operate: Gdynia, Gdańsk, Sopot, Rumia, Reda and Wejherowo.

How to check your website in 5 steps

1. Compare periods in Search Console. Set the two weeks before 18 August against the two weeks after 21 August. A drop visible precisely in this window is the first clue.
2. Check the Manual actions tab. If it is empty, the problem is algorithmic in nature and does not require filing a request, only a fix.
3. Count your template pages. How many subpages differ only in the name of a city, product or industry? If there are more than a few, that is the prime suspect.
4. Assess texts from generators. AI content is not prohibited. What is prohibited is content without value: generalities, no examples, no data of your own.
5. Review your inbound links. Link packages from directories and private blog networks bought in bulk are the second common reason for drops.

What to do if your visibility has dropped

• Merge template pages into one strong service page and set up 301 redirects.
• Keep local subpages only where you have something real to show: completed projects, reviews, an address, a team.
• Enrich your content with specifics: figures, screenshots, case studies. You will find an example of how this can look in our case study of the L’Entre Villes restaurant in Sopot.
• Do not delete pages without redirects. Every deleted URL should lead to its closest topical equivalent.
• Be patient. After a clean-up, Google usually needs a few weeks to reassess the site.

Should a small business be afraid

Not if the website describes what the business really does, and where it really operates. Spam updates benefit honest local businesses, because they remove from the results those sites that were taking up space with artificially produced content.

If you are not sure how your website measures up against these policies, order a free SEO audit. We will check the structure of your site, its content and links, and discuss the results with you during a short call.

Sources: Google Search Status Dashboard, Google’s spam policies for web search, industry summaries from September 2026.