Google Launches First 2025 Spam Update This Week

According to the Google Search Status Dashboard, the update began at 09:02 PDT on August 26. Google didn’t reveal much in the announcement, stating that it’s a “normal spam update, and it will roll out for all languages and locations.”

It’s expected to take a few weeks to complete, though the last spam updates in June and December 2024 lasted just seven days. Could this mean the update has a larger impact? Potentially.

For businesses and website owners, there should be little risk if you’re already adhering to Google’s spam policies. Based on Google’s own documentation, the update is simply a sign of Google improving its automated systems that detect spam.

Google advised website owners on what to do following the rollout:

“Sites that see a change after a spam update should review our spam policies to ensure they are complying with those. Sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. Making changes may help a site improve if our automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies with our spam policies.”

Ultimately, the main way to avoid being targeted by Google’s spam update is to focus on creating relevant content for your target audience. Don’t mislead or deceive readers with your pages, and don’t actively manipulate search results to boost your rankings.

This year, businesses have had to navigate two core updates already, making the August 2025 spam update the third installment:

• March 2025 core update:  March 13 – 27
• June 2025 core update: June 30 – July 17
• August 2025 spam update: August 26 – ?

Google aims to improve the quality of searches with these spam and core updates, removing spammy content and surfacing more helpful results in the SERPs. As a result, searchers should get better answers, and relevant websites should be featured. However, these updates haven’t always achieved what they set out to do.

However, securing good positions in the SERPs is now harder than ever, especially with sites like Reddit dominating results, and AI Overviews regularly taking up that prime top position.

And, with the new spam update, it can be easy for businesses to panic in the face of further volatility.

The best approach is to keep an eye on your site’s traffic and rankings over the next few weeks. Make sure your website is aligned with the latest spam policies, and avoid any major changes to your content until the rollout has finished.

I’ll make sure to update this page once the August 2025 spam update ends.