August 27, 2025
Yesterday, Google announced the rollout of the August 2025 spam update. This is the first spam update of the year, as the last spam update was released in December 2024.
Google has stated this is a ‘normal spam update’ that will take a few weeks to complete. They announced the update via X:
As with most spam updates, Google has provided no specific details, only that the update will apply to all countries and languages.
Google periodically releases spam updates to penalise websites that violate the spam policies in an attempt to manipulate the search engine into ranking content highly. This can include cloaking, hidden text, scraping, and link spamming.
Google has regularly released spam updates over the last few years. Here’s a timeline:
Last year, Google aimed to reduce unhelpful content by 40% and, in April 2024, Google stated there was now 45% less low-quality content in the search results.
So far there has been little movement in the SERPs. Barry Schwartz posted on X:
Although volatility had been unusual just a few days prior, leading many to suspect something was about to happen:
Spam updates should only affect your website if you are in violation of Google's spam policies. Review these to ensure you are compliant. If you notice anything that doesn’t comply, remove and replace the offending content as soon as possible. If you are concerned about being hit by this update, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
