August 28, 2025

Google Rolls Out August 2025 Spam Update — Here’s What You Need to Know

Google has officially launched the August 2025 Spam Update, beginning on August 26, 2025, around 12:00 pm ET. The update is rolling out globally, across all languages, and is expected to take several weeks to fully complete.

What Google Said

The announcement was made on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn, with Google confirming:

“Today we released the August 2025 spam update.
It may take a few weeks to complete, and we’ll post on the Google Search Status Dashboard when the rollout is done.”

This mirrors the company’s usual communication style for search ranking updates.

How This Update Compares

The last spam update was in December 2024, a rollout that caught publishers off guard by starting right before the holiday season. That update finished in just seven days. By contrast, the August 2025 update is expected to take about three times longer, stretching over roughly three weeks.

Quick Facts: Google August 2025 Spam Update

Name: August 2025 Spam Update
Launch Date: August 26, 2025 (12:00 pm ET)
Rollout Duration: About 3 weeks
Scope: Global, all languages
Targets: Sites violating Google’s spam policies
Not Targeting: Link spam or site reputation abuse policies
Impact: Google hasn’t disclosed how many queries are affected
Penalty: Affects sites using spam techniques that break Google’s rules
Recovery: Requires reviewing and complying with Google’s spam policies; recovery may take months as systems re-evaluate sites
Refreshes: Periodic refreshes will happen, but they’re not on a fixed schedule

What’s Changing?

Google hasn’t introduced new documentation with this update. Instead, this rollout seems to be a refinement of its existing spam-detection systems, most notably SpamBrain, the AI-driven tool used to prevent search spam.

Google’s spam update page (last refreshed on August 22, 2025) shows no major policy changes since December, but it’s safe to assume that the underlying spam algorithms were tweaked to better identify abusive tactics.

There is nothing specifically new about this update, outside of Google saying they are running it again.

What Website Owners Should Do

If your site is negatively affected by this update:

Review Google’s spam policies carefully.
Make changes to ensure compliance. Sites violating spam rules may see lower rankings or even removal from search results.
Be patient. Even if issues are fixed, recovery often takes months, as Google’s automated systems gradually reassess your site.

Bottom Line

The August 2025 Spam Update is another step in Google’s ongoing effort to improve search quality by cracking down on spam. While it doesn’t bring sweeping new policies, its longer rollout suggests more significant refinements under the hood. For site owners, the best defense remains the same: stay compliant with Google’s guidelines and focus on high-quality, user-first content.