Window
2026-09-24 primary day: spam update start + GSC multimodal reporting.
Scope
Classic SEO and GEO: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Bing Copilot and AI Search, ChatGPT Search, and Perplexity. No Chinese or Baidu sources.
Status
September 2026 spam update in progress (started 2026-09-24 09:15 US/Pacific; Google said up to two weeks).
Confidence
Official

Summary

  • SEO (official): September 2026 spam update starts; global; up to ~two weeks.
  • Measurement: GSC multimodal filter for Lens / Circle to Search / image-upload queries (no query strings).
  • Docs: VideoObject creator / interactionStatistic clarifications.

01

Google September 2026 spam update begins (global, up to two weeks)

Official

What happened

Status Dashboard / incident log: September 2026 spam update released 2026-09-24 09:15 US/Pacific, applying globally and to all languages. Google: rollout may take up to two weeks. Fourth confirmed spam update of 2026 after March, June, and August. No specific spam tactic named in the dashboard note.

Why it matters

Official classic SEO event. Compare GSC impressions/clicks for Sep 24 onward against prior weeks; recovery after spam updates can take months of demonstrated compliance. Do not invent which spam policy was targeted—Google did not say.

Source

  1. Google Search Status — September 2026 spam update incident
  2. Google Search Status Dashboard — Ranking history checked
  3. Search Engine Journal — Google Rolls Out September 2026 Spam Update Globally
  4. Search Engine Land — Google releases September 2026 spam update
  5. Search Engine Roundtable — Google September 2026 Spam Update Is Rolling Out

02

Search Console: multimodal filter for image-based web searches

Official

What happened

Search Central Blog (2026-09-24, Harsh Kharbanda & Moshe Samet): GSC Performance (and Generative AI features report) gains a multimodal search-type filter for results where an image was part of the query—Lens, Circle to Search (Android), image uploads to Search, Chrome “Search this image”. Global rollout starts today; metrics appear if the property gets such traffic. No text query dimension for multimodal (images, not typed queries).

Why it matters

New measurement for visual discovery traffic to product/content pages. Export page-level multimodal data; do not expect keyword lists. Useful for retailers and image-heavy publishers beside classic text Web search.

Source

  1. Google Search Central Blog — Announcing web multimodal Search performance reporting in Search Console
  2. Search Engine Journal — Google Search Console Adds Multimodal Filter For Image-Based Searches
  3. Search Engine Land — Google Search Console performance reports gets multimodal filter

03

Docs note: VideoObject structured data adds creator; interactionStatistic clarified

Official

What happened

Search Central documentation updates dated 2026-09-24 add creator (noting author support) and clarify supported interaction types for interactionStatistic on VideoObject.

Why it matters

Technical SEO hygiene for video-rich results; align markup with documented properties if you publish VideoObject.

Source

  1. Google Search Central — Latest documentation updates September 24 VideoObject entry

Also noted

SignalDateNote
Prior 2026 spam updatesMar / Jun / AugEarlier 2026 spam rollouts finished in under ~3 days; this one flagged as longer
AI features site-owner doccheckedNo material change

Method notes

  • P0 sites polled via WebFetch/WebSearch; Status Dashboard checked for confirmed ranking/spam state.
  • Rumors kept Unconfirmed until Google/Bing/official confirmation.
  • No Chinese/Baidu sources.