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The Google spam update for August 2025 has wrapped up after a 27-day rollout. It kicked off on August 26, 2025, around noon Eastern Time and concluded on September 22, 2025. This update was a broad spam adjustment, not specifically targeting link spam, and was neither as narrow as past updates nor as quick—matching the scope of the December 2024 spam update but taking an additional 20 days to implement.
Initially, the update was announced to begin on August 26, with Google indicating it would take several weeks to fully roll out worldwide across all languages. By Sunday, the update appeared to be nearly complete, and early results showed a rapid impact starting around August 27. The intensity of the changes persisted for a few days, then mellowed before ramping up again around September 9. During this period, Google’s removal of the “num” parameter—intended to display more search results per page—disrupted third-party scraping tools, leading to noticeable declines in impressions reflected in Search Console, which has also been experiencing issues.
Post-September 10, tracking the update’s effects became quite challenging, complicating efforts to gauge its true impact.
Key Facts About the August 2025 Update:
- Name: Google August 2025 Spam Update
- Start Date: August 26, 2025, around 12 p.m. ET
- Completion Date: September 22, 2025, around 2 a.m. ET
- Target: Websites violating some of Google’s search spam policies
- Does Not Target: Link spam, site reputation abuse, or certain other policies
- Penalties: Aims to penalize spam techniques violating Google’s spam policies
- Scope: Global, affecting all regions and languages
- Impact: Google hasn’t disclosed specific search percentage impacts
- Recovery: Sites affected are advised to review and ensure compliance with Google’s spam policies
- Refreshes: Google plans periodic updates over the coming months, with recovery possibly taking extensive time
Official Comments from Google:
Google announced the update broadly without many details, simply stating it applies globally and may take a few weeks to fully roll out. On September 22, they confirmed the rollout was complete after roughly 27 days.
Tracking and Tool Observations:
Various SEO tools recorded notable fluctuations during the update:
- SEMrush, Advanced Web Rankings, Accuranker, Wincher, SimilarWeb, Mozcast, Mangools, Data For SEO, SERPstat, Sistrix, Algoroo, and Wireboard’s aggregator all displayed volatility, with some seeing significant ranking shifts. The data, however, was inconsistent at times due to changes in tracking mechanisms like the “num” parameter, which Google later confirmed is not officially supported.
Community Discussions and Reactions:
Webmasters and SEO professionals experienced mixed effects. Many observed unusual traffic patterns, with some reporting large drops in impressions and rankings, especially starting around September 10. Several noted issues with indexing small websites and changes in search result positions, alongside frustrations with tracking tools not functioning properly during this period.
Some discussions indicated a possible unintended consequence: Google reducing the usefulness of scraping tools used by SEO practitioners, potentially benefitting smaller publishers who rely less on complex ranking data. There’s speculation that limiting scraping impacts larger SEO competitors more, which some view positively.
Previous Spam Updates:
Google has conducted several spam updates over the years, including notable ones in June 2021, July 2021, November 2021, October 2022, December 2022, October 2023, March 2024, June 2024, and December 2024, each with varying durations and focuses on spam tactics. The August 2025 update continues this ongoing effort to combat spam across all regions and languages worldwide.
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