29/08/2026
Google Spam Update: Why Some Sites Lost Rankings While Others Recovered
Google’s latest Spam Update made one thing very clear:
SEO is getting harder to predict.
Some sites dropped hard.
Some sites recovered.
And some barely moved.
But the interesting question isn't just “Who lost rankings?”
It's:
“Why did some sites recover?”
I’ve been looking at the changes from the August Spam Update, along with what’s happening inside tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Surfer.
And there’s another shift I find even more interesting:
SEO tools are moving from simply showing us data to helping AI work with that data.
That changes how we research, create, optimize, and measure content.
In this week's SEO Weekly Plus, I break down:
→ What happened during Google's latest update
→ What to look at if your site lost traffic
→ Why some previously affected sites are recovering
→ The latest AI + SEO tool developments
→ What I'd actually audit next week
→ One simple content change worth making
If your site was affected by the update, don't panic-edit everything.
Start by comparing the winners, losers, and recoveries.
There’s usually more to learn there than from the ranking drop itself.
Did your site go up, down, or stay surprisingly stable after the update?
I'd love to hear what you're seeing.