It is time for the monthly Google webmaster report, where I recap the larger stories from the past month, specifically related to Google SEO, search, and webmaster/site owner topics. If you took a vacation, some days off, or if you just want to make sure you didn't miss anything important on this topic, keep reading.
This month we had the Google August 2026 spam update that started on August 18th and completed on August 21st. We had unconfirmed updates before and after the spam update as well. Google also updated its site reputation abuse policy to not impact searchers in the EEA, which is weird but legal. Google also spoke about when/why it announces search updates, which sums up the past month pretty nicely.
Google started to push AI Mode into AI Overviews within Google Search, which is pretty wild. Google AI Mode can now show link carousel cards for developing stories. Google tested AI-generated images in AI Overviews but paused the test shortly after. Google AI Mode is partially powered by Gemini 3.7 Flash.
Google Search is rolling out new goto URL parameters for search result URLs to "protect" its search results for third-party tools, probably mostly SerpAPI which Google is still fighting in court. - don't worry, the tools have fixes for this change already. Google updated its home page to test new AI buttons. Google improved the preferred sources button for publishers and lowered the subscriber requirement for search profiles.
Google fixed a bugs with favicons and crawl stats data, which may have led to Google updating its favicon help documentation. Google said Reddit gets no special preference in Google Search and there is nothing to do for generative AI responses in Search. Google started to temporarily show fewer PDFs in search and the IRS website dropped heavily in Google, but it is back now.
Google Search Console's new generative AI reports expanded, but the report had a bug a couple of weeks ago. On the local side, Google is aware of missing reviews for reinstated Google Business Profiles.
And Google had some big AI leadership changes this month.
If you missed last month, you can read the August 2026 Google Webmaster Report.
Here are the important headlines from the past month on this topic:
Google Search Updates
- Google August 2026 Spam Update Has Been Unleashed
- Google August 2026 Spam Update Has Finished Rolling Out
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Continues Post Spam Update
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Spikes On August 12-13
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up Into August 5th & 6th
- Google Won't Enforce Its Site Reputation Policy Manual Actions In Europe
- Why Google Announces Some Search Updates But Not All
- Google Announces Search Updates For Transparency, Actionable Updates Get Blog Posts
- Google: We Do Not Roll Out Updates Prior To The Announcement
- Google AI Overviews Pushing Searchers Into AI Mode, Drops Show More Button
- Google AI Mode Also Gains Link Carousels For Developing Topics
- Google AI Overviews With AI-Generated Images In The Wild (Test Paused)
- Google Search Using Gemini 3.7 Flash In AI Mode
- Google AI Overview Local Results Pulling From Low-Quality Listicles
- Google AI Mode Asking Searchers To Sign In
- Google AI Mode Adds Flight Price Tracking, Mile Rates & Hotel Booking
- Google Shows AI Overviews Above Stock Charts For Stock Price Queries
- Google Copyable Emojis In AI Overviews
- Confirmed: Google Search Rolling Out google.com/goto Tracking Parameters
- Google Home Page Create Images, Ask About Files & Brainstorm Buttons
- Google Preferred Source Button Improved For Publishers
- Google Lowers Subscriber Requirements For Search Profiles
- You Can Now Edit Your Handle On Google Search Profiles
- Google Search Video Carousel Showing Less Often
- Google Tests Pink Highlights In Featured Snippets
- Google Discover Feed Can Be Tailored By Words
- Google Assistant Shutting Down On Mobile Devices On September 4
- Google Fixed Favicon Bug & Crawl Stats Missing Data
- Spike In Complaints On Favicons Disappearing From Google Search
- Google: Reddit Gets No Special Preference In Google Search Rankings
- Google: There Is Nothing Special To Do For Generative AI Responses In Search
- Google Search Now Lists The Supported Favicon File Formats
- Google Search Showing Fewer PDF Files. But Why?
- IRS Website Drops Heavily In Google Search
- Google Crawlers Send HTTP Requests: HEAD, OPTIONS, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
- Google Search Will Eventually Support HTTP QUERY Method
- JSON-LD Extraction For Googlebot Now Does One Pass Of HTML Unescaping
- Google: Hreflang URLs Not Indexed In The Proper Sense
- Google Says Google's Crawlers Don't Parse JSON
- Misconfiguring Cloudflare Can Hurt Your SEO Badly
- Googlebot Say They Are Coming From California But Might Not
- Google Search Console Generative AI Performance Report Expands To More
- Google Search Console Shows AI Mode Queries, Not In Generative AI Reports
- Google Performance Reports Drop In Impressions/Clicks ~August 12
- Google Search Console Crawl Stats Missing Two Days Of Data
- Google Search Console Sends New Owner Email Notifications - Bug?
- Spammy Google Selected Canonical In Search Console
- Google Aware Of Reviews Missing After Google Business Profile Reinstatement
- Google Bringing Back Google Posts Insights (People Viewed)
- Google Business Profiles Testing Revamped Q&A Feature
- Google Local Disallows Repeated Bilingual Names & Transliterations
- Google AI Leadership Changes: Jeff Dean Leaves, Demis Hassabis Change & More
- Google Amends Lawsuit Against SerpApi Over Licensed Content
- SEOs Taking Over Expired Google X Accounts
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
