Web News for October 4, 2026: Spam Update, AI Content and Search Console

Every day, our web agency in Tunis sums up what matters for your site and your visibility. Today three topics stand out: a Google spam update rolling out over two weeks, a clear reminder about AI-generated content, and a new report in Search Console.

1. The September 2026 spam update rolls out in phases

Google announced its spam update on September 24, 2026. Unlike earlier ones that typically lasted a couple of days, this one spans roughly two weeks with several impact waves: a first phase from September 25 to 27 and a second from September 30 to October 1, according to Search Engine Roundtable.

Site owners report traffic losses, notably in Discover and Google News. Google also reiterated that AI-translated content is acceptable as long as it is high quality.

What you should do

• Wait for the rollout to finish before drawing conclusions about rankings.
• Compare Search Console data before and after each phase.
• Avoid sweeping site changes during the volatile period.

2. AI content: Google stresses human fact-checking

Google updated its guidance on using generative AI content. It now says it is "critical" to manually fact-check and review all AI-generated content, because these models predict a likely sequence of words rather than retrieve facts and can therefore be inaccurate. It is the first revision since October 2025 (source).

3. Search Console: a multimodal performance report

Google announced in September 2026 a web multimodal Search performance report in Search Console (official announcement). Check your property to see whether it is available to you.

4. Beware of tracking parameters in AI Overviews

A ?st_source=ai_overview parameter was spotted on links in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Important correction: it came from a Chrome browser extension altering URLs, not from a Google test (source). Do not build analytics reports on it.