--- title: "October 2023 spam update: dates, what changed and what to do" url: https://seomadman.com/updates/october-2023-spam-update section: updates language: en published: 2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z modified: 2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z author: Adam Hafez topics: ["Core updates", "Technical SEO"] --- # October 2023 spam update: dates, what changed and what to do ## The short answer Google's October 2023 spam update started on 4 October 2023 and ended on 19 October 2023 Pacific time, a 15-day rollout. It improved spam detection in many languages, including Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi and Chinese, and targeted cloaking, hacked, auto-generated and scraped spam. ## Key takeaways - The Search Status Dashboard dates the rollout from 4 October 2023 to 19 October 2023 Pacific time. - Google's completion note gives the end as 20 October 2023, a difference caused by time zones. - The update targeted cloaking, hacked, auto-generated and scraped spam reported in several languages. - It overlapped the October 2023 core update, which ran from 5 to 19 October 2023. - Google's advice for affected sites is to review its spam policies and comply with them. ## What Google changed Google announced the October 2023 spam update on 4 October 2023 as an update to its spam detection systems "that will improve our coverage in many languages and spam types." Its Search Central post said the update aimed to clean up spam that community members reported in "Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and other languages." Google said it expected the update to reduce visible spam in search results, "particularly when it comes to cloaking, hacked, auto-generated, and scraped spam." The dashboard entry added that the update "applies globally." ## When it rolled out The [Google Search Status Dashboard](https://status.search.google.com/incidents/NzcEhGMDhbQEdXCS35xL) logged the release on 4 October 2023 at 09:52 PDT and records the end at 22:15 PDT on 19 October 2023, a 15-day rollout in Pacific time. Google's completion note says the rollout "was complete as of October 20, 2023," which is already 20 October in most other time zones. The October 2023 core update started one day later, on 5 October, and finished on 19 October 2023. The two rollouts overlapped almost exactly, so a ranking change in that window may come from either. ## What is known about its impact Google did not publish impact figures for this update. Its standing explanation is that sites which violate its spam policies "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all." Treat any percentage you see attributed to this update as a third-party estimate, and check its method. ## What site owners should do Google's post said sites that see a change after a spam update "should review our spam policies." The ones most relevant to this update: - Cloaking: never show search engines different content from what users see. - Hacked content: check for content or code placed on the site without permission. - Auto-generated pages now fall under scaled content abuse: many pages made mainly to rank. - Scraping: hosting content taken from other sites to manipulate rankings is a violation. - Expect recovery to be slow: Google says systems may need months to learn the site now complies. ## How to check whether it affected you In Search Console, set the Performance report to cover September to November 2023 and compare clicks for the week before 4 October with the week starting 27 October. Check the Security issues and Manual actions reports as well, since hacked spam was one of the targets. The [Google Algorithm Updates timeline](/updates) lists every confirmed update with its dates, including the overlapping core update. ## Related updates - The [October 2023 core update](/updates/october-2023-core-update) overlapped this rollout. - The [October 2022 spam update](/updates/october-2022-spam-update) was the spam update before it. - The [March 2024 spam update](/updates/march-2024-spam-update) was the next one. ## Frequently asked questions ### When did the October 2023 spam update start and finish? The Google Search Status Dashboard records the release on 4 October 2023 at 09:52 PDT and the end at 22:15 PDT on 19 October 2023. Its completion note says the rollout was complete as of 20 October 2023. ### What kinds of spam did the October 2023 spam update target? Google said it expected to reduce visible spam in search results, particularly cloaking, hacked, auto-generated and scraped spam, with better coverage in many languages. ### Did it overlap the October 2023 core update? Yes. The core update ran from 5 to 19 October 2023, so the two rollouts ran side by side for almost their whole length. ### What should I do if my site dropped during the October 2023 spam update? Google's guidance is to review its spam policies and make sure the site complies. It says improvement may come if its automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies. ## Sources 1. [Released the October 2023 spam update (incident)](https://status.search.google.com/incidents/NzcEhGMDhbQEdXCS35xL) - Google Search Status Dashboard (primary) 2. [October 2023 Spam Update](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/10/october-2023-spam-update) - Google Search Central Blog (primary) 3. [Spam policies for Google web search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) - Google Search Central (primary) 4. [Google Search spam updates and your site](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/spam-updates) - Google Search Central (primary)