Published on August 23, 2026 · The mitza.es team
In August 2026, Google rolled out its third anti-spam update of the year, following the ones in March and June. The rollout is global and affects every language, and its stated goal is the same as always: reduce the visibility of websites that try to manipulate rankings through bad practices, leaning on SpamBrain, Google's own AI-based detection system.
AI isn't the problem — "AI slop" is
It's worth clarifying an important nuance: Google doesn't penalize the use of artificial intelligence itself, since it's now routinely built into writing, structuring and analysis workflows. What has actually dropped en masse with this update is what the industry calls "AI slop": content generated with AI and published unedited, with no human review and no real added value.
What kinds of sites have been hit hardest
- Generic aggregators, comparison sites and job portals with no editorial judgment of their own.
- Ecommerce sites that copy manufacturer product descriptions as-is, without adding anything different.
- Affiliate reviews with no real testing of the product whatsoever.
- Multi-topic sites that touch on any subject in passing, with no real depth or authority.
- Cloned city landing pages that just swap out the town name on an otherwise generic template.
Why this shouldn't come as a surprise
The pattern fits with what we've already been explaining around AI Overviews and the rise of AI search engines: there's more and more content competing for the same attention, and Google needs to filter more aggressively for anything that doesn't add something different from what already exists. Publishing quickly with AI and no review is no longer a competitive advantage — it's a direct visibility risk.
How to avoid getting caught in the filter
The formula hasn't changed, it's just become more demanding: content with real editorial judgment, your own case studies, verifiable data, and a clear reason for that content to exist on your site and not on a hundred identical others. It's exactly the approach we apply in our content generation service, combining the speed of AI with real human review. If you want to know whether your current site has content sitting in the risk zone, you can request an audit focused on content quality.