Google Search updates, Q3 2026: what changed for local businesses

Between July and September 2026, Google ran two spam updates and no core update — the last core update was back in May. The bigger news for local businesses wasn't a ranking change at all: Google started showing you whether your business appears in AI answers, and started counting image-based searches that were previously invisible. Here's what changed, what it means for your numbers, and the one item that needs action from you this month.

No core update since May — Q3 was about spam enforcement

According to Google's own Search Status Dashboard, the last core update was the May 2026 core update (started 21 May). What we got in the third quarter instead were two spam updates: one beginning 18 August, which wrapped up in under three days, and one beginning 24 September, which Google said could take up to two weeks to fully roll out.

That distinction matters. A core update is Google broadly rethinking how it judges quality. A spam update is Google enforcing rules that already exist — things like mass-produced content, link schemes, cloaking, doorway pages, and expired-domain abuse. Google didn't announce a new policy or name a single target this time.

The practical takeaway: the sites that got hurt were the ones publishing at volume without anyone minding the quality. That's precisely the trap we build our content cadence to avoid — a small number of genuinely useful pages, each reviewed by a person before it goes live, instead of a pile of thin ones. It's slower on purpose, and quarters like this one are why.

You can finally see whether AI is showing your business

This is the change we're most pleased about. Google has added generative AI performance reports to Search Console, and as of 31 August 2026 they're available to every site worldwide. They cover AI Overviews (the AI answer at the top of a normal results page) and AI Mode (Google's full conversational search experience).

For the last two years, "are we showing up in AI answers?" has been a question the whole industry answered with educated guesses. Now there's data. Two honest caveats about it:

• It's impressions only. Google reports how often links to your site were shown in an AI feature — not clicks, not click-through rate, not position.
• Two of your pages in one AI answer count as one impression, so the numbers are more conservative than you might expect.

We're folding this into your reporting, so AI visibility stops being a story and becomes a number you can watch quarter over quarter. If you want the background on why this matters, we wrote about the difference between SEO and GEO and what getting recommended by AI actually takes.

Image searches now show in your numbers — and it's brand-new data

On 24 September, Google added multimodal search reporting to Search Console. That covers searches made with Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, uploading an image to Google, and Chrome's right-click "Search this image."

Here's the part almost nobody is explaining, and it affects how you read your own report: Google confirmed this traffic was not previously included in the counts. It isn't traffic that moved from one bucket to another — it's data that simply wasn't there before. So if your impressions step up in late September, some of that is newly counted image search rather than growth.

We'd rather tell you that than take credit for it. Where we see it in your numbers, we'll call it out. The genuinely good news underneath: the photos on your site and your Google listing are now doing work you can measure — one more reason to keep putting up real photos of real work instead of stock images.

Google Business Profile: the changes worth knowing

Your Google Business Profile remains the single biggest lever in local search, and it saw a busy quarter. The items that actually affect you:

• You now have four days to reject a suggested edit. Google gives members of the public the ability to suggest changes to your listing — hours, address, even whether you're open. As of late September there's a short window to decline one before it takes effect, and Google emails you about it. Please don't let those emails sit unread. If you're ever unsure whether one is legitimate, forward it to us.
• Google now alerts you to spikes in spam reviews. If a competitor or a bot campaign dumps fake reviews on your profile, you should get an email. Send those to us and we'll handle the reporting.
• Local knowledge panels are being converted into AI Overview listings. The familiar business panel is increasingly being folded into an AI-written answer. The signals that earn a spot are the same ones we've always worked on: a complete profile, real reviews, and plain answers to the questions customers actually ask.
• There's a photo scam to be aware of. In September, scammers were caught uploading AI-generated photos to Google Maps listings with phone numbers baked into the image, to intercept calls. It's worth glancing at the photos on your Maps listing now and then; report anything you didn't put there.
• Reviews got a new reporting option for flagging a problematic owner response — relevant if you've ever inherited a profile someone else replied from.

If you want a refresher on the fundamentals here, our guides on Google Business Profile tips and getting more Google reviews still hold up.

Action needed: Local Service Ads start charging for some missed calls

If you run Google Local Service Ads — common for law firms, roofers, HVAC, plumbing and other home services — the billing rules changed on 1 October. Google now charges for certain calls you don't answer. The specifics matter, so here they are:

• A missed call during your business hours can be billed as a valid lead if the caller stays on the line longer than 20 seconds.
• Calls outside your posted hours are not charged.
• Follow-up calls count. If the first call doesn't qualify as a billable lead, a later call between you and that customer can.
• If you use a phone menu ("press 1 for sales"), the 20-second clock doesn't start until the caller makes a selection — and if they never choose an option, the call isn't charged.
• Google says it is adding safeguards against robocalls and spam abuse.

The practical lever here is your hours. Check that your posted hours match the hours someone actually picks up the phone, and that calls ring somewhere staffed inside those hours — because if your profile says you're open and nobody answers, that's now a billable miss. Not sure whether this affects your account? Ask us and we'll go through your Local Service Ads settings with you.

A note on what you'll read elsewhere

While putting this together, we found a number of marketing blogs reporting an "August 2026 core update." There wasn't one. Google's status dashboard lists no core update after May. We also saw confident statistics about AI and local search with no source behind them at all.

We mention it because you may run across those claims, and because it's the standard we hold ourselves to: if we tell you Google changed something, it's because Google said so, and we'll link you to where they said it.

What this means for your next report

Two things to expect when you open your report:

1. An AI visibility figure where we have the data — impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode, with the caveats above stated plainly.
2. A note on any impression jump that looks like it came from newly counted image search rather than genuine growth.

Nothing about our plan changes on the back of this quarter. No core update means no ranking rethink to react to; the spam updates reward the restrained, human-reviewed approach we already take. The work stays where it compounds: a complete and active Google listing, a steady flow of genuine reviews, content that answers real questions, and the technical foundation underneath it.

Frequently asked questions

Was there a Google core update in September 2026?

No. According to Google's own Search Status Dashboard, the most recent core update was the May 2026 core update, which started on 21 May 2026. The third quarter of 2026 brought spam updates instead: one starting 18 August and one starting 24 September. Several marketing blogs published an "August 2026 core update" that Google never announced.

Why did my Search Console impressions jump in late September 2026?

Part of the rise is likely newly counted data rather than new traffic. On 24 September 2026 Google added multimodal search reporting to Search Console, covering Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and Chrome's "Search this image." Google confirmed this data was not previously included in the counts, so totals can step up without anything changing on your site.

Can I see whether my business appears in Google's AI Overviews or AI Mode?

Yes. Google's Search Console now includes generative AI performance reports covering AI Overviews and AI Mode, rolled out to all sites worldwide on 31 August 2026. The reports show impressions only — not clicks, click-through rate or position — and if two results from your site appear in one AI answer, that counts as a single impression.

Do I need to do anything about the September 2026 spam update?

If your content is genuinely useful and reviewed by a person before it publishes, almost certainly not. Google did not announce a new policy or name a single target with this update; spam updates enforce existing policies such as scaled content abuse, link spam, cloaking, doorway pages and expired-domain abuse. The businesses that get hit are the ones mass-producing thin pages.

Written by Paul Golden, co-founder of PG&J — a marketing studio serving Mobile, Baldwin County, and the Gulf Coast. Every Google change referenced here links to Google's own announcement.