SEOs are reporting more Google manual actions in the weeks around the September 2026 spam update, according to Search Engine Roundtable on October 8. The data is anecdotal, not an official count, but the check takes five minutes: open Search Console, go to Security and Manual Actions, and look for a notice. If you find one, fix the cause across the whole site before you file a reconsideration request.
What SEOs are actually reporting
Marie Haynes said on X that she has seen a big increase in requests for help with manual actions, going from essentially none to several per week. She added that it is nowhere near the pre-Penguin era, and that the sites she sees are mostly legitimate, long-standing businesses. SEO Daniel Foley Carter said manual actions are appearing in many places and linked the trend to scaled content abuse, shortcuts, and businesses cutting SEO spend. The Search Engine Roundtable post also reviewed Google Search Central help threads and found a cluster of recent cases about major spam problems, thin content, pure spam, scaled content abuse, and a transparency action.
Keep the limits in mind. Neither Google nor Search Engine Roundtable has published a total, and two AI tools that were asked to review the same forums said complaints were higher but not a huge spike. Treat this as an early warning, not a confirmed trend. It also lands right after the September 2026 spam update finished rolling out, so many sites are already looking closely at their data.
A manual action is different from an algorithm hit
An algorithm update like the spam update changes rankings automatically and there is no message waiting for you. A manual action is a human reviewer applying a penalty, and Google tells you about it in Search Console. That difference matters for your diagnosis. If you see a traffic drop and no notice, you are dealing with an algorithm change and the recovery work is about quality over time. If there is a notice, the fix is specific, and you have to prove it to Google with a reconsideration request.
Foley Carter claims some sites lose 90 percent or more of their traffic overnight after a manual action. That is his claim, not a Google figure, but it shows why checking early is worth the five minutes.
Why the causes overlap with what Google already warned about
The action types being discussed, such as scaled content abuse, thin content, and pure spam, are not new rules. They are the same trust problems we have covered in recent posts. Google called fabricated bylines deception in our fake author warning post, and it expects a human to check AI drafts, covered in the AI content fact-check rule. Publishing unreviewed AI pages in bulk is the fastest way to land in one of these buckets.
Where SEO, AEO, and GEO meet
A manual action does not only hurt classic rankings. Answer engines and AI Overviews draw from pages Google trusts, so a flagged site is a weaker source everywhere. Cleaning up thin and scaled pages is one job that protects your rankings, your answer box chances, and your AI citations together. That is why we run SEO, AEO, and GEO as one framework instead of three separate tasks.
Your manual action check, in order
- Open the report. In Search Console, go to Security and Manual Actions, then Manual Actions. Check every property you own, including the domain property and any subfolders.
- Read the exact wording. Note whether the action is site-wide or partial, and which spam policy it names.
- Find the pattern, not just the example. Google’s sample URLs are illustrations. Search your site for the same template, topic, or content type and fix all of it. Two forum cases show that removing thousands of URLs was not enough when the underlying problem remained.
- Remove or rewrite, then document it. Keep a dated list of what you deleted, merged, noindexed, or rewritten, with real author names and facts a human has verified.
- Submit one honest reconsideration request. Explain what was wrong, what you changed, and how you will prevent it. Avoid filing repeat requests before you have fixed more.
- Set a monthly check. Add Manual Actions to your regular reporting so a notice never sits unseen.
The bottom line
The reports of more manual actions are early and unconfirmed, but the downside of ignoring them is large and the check is quick. Look in Search Console now, fix the whole pattern if you find a notice, and keep your content human-reviewed and honestly attributed so you stay out of the penalty buckets in the first place.
If you want a second pair of eyes, our SEO services include a Search Console and spam-policy review. You can also see how we connect SEO, AEO, and GEO on our homepage, or browse more articles by topic.
How do I know if I have a Google manual action?
Open Search Console and go to Security and Manual Actions, then Manual Actions. If there is a penalty, it appears there with the issue type and affected pages.
Is a traffic drop after a spam update a manual action?
Not necessarily. Spam updates are algorithmic and show no notice. A manual action is applied by a reviewer and is reported in Search Console.
Are manual actions really increasing?
Some SEOs say yes, and forum threads support a rise in reports. There is no official count from Google, and two AI reviews of the same forums showed higher complaints but no huge spike.