Rankings shifted again on Wednesday, October 1 signals suggest, as what appears to be the second phase of the Google September 2026 spam update hit sites on September 30. Google announced the update on September 24. The first wave of sites got hit on September 25, 26 and into the 27th, based on forum chatter and tool volatility. Things then cooled before heating back up on September 30 — likely a second wave of the same spam update. Note this timing characterization comes from Search Engine Roundtable's tracking of forum and tool signals, not from a formal Google statement confirming phases.

Google now requires manual factchecking of AI-generated content

Google updated its document "guidance on using generative AI content on your website" with new language telling site owners to "manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing." That is a confirmed policy documentation change, and it sharpens Google's stance from "appropriate use" guidance toward an explicit pre-publication review obligation. Publishers using AI at scale — news, affiliate and e-commerce content operations — should treat this as the reference point if manual actions or spam policy enforcement follow.

Helpful content documentation gets new Main Content sections

Google also updated its "creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" help document, adding two new sections. The update stresses that main content is critical, defines what counts as main content, and explains how Search Quality raters review the quality of that main content. For site owners recovering from helpful content-related losses, the refreshed definitions give a clearer target for what raters actually assess.

Penske's AI Overviews lawsuit dismissed

A court dismissed the lawsuit Penske filed roughly a year ago against Google over AI Overviews. Penske — which operates Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Variety — failed to prove that Google entered into any formal agreement with Penske to sell its content in exchange for traffic. The ruling matters for publishers broadly: claims built on an implied traffic-for-content bargain with Google face a high bar without documented agreements.

AI Overview link tracking parameters in testing

Google appears to be testing tracking parameters on link URLs within AI Overviews. If this rolls out fully, analytics teams will be able to distinguish a click originating from an AI Overview from a standard web result click. This is a tool-sighting-level test, not a confirmed launch, but it directly addresses the attribution gap that has made AI Overview traffic hard to measure since the feature debuted.

Merchant loyalty program expands to AI Mode and Gemini

Google changed the merchant loyalty program documentation within Google Merchant Center help. The headline change: Loyalty Customer Match expanded to AI Mode and Gemini, and to more regions. Retail advertisers running loyalty pricing can now reach matched customers inside AI surfaces, with additional changes noted in the help docs.

Local Service Ads hide phone numbers by default

Google Local Service Ads appears to hide the phone number until a user hovers over the ad. A large "Get phone number" button displays, though the number appears as soon as the mouse moves near the ad — raising questions about whether the extra click is friction or merely cosmetic.

Bing tests "Recommended by" product section

Microsoft Bing is testing a section labeled "Recommended by" followed by the company making the recommendation. The quirk: the product thumbnails link to various retailers rather than to the company that made the recommendation.

Google Ads: missing images, AI Mode sitelinks, business name policy change

Three Google Ads items surfaced. Sponsored product results in Google Search may have a bug — or a test — with images missing from the Sponsored products carousel above ad titles and descriptions. Google is testing ad formats in AI Mode, including what looks like sitelinks, to find formats with the highest click-through rate. And Google Ads will update its business name policy to allow some advertisers to use a business name that differs from the ad's destination domain, limited to three specific cases and excluding advertisers who are not the direct verified brand.

ChatGPT rolls out virtual try-on

OpenAI announced virtual try-on for clothing and accessories in ChatGPT on mobile and web, including saving looks to the ChatGPT Library. The feature pushes ChatGPT further into shopping behavior, which competing directly with Google's commerce surfaces.

Also worth watching

Google removed the "Profile generated by Google" tag from unclaimed profiles in Google Discover. OpenAI is quietly testing a lightweight logged-out ChatGPT app, internally called "unauth-mobile-web," which hides much of what AI visibility tracking relies on. Grokipedia launched a redesign and resumed edits in September 2026 after pausing autonomous edits and user-suggestion reviews for several months, even as its Google visibility keeps dropping. Google marked its 28th birthday on September 27.

Monitor whether the September 30 spam-update volatility stabilizes over the next week, and whether the AI Overview tracking parameters move from test to general rollout — both will shape how site owners diagnose traffic and attribution through the rest of October.