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Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast

13 Oct 2026 · 1m · 1 chapter

Episode artwork

What's the biggest misconception SEOs have about Google's August 2026 Spam Update?

In short

The biggest misconception SEOs have about Google’s August 2026 spam update—whether it targets sites for using AI to produce content.

Guest backgrounds

Kasper Zeminski, Senior Director at Search Brothers; host Tyson Stockton.

Key claims

The episode argues that AI usage itself isn’t the problem. Instead, Google flags sites based on the output and quality of the content, not the production method.

Notable examples

The transcript doesn’t provide specific case studies, but it references “a representative volume” of AI-utilizing websites that were affected, emphasizing that the trigger is low-quality results rather than AI tooling.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Chapters

2:39

Quality Content vs. AI Usage

Insight on how content quality affects Google's spam filtering.

“But it is not about how content is being produced.”
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Transcript

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0:00The Voices of Search podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything podcast network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast? I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth, and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit IHearEverything.com. Welcome to the Voices of Search podcast and I Hear Everything production. In this podcast, we'll share the news, knowledge, and strategies you need to navigate the ever-changing world of SEO. Ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts? Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom.

0:41Here's today's host of the Voices of Search podcast, Tyson Stockton. My name is Tyson, and joining me today is Kasper Zeminski, Senior Director at Search Brothers. What's the biggest misconception SEOs have about Google's August 2026 spam update?

0:59Kaspar Szymanski: The ads sites are being affected merely for utilizing AI solutions and for the content in particular. And I do not believe that to be actually the case. Yes. Time for a one minute break to hear from our sponsor, Previsible. So you're looking for SEO help and you got a couple of options. You could start replying to spam from agencies that claim they can get you to rank number one on Google. You can pay an hourly rate for a consultant who will inevitably nickel and dime you with hourly charges, or you can work with a cookie cutter agency to quickly launch a strategy-less project with low success rate.

1:34None of those sound very good, now do they? Well, that's where Previsible's integrated consulting model comes in. Previsible draws from a collective 40 years of SEO and digital marketing experience to unlock your organic growth opportunities. They build custom solutions that combine strategy, technical expertise, content, and reporting to effectively operationalize SEO for your business. Prefizzable's four-stage approach ensures that your SEO programs thrive by starting off with a strategy-first approach. Then they support you in your efforts to create quality content, help you identify technical issues, and most importantly, they'll work with your cross-functional teams to integrate your SEO strategies to make sure that your SEO budget actually drives results, not just your agency's bottom line.

2:19So join brands like Yelp, eBay, Canva, Atlassian, Square, all who rely on the SEO consultants at Previsible. For more information, go to previsible.io. That's previsible, P-R-E-V-I-S-I-B-L-E.io.

2:38Kaspar Szymanski: There is a representative volume of AI utilizing websites that have been affected, But it is not about how content is being produced. Rather, it is about the output and the quality of the content that triggers Google to flag them as low quality sites.

3:15Thank you.

From the publisher

Google's August 2026 Spam Update is being misread as an AI penalty. Kaspar Szymanski, Senior Director at SearchBrothers.com and a former senior member of the Google Search team, brings hands-on experience in search policy and webspam enforcement. He explains why sites using AI are being affected without production method being the trigger: Google flags low-quality sites based on the quality of their output. The discussion separates how content is produced from how it is evaluated.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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