SEO news September 2026
No confirmed algorithm updates this week — but plenty happened in the places small businesses actually feel it: your Google Business Profile, your Maps listing and your reporting. Here’s the plain-English version.
1. Google Business Profile posts finally show view counts again
Google has started showing a view count on each Google Post inside your Business Profile dashboard, covering a rolling 18 months and combining views from Search and Maps. Post-level view data disappeared back in 2023, so this fills a three-year gap. It’s rolling out globally, but isn’t available through the API yet (PPC Land, 11 Sep 2026).
What this means for you: You can finally see whether your offers and updates are actually being seen. Check which posts got the most views and write more like those — and fewer of the ones nobody looked at.
2. Business Profile Insights is missing all of September
Business owners are reporting that the Google Business Profile insights report has no data at all for September so far. It looks like a reporting gap on Google’s side rather than a drop in real activity (Search Engine Roundtable, 8 Sep 2026).
What this means for you: If your GBP numbers look like they’ve fallen off a cliff, don’t panic and don’t change anything. Screenshot what you can now, and treat September’s local reporting as unreliable.
3. Scammers are hiding fake phone numbers in Maps photos
Scammers are using the Google Maps contributor program to upload AI-generated photos to real business listings, with their own phone number printed in the image — so customers ring them instead of you (Search Engine Roundtable, 10 Sep 2026).
What this means for you: This is the one to act on. Open your Business Profile, look at the customer-submitted photos, and report anything that isn’t yours — especially images with a phone number on them. Worth a quick weekly check.
4. Search Console has lost a chunk of June indexing data
The page indexing report is now missing several days of June 2026 data for everyone. Google’s John Mueller said it stems from June’s data delay: “there just isn’t any data for that period… We don’t back-fill indexing data” (Search Engine Land, 11 Sep 2026).
What this means for you: Nothing is wrong with your website. If you compare year-on-year later, remember June 2026 has a hole in it.
5. Google admits its AI search reporting doesn’t tell you enough
Mueller acknowledged that Search Console’s new AI reports (live worldwide since 31 August) can’t give you position data for AI Overviews or AI Mode — those appearances are tracked as a block, so you only get impressions (Search Engine Journal, 13 Sep 2026).
What this means for you: Use the AI reports to see whether you show up in AI answers, not how high. Enquiries and phone calls remain your real scoreboard.
6. A fresh warning about bulk, AI-spun pages
Mueller warned again that programmatic SEO “often leads to a site that’s either spam, borderline spam, or low quality”, and that Google’s systems can lose faith in a site based on those old pages (Search Engine Roundtable, 7 Sep 2026).
What this means for you: If someone’s offered to generate 200 suburb pages for you overnight, be careful. A smaller set of genuinely useful, locally specific pages ages far better.
The short version
Google’s reporting is wobbly this month — missing GBP insights, missing June indexing data — so don’t make decisions off dashboards alone. Do spend ten minutes in your Business Profile: check your post views, and clear out any dodgy customer photos.
