Happy Friday!
Here's what you need to know this week across organic and paid that matters for your ecom store:
01 · Google's August spam update is rolling out, and the SERPs are already twitchy
What it means for you: if you've been buying links, mass-producing AI content or running expired-domain plays then this is the week it catches up with you. The expensive mistake in a spam update is panic-editing pages that were never the problem, so hold steady until the rollout completes and then read the data and any impact (both good and not so good!).
02 · Brands are piling into Reddit for AI visibility, and the moderators are locking the doors
What it means for you: Reddit threads feed LLM citations quite heavily, so brands are now hiring dedicated Reddit strategists but mods can smell a marketing account a mile off, and a ban torches the very citations you were chasing. The play was never posting, but it's being the brand real customers already recommend unprompted, earned through product, service and press. Reddit is where that reputation can be audited, not manufactured.
03 · Google Ads is scrapping language targeting in Search from late September
What it means for you: your ad copy and landing page language now are the targeting, which is the same pattern as AI Max, another control handed to Google's models and another reason your site content decides your paid results. If you run multilingual or EU campaigns, audit which languages your pages actually serve before the rollout, because a French page can now be shown to an English searcher Google reckons is bilingual.
How have your Google ads been performing recently vs YoY? Hit reply and tell us, and we’re happy to offer any advice!
To read more:
August 2026 spam update — Google Search Status Dashboard (and the spam policies themselves, if you want the definitive list)
Brands suddenly care about Reddit. Redditors don’t return the feeling. — The Wall Street Journal
Google Ads is retiring language targeting in Search campaigns — Search Engine Journal
From NOVOS
If you’re a fashion & apparel brand, join us at THRIVE Fashion: Be the answer™: Wednesday 16 September, The Line, London. A morning on how fashion brands get found across Google, AI search, social and marketplaces, with the team from NOVOS, plus Profound, Swap, Centra and ShopTalk. eCommerce brand leaders only; places approved individually.