Google’s March 2025 Core Update Finished Rolling Out

Google completed its March 2025 Core Update, which rolled out between March 13 and March 27, concluding two weeks of significant volatility in search rankings. 

This update has drastically reshaped search results, with major shifts affecting various industries, website types, and content strategies. 

SEO professionals, content creators, and business owners must quickly analyze the impact and adapt their strategies accordingly.

Major Changes and Their Immediate Impact

Google’s core updates always bring winners and losers. This time, the algorithm has shifted even further toward high-quality, user-focused content. Websites that failed to align with Google’s priorities have seen sharp declines.

Key Takeaways from the Update:

• Authority and Expertise Rule: Websites demonstrating strong E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) have gained rankings.
• Thin Content Suffered: Sites with shallow, AI-generated, or low-value content experienced traffic drops.
• Google Discover Volatility: Some sites lost their presence on Google Discover, leading to decreased organic visibility.
• Indexing Adjustments: Many webmasters reported fluctuations in the number of pages indexed, affecting their traffic and search impressions.
• Featured Snippets and SERP Features Shifted: Some sites that once ranked prominently in featured snippets have lost their positions.
• Forum Content Recalibration: Many forums saw significant declines in visibility, reversing the previous trend from Google’s 2023 “hidden gems” update.
• Programmatic Content Penalties: Websites with large-scale, automated content created primarily for SEO purposes saw steep ranking drops.
• Cross-Sector Impact: Unlike previous updates that targeted specific industries, this update has affected websites across retail, government, forums, and content publishing sectors.

Tracking Tools and Industry Reactions

SEO tracking tools such as Semrush, MozCast, Sistrix, and many others recorded extreme volatility during the update’s rollout. 

Semrush volatility: 

Mozcast volatility:

Sistrix volatility:

Reports showed sharp fluctuations in rankings, confirming that this was one of the most impactful updates in recent memory. 

Many SEO professionals reported sudden traffic drops or unexpected ranking boosts, further reinforcing the widespread impact of the update.

The SEO community was highly active on forums like WebmasterWorld and Twitter/X, discussing ranking changes, possible recovery strategies, and Google’s ongoing algorithm adjustments. 

Discussions highlighted confusion around the devaluation of forum content, significant losses for sites with mass-produced programmatic content, and the potential influence of AI-driven search enhancements.

Reddit is still a big winner from the March Core Update, but Quora dropped quite a bit (-54 @sistrix VI points is massive) pic.twitter.com/82tmpNNnYZ

— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) March 26, 2025

I mean what actually changed? Apart from Reddit getting EVEN MORE traffic to all their shit post and threads.

I do believe that SEO isn’t dying, it’s just changing and so should we. However, it’s hard to know what exactly to do when it feels like Google’s messaging to us feels…

— Finn | Post To Profit (@finn_profit) March 27, 2025

If it’s over I’m in trouble. All of my clients are seeing a good 20% drop in traffic

— Dhiren Mulani (@dhirenmulani) March 27, 2025

No lie. After looking at the independent publisher sites in my English language test group, the only site showing improvement in Google March 2025 Core Update, is the site that applied EEAT principles on entity transparency.

Those who have taken no action, see no improvement.… pic.twitter.com/wKwtwxpib0

— Shaun Anderson (@Hobo_Web) March 27, 2025

How to Adapt if Your Rankings Dropped

If your site has lost visibility, you need to take immediate corrective action. Here’s what you should do now:

1. Conduct a Content Audit: Update or remove underperforming pages. Improve outdated articles with new insights, statistics, and expert perspectives.
2. Strengthen E-E-A-T Signals: Highlight expert authors, cite reputable sources, and ensure your website has clear trust indicators.
3. Optimize User Experience (UX): Improve site speed, enhance mobile responsiveness, and ensure intuitive navigation.
4. Diversify Traffic Sources: Reduce reliance on Google by focusing on social media, email marketing, and direct engagement with your audience.
5. Monitor Google’s Guidance: Stay updated on Google’s Search Central Blog and adapt to ongoing algorithm refinements.

What’s Next for SEO in 2025?

Google has hinted that more algorithm updates will roll out throughout the year. Website owners should anticipate continued algorithm refinements that reward user satisfaction, original content, and authoritative voices. 

This update also signals Google’s efforts to improve search result diversity and combat low-value content, including programmatic SEO-driven sites and excessive forum indexing.

To really get ahead, I think businesses and publishers should totally prioritize long-term SEO strategies instead of chasing after quick fixes. Staying adaptable, constantly improving content, and sticking to quality are what really lead to success.