Google Search Ranking Volatility Update – June 2025

In the last two days or so, there has been some kind of tweaking done to the organic rankings within Google Search. Organic traffic may not be driving as many clicks anymore, but the actual rankings themselves still seem to be moving, and the last two days have had indications of a wide shakeout across search results.

There hasn’t been an officially announced Google search ranking update since the March 2025 core update. We have, though, witnessed quite a lot of unconfirmed activity, and this recent volatility could be another instance of the same. Though Google has not issued any official announcements, the industry rumblings and tracking tool data indicate that something could be happening.

Multiple tracking tools have recorded an increase in ranking volatility. Semrush seemingly reported incorrect data at one time, which could be a result of a bug. However, there has been sufficient chatter and activity within the SEO community for this to be worth mentioning.

To provide some context, we had reported ranking volatility on June 18th. Earlier, there were sightings reported on June 9th and June 4th, then work was done on May 29th, May 21st, May 16th, and on May 12th and 13th again. Still earlier, activity was seen on May 8th. Although May 1st was not included, with hindsight, it could have been worth covering as well. Aside from that, there was volatility on April 25th, April 22nd and 23rd, April 16th, and again on April 9th.

We’ve only had one confirmed update so far in 2025, which was the March core update. In spite of Google’s previous hints that we would be getting more regular core updates, we have yet to receive another confirmed update for this year. This has led some to question whether Google’s statement of providing more frequent updates was maybe a bit too optimistic.

Google Tracking Tools

Here’s what the primary tracking tools are presently displaying regarding search ranking volatility:

SEO Community Chatter
There’s also been significant chit-chat on various SEO forums and comment boxes, especially on WebmasterWorld and similar platforms. The following are some of the highlights of those conversations:

Some people observed that something strange started happening on either June 24th or 25th.

Several reports have indicated much lower traffic levels at this time.

Some SEO experts noted that technology and news websites seem to be climbing the rankings.

One commentator mentioned a drastic decline in U.S. visitor traffic, estimating that they typically get 80–90 U.S. users every 30 minutes but have received virtually none recently. In spite of optimizing their website and scoring 100% Core Web Vitals, they felt penalized after AdSense removal.

Another mentioned that their content has been regularly scraped by the Economic Times for the last two to three years. Recently, this year, they lost their leading positions for search results to the same source.

There were speculations that the amount of discussion would have been even greater if Semrush had not faced its reporting glitch.

Although this recent volatility has not been confirmed by Google, the crossover of tool data and general community reports ensures that some form of ranking change is likely to be occurring. It matters not whether it’s a test, a silent update, or a bug; the effect is certainly being felt by a broad spectrum of websites and publishers.