Google’s March 2025 Core Update: Initial Trends and Observations
Google’s March 2025 Core Update, which went live on March 13, is causing substantial changes in search rankings. This update is among the most surprising in the past 12 months, according to industry tracking tools.
This is the most chaotic time in more than a year, according to Local SEO Guide’s Unprecedented SERP Volatility Data, which contains 100,000 home services terms. This is consistent with Google’s formal announcement of the modification. Likewise, according to SISTRIX’s Google Update Radar, significant ranking changes that affected search results in the US and the UK began on March 16.
Websites’ Exposure Is Growing and Declining
The analysis conducted by Local SEO Guide has identified the following notable winners and losers:
Attracting Attention:
- ThisOldHouse.com
- Reddit.com
- Yelp.com
- The Home Depot
- Quora.com
Reduced Visibility:
- DIYChatroom.com
- GarageJournal.com
- Bluettipower.com
- Everfence.com
- MrHandyMan.com
In the UK, SISTRIX reports more decreases for expedia.co.uk (-20.60%), vocabulary.com (-10.93%), and quora.com (-15.76%). Government websites have also been affected; visibility on hmrc.gov.uk has dropped by 52.60%.
Impact on Online Retail Pages
There has been uneven impact on the retail sector. Significant gains have been observed for several websites, like notonthehighstreet.com (+56.28%) and uniqlo.com (+76.12%). However, several have seen losses, including zara.com (-24.00%), amazon.com (-13.84%), and diy.com (-7.75%).
Key Trends Emerging
The CEO of Local SEO Guide, Andrew Shotland, has discovered three key trends:
Diminished Forum Presence
Websites like DIYChatroom and GarageJournal are currently facing a drop in traffic after seeing notable spikes.
Repression of Content Generated by AI
Websites that are thought to primarily rely on mass-produced artificial intelligence (AI)-generated material, like Bluettipower.com, are becoming less visible. Poor, SEO-driven material on other websites is also having an effect.
Cross-Industry Influence
Broad Impact on Numerous Industries Unlike upgrades focusing on certain niches, this basic improvement is impacting a broad range of industries, including government, retail, forums, and content-driven websites.
Looking Up
Google has not yet released specific details on the algorithm improvements included in this release. The full extent of the rollout’s impact will become clear after it is complete.
Search Engine Journal will monitor these developments and provide updates when more information becomes available. Keep checking back for further details.