Last month, Google rolled out its first core update to the organic search algorithm for 2025, known simply as the March 2025 Core Update. Completed on March 27, 2025, these updates can affect the organic search rankings of different pages of a website, leading to changes in traffic volume.
Now that the dust has settled with this core update, we are able to see larger trends in terms of overarching SERP volatility across different industries, based on our access to macro-datasets and insights being reported by other data providers across the SEO community.
Note: SERP stands for “Search Engine Results Page,” or a Google results page when you enter something into Google.
What are some key trends we’re noticing from the March 2025 core update?
1. Google’s AI Overviews seeing growth in 3 key industries
As reported by Search Engine Land, Google’s latest “AI Overviews” search feature saw a surge in prominence for various keywords across the entertainment, restaurant, and travel industries during this core update. Google’s AI Overviews are a search feature where an AI-generated answer appears at the very top of the SERP, above the typical blue links that are listed throughout the page. These AI Overviews have proven to show up more frequently for easy-to-answer keywords (like definitions or simple how-to instructions) and have reduced organic click-through-rates (CTRs) from SERPs across all industries. If you’re seeing a strong impact to your website traffic due to these AI Overviews popping up, think about creating more in-depth content for your website that can’t be easily answered by an AI Overview result – like utilizing primary research data or showcasing strong, well-informed opinions from members across your organization.
2. Similar volatility to the most recent December 2024 core update
As noted in this article from Search Engine Land, the March 2025 core update had similar levels of overarching SERP volatility across different industries. SERP volatility is what happens when there are fluctuations in rankings and will typically be more noticeable during these Google core updates. As with any update released by Google, certain sites will see more of an impact from these core updates depending on their technical SEO setup and existing website content, but this update seemed to be relatively calm when compared to last year’s high-impact March 2024 core update.
3. Forum content seeing a decline in rankings
Based on insights from this Search Engine Journal article, some forum websites (like Quora or ProBoards) appeared to take a small hit in their overarching search visibility.
4. Programmatic SEO content also seeing a decline in rankings
Another key insight from that same Search Engine Journal article pointed out websites that contained programmatic SEO content on them also experienced similar declines in rankings as the previously mentioned forum content.
Note: Programmatic SEO content is content that is created and published at scale across a website using templates, databases, and AI automation.
All in all, this core update seemed to focus on the importance of quality over quantity when it comes to content generation for SEO, and focusing on creating the best experience possible for users who visit your website. Here is what you need to know in general about Google core updates, how they impact site health, and how to best adapt to SERP changes caused by them.
What Is a Google core update?
Per Google, these updates happen several times a year and are designed to ensure Google is delivering the most helpful and reliable results for searchers. These kinds of updates usually don’t target any specific websites or web pages and can be thought of as a “list reset” for specific things that someone might search for on any given day.
For example, if you have a personal list of your “20 Best Movies Of All Time”, you would likely update this list after watching more movies (shoutout to 2024’s Flow). So think of these core updates like a standard search results maintenance update, much like you would update your own personal lists of various things.
How do you know if you’ve been impacted by a Google core update?
Google recommends waiting at least one full week after the core update before checking to see if your website was impacted at all. During the release period, Google is pushing out a multitude of coding updates that may have compounding impacts. Giving your analytics data a one-week window post-core update completion sets a better baseline for you to compare performance against pre-update benchmarks for accurate and concrete impact analysis.
Once this time passes, Google recommends assessing any significant changes across your website’s Google Search Console account. If you do notice any significant changes in your Google Search Console data, then your website has likely been impacted by the most recent Google core update. If not, you’re in the clear!
What do I do if my website was impacted by a Google core update?
Google recommends you avoid making any “quick fixes” that might be detrimental to the UX of your website. Instead, focus on making sustainable long-term improvements that will benefit the people visiting your website.
Note: UX stands for “User Experience”, which encompasses the overall experience someone has when visiting and clicking around your website
Consider updating outdated pages across your website that might have seen the largest impact based on your Google Search Console data. Since these Google core updates are all about “updating” their own pages, you should do the same for your website too on a periodic basis.
We also recommend that you check for underlying SEO issues across your website that could be impacting performance. Conducting an SEO Audit for your website will help you achieve this. At the end of the day, you should always be focused on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
How can we help?
Our SEO team offers a variety of Service Offerings that can help you improve your SEO efforts. Here are a few specific to these Google core updates:
Google Update Impact Analysis & Recovery Plan – We comb through all your website’s data and use some additional third-party SEO tools to pinpoint the full impact of the Google update to your website and devise an in-depth Recovery Plan to help you regain your previous traffic baselines.
Comprehensive SEO Audit – We take a look under the hood of your website’s total SEO setup and prioritize the most important SEO issues impacting your website’s performance. This ensures you’re prepared when the next Google Update drops.
SEO Content Performance Audit – We look specifically at how the existing SEO content across your website has been performing and identify any potential recommendations on which pieces to update, rewrite, or possibly remove — with an emphasis on maximizing existing site traffic opportunities and minimizing any negative impacts from future core updates.
Connect with us to learn how TrendyMinds can help improve your website's SEO and navigate Google’s latest Core Search Algorithm Update.
