On 13 March 2025, Google has announced 2025’s first broad core algorithm update. The core update is expected to be rolled-out in 14 days. However, the core update sometimes take longer time to complete.

In this article, we will understand, what is Google core update, what could be the impact, what were the previous updates, how to face reduce the core update impact, and how to future-proof your website to maintain a steady rank.

Google has announced the core update in Linkedin’s Google Search Central Page.

What is the Google March 2025 Core Update?

Google Core update is a search algorithm refreshing mechanism. Google’s March 2025 Core Update aims to re-evaluate the websites that are currently serving online contents for the users. The main purpose of such core update is to deliver quality and useful content to the web searchers.

Why Does Google Release Core Updates?

Google mainly releases core updates to improve search quality, Promote relevant & authentic information and reduce the impact of manipulative SEO tactics. These algorithm updates refine how Google evaluates content, ensuring that high-quality, user-focused pages rank higher while low-value or outdated content loses visibility.

✔ Improving Search Relevance & Content Quality

Google prioritises accurate, well-researched, and helpful content over pages designed purely for SEO manipulation.
Websites with strong topical authority and original insights benefit from core updates.

✔ Combatting Spam & Low-Quality Content

Updates target keyword stuffing, AI-generated spam, and link manipulation.
Example: Sites overloaded with thin affiliate content or, less detailed contents often lose rankings after core algorithm updates.

✔ Aligning Search with User Intent & Behaviour

Google adjusts ranking signals to better match search intent and evolving user expectations.
Example: A medical website with expert-backed health advice ranks higher than generic, unverified blogs.

✔ Enhancing E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

Search engine promotes content by the real people, using real life expertise and experiences. For example, a solicitor’s legal advice ranks better than a forum discussion on legal issues.

Such algorithm Updates reward industry experts and credible sources over low-authority content.

What Changes in the March 2025 Update?

We are expecting that Google will implement Stricter content relevance and topical authority evaluation. Because, topical authority directly represents E_E_A_T signal to search engine.

There will be Increased focus on semantic search and user engagement signals. For example, websites with contextually relevant content is expected to rank better than random articles. A better user engagement brings positive impressions about the website to the search engine, which indicates quality signal.

Possible adjustments in link evaluation and ranking weight can also be seen since people are trying to manipulate search engine rank by building random backlinks.

Who is Most Affected by This March 2025 Core Update?

Broad core algorithm updates evaluates every websites based on their historical data, usual engagement Metrix and topical relevance. However, sites with with low-quality AI-generated content is like to be affected badly.

Publishers relying on outdated link-building strategies and websites failing to establish topical depth and expertise can also expect a ranking drop after the March 2025 core update.

Google’s Noticeable Algorithm Updates in 2024

Google has released 4 core updates in 2024 to refresh the search engine ranking position. such updates takes more than 200 ranking factors into account.

March 2024 Core Update (Duration: 45 days)
August 2024 Core Update (Duration: 19 days)
November 2024 Core Update (Duration: 13 days)
December 2024 Core Update (Duration: 6 days)

In 2024, Google has also released a few major updates to ensure better search experience.

August 2024 Helpful Content Update (combined with August 2024 core update)
October 2024 Link Spam Update – Devalued unnatural and paid backlinks.

Google frequently adjusts ranking factors without official statements. Such minor updates may affect a particular niche or a particular regions websites.

Observed trends in 2024:

Increased weight on click-through rate (CTR) and dwell time.
Strengthened emphasis on structured data and schema markup.
Silent changes to how Google interprets entities and relationships in content.

Algorithmic Penalty vs. Manual Penalty: What’s the Difference?

Google penalises websites in two primary ways: algorithmic penalties and manual penalties. Both of which can lead to ranking losses and decreased organic traffic. You can find manual penalty notice in your search console dashboard but an algorithmic penalty can be assessed by search console data such as traffic, impressions, crawl stats and page indexing report.

✔ Algorithmic penalty is triggered automatically by Google’s algorithm

Occurs when Google’s automated systems detect violations of search quality guidelines.
No manual review or warning in Google Search Console.

Common Indicators of an Algorithmic Penalty

Sudden traffic drop after a Google core update or spam-related algorithm refresh.
Loss of rankings across multiple keywords in a particular topic cluster.

✔ Manual penalty is spplied by Google’s Web Spam Team

A manual penalty means Google has reviewed your site and found violations.
Notification appears in Google Search Console under “Manual Actions”.

Common Reasons for Manual Penalties

Unnatural link schemes (buying or exchanging backlinks).
Cloaking & misleading redirects that show different content to users and Google.
Thin, duplicate, or AI-generated spam content designed to manipulate rankings.

What should you do during the core update?

Google applies algorithmic treatment on the historic data. It means, nothing can change the impact of the core update. If you do make any changes meanwhile the update is going on, it will surely help in the next update.

These are the few things you can do while the core update take place:

Observe SERP fluctuations, Crawl changes & Impression chances. It will give you an idea of how much algorithmic storm is going over your website.
Do not publish any new content within the core update. Even if you do, it will take longer time to appear in SERP.
Do not get surprised after watching sudden rank increase or decrease. During update, anything can happen.

How to Recover from Traffic Drops After the March 2025 Core Update?

If your website lost traffic after Google’s March 2025 Core Update, the first step is to assess why rankings dropped and implement data-driven recovery strategies. Most of the time, Google penalises for bad web experience, poor topical coverage and executing spammy SEO strategies.

Google’s updates often refine ranking signals, prioritising content quality, user intent alignment, and overall site credibility. Websites that fail to meet these standards may experience ranking fluctuations, requiring immediate SEO adjustments.

Here’s how you should recover from traffic drop after core update:

Conduct a Traffic & Ranking Audit

✔ Analyse Traffic Drops with Google Search Console & other paid tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush.

Identify which pages lost the most traffic and compare rankings before and after the update.
Analyse search queries affected. Find out: Has Google shifted intent interpretation for certain keywords?

✔ Check for Algorithm-Specific Ranking Changes

Google may have deprioritised outdated content or favoured deeper topical coverage.

For example, If an accounting website ranked for “corporate tax planning” but lost rankings, check if competitors are now ranking with case studies and updated regulations.

Content Refresh & Quality Check

✔ Update Outdated Content with New Research

Add fresh statistics, case studies, and user-first insights to strengthen relevance.
Ensure headings and subheadings match evolving user intent post-update.
Observe if Google has increased crawling (you can find it through search console>settings>crawl stats)

✔ Remove or Consolidate Underperforming Pages

Remove thin, duplicate, or low-engagement contents.Or, merge similar pages to protect rank dilution. If multiple blog posts target “SEO for lawyers”, merge them into one high-value guide.

✔ Enhance Content Depth & Semantic Relevance

Implement Google’s NLP techniques, expand topics with related queries and structured explanations.
Use structured data (schema markup) to boost visibility in featured snippets and provide Google a better undertanding about your website.

Improve On-Page SEO & Internal Linking

✔ Strengthen Internal Links to Reinforce Topical Authority

Connect related content to establish a clear content hierarchy for Google’s crawlers. For example, a “Tax Planning for Startups” page should link to relevant tax deduction guides and legal compliance articles. contextual link relates a page with contextually relevant pages that gives extra weight. contextual linking also help gaining impression during ‘helpful content update’ that purely identifies contextual relevance and helpfulness.

✔ Optimise for Featured Snippets & SERP Features

Use concise answers and bullet points to increase chances of ranking in Google’s “People Also Ask” and rich snippets.
Optimise your website for long tail keywords to target specific search query and voice search.

Reduce Core Update Impact

Request an SEO audit to identify the reason for ranking drop

We help you knowing the accurate reason for the rank drop right after the Google core update

Request SEO Audit

Request SEO Consultation

How to Track & Measure SEO Performance After Core Update?

After a Google broad core update, tracking SEO performance is essential to understand how rankings, traffic, and user engagement have been affected. We suggest using Google Search Console & Google Analytics to monitor SEO Ranking indicators to refine their SEO strategy and recover lost rankings effectively.

Key Tools for Performance Tracking

✔ Google Search Console (GSC) – Track Clicks, Impressions & Ranking Trends

Analyse click-through rates (CTR) to see if meta descriptions need optimisation.
Monitor search impressions to determine if visibility has increased or dropped.

✔ Ahrefs / SEMrush – Keyword Rankings & Competitor Benchmarking

Track keyword movements before and after the update.
Compare rankings with competitors who gained visibility to identify content gaps.

✔ Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – Engagement, Conversions & User Behaviour

Analyse bounce rates, dwell time, and user interaction to refine content strategy.
Identify traffic drop-off points—Are users leaving faster post-update?

Key Metrics to Monitor

✔ CTR & Dwell Time – Measure Search Intent Alignment

Higher CTR indicates better meta descriptions and page relevance.
Dwell time (time spent on page elements) signals content quality and user satisfaction.

✔ Keyword Movements – Assess New vs. Old Page Rankings

Check if older pages lost rankings due to outdated content.
Identify newly ranking pages and optimise them further.

✔ Crawl Frequency – Ensure Google Keeps Indexing & Refreshing Pages

If Google stops crawling key pages, update internal linking and submit sitemaps.
Use log file analysis to detect crawling issues.

Crawl Stats, Crawl Budget, and Topical Authority: The Connection

Google allocates a specific crawl budget to each website, determining how frequently its pages are crawled and indexed. Its like allocating time duration to your mind to think about a specific issue. Google may crawl your website regularly and periodically. The crawl priority depends on the quality and the frequency of your website content.

Websites with strong topical authority and optimised internal structures benefit from better crawl efficiency, leading to faster indexing and improved rankings.

What is Crawl Budget?

Crawl budget is the number of pages Google crawls within a specific timeframe.

Determined by site health, internal linking, and content relevance.
If a site has too many low-value pages, Google may waste resources, affecting indexing speed.

✔ Factors Affecting Crawl Budget:

Server performance: Slow sites get fewer crawls. An optimised website gets more clicks & crawl
Duplicate content: Wastes crawl budget on redundant pages.
Internal linking: Strong internal links improve crawl efficiency.

How Does Crawl Budget Relate to Topical Authority?

Websites with well-structured topical clusters receive more frequent crawls.

If content is semantically related, Google prioritises crawling and refreshing those pages.
Example: A law firm with interconnected pages on business contracts, employment law, and legal disputes signals high topical authority, leading to better crawl distribution. (alternatively, Google prioritises an optimised website to look frequently for content freshness).

✔ Authority websites get priority in Google’s crawl queue.

If a website consistently produces authoritative content, Google assigns a higher crawl rate, ensuring faster indexing and ranking adjustments.

How Google’s AI & Search Generative Experience (SGE) is Changing SEO

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) is reshaping SEO by integrating AI-driven summaries into search results. Google now summerises the available resources before referring people to other websites.

It reduces the need for users to click on organic listings. This SGE shift forces businesses to adapt their SEO strategies to remain visible and competitive in an AI-powered search environment.

How to Adapt to AI-Powered Search Results?

✔ Address the main intent in the first sentence so that search engine gets the answer without reading bluffs.

✔ Use schema markup (FAQ, How-To, and Review snippets) to improve content eligibility for AI-generated answers.

✔ Provide concise, well-formatted answers in bullet points and tables to improve chances of being included in AI summaries.

✔ Focus on User Interaction Metrics such as scroll depth, CTR, and dwell time.

✔ Improve UX, readability, and interactivity to increase content retention.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are some Frequently Asked Questions on Google Algorithm Update

How to check Google Algorithm Updates

Google algorithm updates are available in Google search status. Google lists all incidents reported for ranking for research purposes.

When Google releases core updates?

There are no schedule of releasing core updates. Historical data suggests that Google releases core updates at the end of first quarter and at the end of each quarter there are one major update. However, Google doesn’t follow any specific pattern.

What happens during the core update?

Usually, websites experience massive traffic surge or a severe traffic drop during the core algorithm update. This is mainly due to refreshing the SERP data and trial & errors done by the Google algorithms.