Google’s core update for March 2025 has begun and they say it will take up to two weeks to complete. So, what does this mean for you and your business? Well, hopefully it means better search algorithms and systems overall, but for some, it could create a negative impact on your search engine ranking.
What is a Core Update?
Google routinely does core updates to their system to improve search reliability. Google maintains that the updates do not target specific websites but rather are very broad and assess the systems that keep the search engine running smoothly. Therefore, most sites don’t even realise that these core updates are happening. The current update is the first of the 2025 year, with the last update taking place in December 2024.
If your business does see a drop in its position in searches, Google recommends allowing the core update to finish and even waiting until a week after the update commences to get the best picture of why. It’s also important to note the position of the drop. If your website only drops a few places, don’t panic. You probably don’t need to take action as slight movement in position can happen regardless of core updates. If you have experienced a large drop in position, then you will want to do an assessment to determine why.
How to Properly Assess Your Site
Find an expert that is objective and not affiliated with your site to dig deeper into the cause. Google recommends keeping the following in mind as you assess your site and attempt to fix your position.
First, don’t do ‘quick fix’ changes. Don’t necessarily focus on what is good for SEO, as these core updates happen several times a year. Make your content more evergreen by analysing what appeals to your clients as it will make your site more sustainable over the long term.
Second, if you do need to do some rewriting, again, make sure meaningful changes are being made and not changes that are simply targeted on improving your search ranking.
Lastly, don’t start deleting content hoping that it will change your ranking. If you find content that you believe cannot be salvaged, then its likely that content was not appropriate for your site anyways and was simply inserted for SEO purposes. Then you’ll want to change that content to make it more site appropriate.
Keep in mind that any changes that you do make on your website will take months to take effect in search engine rankings. Any changes that immediately improve your ranking are not likely to be evergreen and provide long term viability.
Why Should You Care About The Google Core Updates?
These updates happen several times a year, some are larger than others (the largest happened in March 2024 and took 45 days), but all of them could potentially impact your site ranking depending on the content and keywords you are using. Chances are, you will see some fluctuation in ranking with each update, but the goal is to minimise this movement, because if you’re seeing large drops in search results, that ultimately means that your website is not properly optimised for long-term usage.
If you’re finding that your website is not performing at its best, let our SEO experts analyse it and determine how to produce the best content to weather the numerous Google core updates. Our specialists know that keyword stuffing may seem enticing and produce quick results but will not help your business long-term. We instead will produce superior content that will create a more evergreen site to appeal to potential customers and also get you seen in Google rankings.
