Algorithm updates and more - what’s Google been up to in March 2025?
It’s been a while since the last news on a Google algorithm change, and it looks like the dust is now settled from the mid-March Core algorithm update, although some of our sites have only started to level off this week.
The results have been less dramatic than the back-to-back updates in December, although some sites that had made significant and continuing gains since that update rolled out have seen the results diminish somewhat.
General consensus is that this update has affected sites that use forum-based content, which are mostly going to be forums (but not Reddit, which we’ll discuss later) or that have engaged in heavy usage of AI-based copy to rapidly scale their content strategy. The headline sector to be affected is retail, which is unwelcome news given all the other pressures currently being exerted on retailers.
What can you do if a Google Core update affects your rankings?
The official guidance from Google is always to do nothing, as the altered performance for your site will be in line with the, if we’re being honest, shifted goalposts that the update represents.
This is problematic for two reasons. The first is that businesses that have been experiencing a certain level of trade linked to higher places in the rankings will now see that decline or even stop altogether. The second is more a point of pride than anything else, but some of the sites that are now top ranked are not as good as the sites they’ve replaced, which does tend to raise questions about where the benefit to the user is.
When looking at your recovery, the most helpful thing to start with is a list of the keywords you’ve gained and lost, and improved and declined. Not all are created equal and you might find that although the numbers are lower, the traffic and the intent for those you’ve dropped means you aren’t any worse off.
If you find that this best case scenario isn’t representative of your experience, it’s time to grab that list of keywords and work out where your targets are.
Once you know where you need to improve, you can then start putting a plan together. Have the pages that ranked for those keywords had a lot of love put into them, or have they been static for long enough that it’s time for an overhaul? We know from Google’s algorithm leak last year that they keep track of page updates over a span of time, so it’s a sensible place to start.
If the page has been receiving frequent updates (and consider if they’re too frequent, so might have negatively affected the quality), look at what you can do around the page to support it with a “pillar-based” SEO strategy, where it becomes the central repository for targeted pages that support your keyword targets. If that doesn’t help, what we’re going to discuss next might be of interest.
Take a look at Reddit
Reddit has flown under the radar for certain generations, and in a post AI-overview world that should change.
Not only are brands making a space for themselves by setting up accounts and discussing what it is they do with already engaged audiences (it’s important to declare your affiliation to the brand, but that doesn’t have to be a negative), but Reddit has already been and will, with the provision of the new license they’re offering, continue to be a training ground for Generative AI.
Google’s AI overviews are the next big thing
Google’s AI overviews are now appearing for more and more searches, and offer both a source of frustration and a lifeline to brands. Recent changes mean they could pull the information from any site, not just sites already ranking in the top ten, which is an invitation for brands to leapfrog huge industry players and end up at the top of page one.
The science behind making this happen is still in its infancy, but as we know one of the places that the GPTs are being trained, it makes sense to establish a foothold on that platform.
Google’s becoming the snake that eats its own tail
A slightly less welcome development this month has been the inclusion of Google search results in AI overviews. This means the chances of a zero-click search have risen (this is a search where the answer is found without ever needing to land on your website), and traffic overall has fallen as a result of people not needing to leave Google to get what they want.
This will be especially unwelcome for businesses that rely on this traffic for the occasional impulse purchase or even just to place their brand in the mind of users landing on a popular blog.
Expert help with your search results
If you’d like a chat about your site’s performance, or need an accurate picture so you can start keyword planning, get in touch. There are no easy answers or fixes when it comes to organic search, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help.