Google’s March 2025 Core Update Is Rolled Out — What Actually Matters Now to Rank Higher?

Did your website experience a major downfall in search engine rankings? It may be due to Google’s recent core update. On March 13, Google announced its core update and took around two weeks to complete after making various fluctuations.  Some websites, like Reddit, gained an edge, while others, such as DIYChatroom.com, experienced a significant drop in search engine rankings.

This March 2025 Google core update is significant not just for digital marketers but for anyone desiring to rank higher on the SERP. It signals the quality over quantity in content creation to boost your SEO and enhance your rankings. As per Google’s statement, the March 2025 core update is not meant to penalize websites or flag spam, but rather to redefine the foundations of SEO to indicate what is required to enhance your site’s ranking and increase visibility. 

The deranking may suggest various loopholes in your SEO strategy, like improper content structure, poor backlinks, irregular content updates, improper website structure, etc. To address such faults, we at Ranking Digitally create a customized strategy to evaluate the gaps and provide tailored solutions that help you outpace your competitors and recover your rankings.  

Read on to discover the crucial aspects of Google’s latest core update and what it means for your website SEO. Also, you will get the potential reasons why your website has been deranked and how you can leverage our expertise to refine your SEO strategy to regain your ranking.

Volatility Pattern During Google’s March 2025 Update 

As Google’s latest core update was announced on March 13, various volatile movements were observed around March 16. It stabilized briefly before volatility resurfaced around March 26. According to Google, any volatility pattern before the release of the core update doesn’t matter.

Google’s March 2025 Core Update: Key Points

  • The main objective of Google’s March 2025 core update is to ensure users get unique and information-rich content, improving their experience on the web. 
  • This Google update is not meant to target one particular aspect of SEO but rather to reshape the overall mechanism of Google’s core ranking system that assesses the quality and relevance of the content to determine sites’ rankings on the search results. 
  • The Google algorithm update made an overnight shift in the rankings of various websites, ranging from healthcare to education, technology, and media. Some websites got high rankings while others were deranked. 
  • According to Google, in comparison with previous updates, this update didn’t have a wider impact. However, it offered a major hit to those websites that observed a decline in rankings and those who may not fully recover ever.
  • As this update was going on, various tracking platforms were toppled, which made it difficult for people to analyze the impact it had on their websites. However, Google Search Console was available to check the ranking positions for different keywords. 

Websites Which Performed Well

As per the observations made by various tracking tools like Local SEO Guide, the list of websites that gained visibility after the latest Google core update in 2025 is: 

  • Yelp.com
  • HomeDepot.com
  • Quora.com
  • ThisOldHouse.com
  • Reddit.com

Websites That Saw a Decline in Rankings

  • DIYChatroom.com
  • Bluettipower.com
  • Everfence.com
  • GarageJournal.com
  • MrHandyMan.com

Potential Reasons for a Decline in Rankings

Look into the various factors that might be responsible for your website’s deranking, listed below:

  • Not consistently optimizing and updating the content to meet the dynamic needs of the audience. 
  • Content is not following EEAT (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) criteria, thus lagging behind in quality and uniqueness. 
  • Technical glitches like slow page loading, nonresponsiveness to mobile devices, broken links, etc. 
  • Not creating high-quality backlinks and optimizing different pages for the same keywords. 
  • Any change or modification in the structure of the website, like changing the domain, etc. 

Google’s March 2025 Core Update: Trends and Patterns

Look into the various patterns noticed after the March 2025 Google core update that offer various indications:

1. Dropped rankings of Forum Content

Two forums, DIYChatroom and GarageJournal, which experienced a 1,000 %+ increase after Google’s mid-2023 update, fell in rankings after this update. Also, platforms like proboards.com experienced a significant drop in rankings. This does not mean that Google downgraded these sites; it indicates that other websites, like Reddit, were rewarded. 

2. Programmatic Pages

Websites like Bluettipower.com and other ‘kitchen-sink, made-for-SEO’ sites, which rely heavily on programmatic SEO, experienced a decline.

How We Can Help You Recover from an Algorithm Hit?

Getting hit by algorithms can be stressful.  However, with the strategic plan in place, you can regain your ranking position. That’s where we can help you through our specialized SEO services and data-driven strategies. Let’s discover how. 

1. Analyzing Content Strategy 

The quality of your content is a significant factor in determining your rankings on SERP. To secure high rankings on the search results, Google always emphasizes EEAT criteria to ensure your content is relevant and valuable for the audience. If your website got hit by the recent update, we will analyze your content by addressing such questions: 

  • Does your content provide unique information? 
  • Is information picked from the authorized sources? 
  • Is it easy to read and understand for users? 
  • Is the information structured in an organized way? 
  • Is your content regularly updated to ensure relevancy? 

All such requirements are at the core to remain top in the search results. If you failed to incorporate any of the elements in your content, we can revamp your content strategy to outweigh others who gained an edge after Google’s latest core update

2. Evaluating Search Intent Alignment

Not meeting the user’s intent can be another reason why you experienced a fall in rankings after the recent Google algorithm update. Creating content that aligns with users’ search intent is crucial to ensure relevance and engagement. Search intent refers to the reasons why users are searching for the particular information. It is of many types, such as navigational, transactional, commercial, and informational. To ensure your content is aligned with the user’s intent, we incorporate all these search intent elements strategically into your content. Let’s understand the prominent search intents to use them to enhance the quality of your content. 

  • Navigational – Users with this search intent want to visit a particular website or page for specific reasons, like using services or getting customer support. 
  • Transactional – Transactional intent is related to the queries when a user wants to make a purchase. For example, using the word “buy” or “purchase” in the query. 
  • Commercial- Commercial search intent is part of the queries when users are exploring various options for buying something. Terms like “compare, review, best options” are mostly searched by the audience with this search intent. 
  • Informational – This search intent targets words like who, what, where, when, how, and why, which indicates users want to learn and gain information about any subject. 

To ensure your content aligns with what users are searching for, we integrate all these search intents into your content, which increases the traffic on the website. 

3. Leveraging the Zero-click visibility Techniques

In current times, content optimization for the search engines has evolved significantly, not just limited to traditional SEO practices. AEO (Advanced Engine Optimization) and GEO (General Engine Optimization) have emerged and significantly redefined how users’ queries are answered. So, if you were still relying on traditional SEO for content optimization, it might be a reason for your site’s decline in rankings. Here is why you should opt for our quality professional SEO services to execute modern SEO practices to make sure your content is easy to retrieve by the search engines. 

  • Keep your content properly organized and structured with H1-H3 headers. 
  • Use schema markup techniques by including relevant attributes in your HTML code for proper structuring and content optimization.
  • Ensuring writing is precise with clear answers to address users’ queries. 
  • Making content easy to read and understand by segmenting it into headings, subheadings, bullet points, etc. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid After a Drop in Rankings

After experiencing a decline in rankings, feeling panicked is normal. But don’t just make everything upside down. A fall in ranking doesn’t specifically mean that you have done something remarkably wrong; maybe others have done something better. Here is what you should avoid doing after experiencing a decline in rankings. 

  • Don’t over-optimize your content by keyword stuffing or other methods. 
  • Don’t change the structure of the site, including deleting any section without a strategic plan. 

Conclusion

The March 2025 Google Core Update has undoubtedly impacted the SEO landscape, highlighting the importance of quality content and user intent. While fluctuations in rankings are normal after such updates, quick reactions like overhauling your site structure without a proper plan can cause even more harm to your website. 

To climb back to the search engine rankings with an expert approach, invest in our specialized SEO services. Our expert team of professionals evaluates your content strategy and executes advanced SEO strategies like modifying content strategy, creating quality backlinks, improving website structure and interface, etc. This will not only set you up to navigate these changes seamlessly but also help you regain your rankings and stay ahead of the competition. Book your consultation now!