As you know, Thursday, March 13, 2025 at around 12:30 pm ET Google announced the March 2025 core update, the first core update of the 2025 year. I was expecting to see a lot of volatility by now and while we are seeing some sites report volatility, it does not feel as widespread or heated as a normal core update - YET.
Yet is the key word because while normally we see core updates hit hard within the first few days of the announcement, it is not always the case we see that. Sometimes it does take longer fo these core updates to hit hard. Or maybe it started this weekend, as some noted in the chatter I posted below, but most SEOs are off for the weekend and not checking. Maybe I'll have a stronger story on this tomorrow.
Plus, as we said in our March 2025 core update story, many believe this core update started earlier, because we all saw a lot of Google volatility prior to the announcement.
That being said, there was some volatility and chatter from after the announcement and some of the tools got a little heated over the weekend (which they normally do anyway).
This is not to take away from those seeing huge changes in the past couple of days - some are. I am just not seeing the level of complaints I would normally see at this time from a core update. Maybe I will see that within hours of posting this but at the time I wrote this, I am not.
Google Tracking Tools On March 2025 Core Update
The tools were pretty calm this week, but they were heated the week prior. There was some chatter this week about some testing and reversals, though... But as you can see, the tools aren't yet picking up this core update, at least as of this morning:
Mangools (looks broken?):
SEO Chatter on the March 2025 Core Update
There is some chatter across social, WebmasterWorld and our comments but like with the tools, not as heated as I'd expect by this point in time after the core update was announced.
Here are some quotes from the chatter in the SEO industry:
For me, it's the other way around: Yesterday at 5 p.m., the shop was overrun. We haven't had a day like that since December. Currently, however, it's rather quiet again, but that's probably because of the time of day.News site today: some Discover traffic again, which is strange because all the big news sites are reporting on an incident in my niche today. My site usually doesn't stand a chance in such cases.
Yesterday was OK, but today it is a very quiet.
Initial keyword changes are NOT looking good...
Big traffic drops yesterday and today...my search was -8% and direct was -34% yesterday. Today also starting lower, although it's early. I'm losing top ranking terms on desktop as well.
All four of my sites have lost at least 20% week-over-week, which is disappointing. Generally, one of the things that’s been good about having multiple sites is that at least one or two of them would always escape each update unscathed, and in some cases better-off.
I saw a multi-day climb begin in ahrefs starting on March 13. Since then, "organic search" has gone up every day, for a total lift of about 30%. However, I am not seeing any increase in visits and no increase in ad revenue. I am not seeing any lift in my Search Console graphs.
Starting to get a rise now. Impressions bottomed and then went up 1k. Views have headed up the whole time. But yeah, minimal impact so far. I noticed posts missing which might explain the temporary drop in impressions. They might be coming back now and ranking better than before. In general, my long-tail rankings are quite fine. But the fewer words in the phrase, the more I drop. That shouldn't be happening. I'm as good as the top sites that get the traffic for the fewest keywords required for the traffic.
yes I see some big movements, cannot disclose much but I see changes across a few sites, however I feel the update started end of Feb rather than mid March. That's when essentially we noticed big shifts (as in changes of positions of 30, 40, 50+ places, or kws not in top 100 which jumped to page 2, 3) and these big shifts continue to date.
+5% maybe... if it holds.But some people have seen gains.
Yes, I see that the website traffic is improving.
My impressions are going down so far in this update. I really wasn't expecting that. My main competitors who I know I am better than (but not necessarily in the eyes of Google) get a lot of traffic from shorter tail keywords which helps boost their metrics. I'm losing all rankings for anything short tail. These are only long-tail now. It's been a long time since I had to deal with anything like this, but it does remind me of something I dealt with many years ago under panda or penguin maybe. If you're not liked, you don't get the short tail keywords regardless if you have the better content. How many times can I not be liked? How many more changes can I make? Is it a brand problem or a content problem? It's all very confusing and hard to work out.
In my industry that's iGaming, 35-40% of all ranking terms are site reputation abuse sites and expired domain abuse. Then I see Google adds at the top, just think if any of us put so many best words in our meta titles we would be penalized, But Google ads its okay.
I asked on X yesterday, here is some of the responses I received there:
I can’t even begin to process this. pic.twitter.com/oAoNWVt4xZ
— Katherine Berry (@effthealgorithm) March 16, 2025
Significant improvement on one website, in both traffic and ranking (I checked about 30 websites). pic.twitter.com/Y36VtV1q4k
— Attila Szuhi (@attilaszuhi) March 17, 2025
Not sure if it's related to the core update but there's a slight surge on my smaller site. pic.twitter.com/PrkoMiseHR
— Christopher Makomere (@CMakomere) March 17, 2025
Up 30% yesterday, who knows what the Gooogle gods will decide tomorrow.
— Ben Fox 📚🌎🗽🇺🇦 (@bwb) March 16, 2025
Not sure what is happening. Left hopes. Trying to focus on bing more now pic.twitter.com/tgXrhUjAFd
— Anuj (@nerdinsaan) March 16, 2025
Yup. pic.twitter.com/6ca2KGXQ1E
— Eduard Blacquière (@EdWords) March 17, 2025
There is a lot of chatter on my post on X - I just can't embed it all.
Of course, Glenn Gabe is doing a great job keeping an eye on it from day to day:
Good Morning Google Land! This is the March 16 edition of "Core Update Notes". Now officially a few days into the update, I'm seeing more movement across sites and verticals. But if you've been following my updates, you know there was a TON of movement starting on 3/6. So now I… pic.twitter.com/kaxmqS9Tb9
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 16, 2025
And as you can see, from his post just minutes ago, he is noticing post core announcement volatility in a big way for a number of sites:
Good Morning Google Land! This is the March 17 edition of "Core Update Notes". I've been sharing about the surges and drops I've been seeing with the March core update, and this morning the volatility is even clearer. There are some massive surges and drops showing this morning.… pic.twitter.com/eLVjLPfl1X
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 17, 2025
It does seem like the volatility may be picking up today, so maybe I will have another story tomorrow showing more extreme movements tomorrow? Some are seeing some really big changes in the past couple of days...
What are you all seeing as of the past day or so?
Forum discussion at X and WebmasterWorld.
