On the 30th June 2025, Google confirmed that they had started rolling out their latest broad algorithm update, the June 2025 Core Update.
The update took 17 days to complete its rollout, finishing on the 17th July 2025.
This was the first Core Update since the March 2025 Core Update and only the second this year.
Like most Core Updates, the June 2025 Core Update has caused high levels of ranking volatility across nearly every industry as Google tweaks how their ranking systems work.
If you’re a small marketing team or business owner, you might be worried about how the update will affect your SEO performance.
But don’t panic. In this article, we’ll tell you exactly what you should be monitoring and what to do if your website is affected.
So, to kick things off, here’s everything we know about the June 2025 Core Update…
About the June 2025 Core Update
Update focus
As usual, Google hasn’t given us much information about the June 2025 Core Update or what exactly is changing.
But, from past Core Updates, we know that this update will be geared towards improving how their systems assess and rank content in organic search results.
Plus, with Google now focusing heavily on AI Overviews and their new AI Mode, this update will likely result in changes and improvements to AIO answers and how content gets cited.
How long did the rollout take?
The June 2025 Core Update took 17 days to fully roll out.
Typically, Core Updates take about 2 weeks to complete their rollout, but this is often just an estimate. With more complex updates, the rollout can sometimes take 4 – 6 weeks to complete.
With the June 2025 Core Update, the rollout began on the 30th June 2025 and was fully complete on 17th July 2025.
Recent ranking volatility
In the weeks leading up to the start of the June 2025 Core Update, there were a few spikes in ranking volatility (big changes in ranking positions) in search results across a few industries.
As this report from Semrush’s Sensor tool shows, in the lead-up to the update, things weren’t looking too bad:
But as with every algorithm update, there’s usually a bit of calm before the storm!
Looking at this latest report from Semrush’s Sensor Tool, we can see ranking volatility stayed at normal levels for the first week or so after the rollout began.
But between the 10th of July and the 17th of July, we saw a huge spike in volatility.
It’s also worth mentioning that ranking volatility won’t settle immediately now that the June 2025 Core Update has finished rolling out.
We will likely continue to see high search volatility for the next few weeks before things start to settle.
So, if you notice sudden drops or gains in your ranking positions, don’t rush to make any major changes just yet. It could just be some short-term turbulence before things stabilise.
Instead, review Google’s best practice guidelines and make sure your website doesn’t go against them – we’ll get onto this shortly.
What is a Core Update?
If you’re still unfamiliar with what a Core Update is, here’s a quick explanation.
A Core Update is a significant change to Google’s ranking systems, which assess the relevance and usefulness of your website pages and how you rank in search results.
These updates don’t penalise specific websites or focus on individual SEO tactics; instead, they refine how Google determines which content should rank highest for a given keyword or query.
The goal of a Core Update is to improve Google’s systems and help users find more helpful, trustworthy, and accurate information quickly and easily.
When a Core Update is released, some pages may perform better while others may see drops in visibility. This isn’t always a reflection of poor content, but often means other pages are now seen as more helpful or more aligned with search intent than others.
How will the Core Update affect my website?
If your website has been impacted by the June 2025 Core Update, you might notice some changes in where your pages appear in Google search results, which may impact your traffic, leads, and sales.
If your site drops, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve done anything wrong. It just means Google’s algorithm may now favour content with more depth, better structure, or clearer authority signals.
On the other hand, if you’ve been improving your content quality, adding new sections, and enhancing your internal links, you might see a few positive changes to your ranking positions.
The June 2025 Core Update is already showing some movement across:
- High-value commercial keywords
- Featured snippets and People Also Ask sections
- Local map packs and review-based searches
If the update has impacted your website, don’t rush and make knee-jerk changes.
With these updates, it’s important to be patient, monitor your performance, and weather the storm to see the actual impact before changing your entire SEO strategy or getting rid of a load of content.
Things to keep an eye on
Here are the tools and metrics you should monitor as the June 2025 Core Update rolls out.
Google Search Console
This should be your first stop when checking if your website has been affected by the June 2025 Core Update.
Use Google Search Console to look for drops in organic impressions, clicks, or your average position.
Pay special attention to your top-performing pages and content. If they have slipped in rankings or lost visibility, it’s a sign the update has impacted your site.
Also, check the Index Coverage and Page Experience reports. Sudden spikes in errors or crawl issues could lead to ranking changes, even if indirectly.
Google Analytics
Organic traffic trends can tell you a lot about how your users engage with your site and whether the June 2025 Core Update is impacting your performance.
Compare your organic traffic over the last 7 to 14 days with the previous period.
Drop-offs in traffic from Google (but not other sources) could indicate you’ve dropped some ranking positions.
You can also dig deeper into bounce rates, the time users spend on your site, and conversions from organic sessions.
If users spend less time on key pages, it might suggest your content or user experience is not meeting their expectations as well as it used to.
Keyword Positioning
Platforms like Semrush and Ahrefs are great for tracking keyword positioning, site visibility, and how your competitors are being affected.
Monitor daily visibility scores and ranking changes across your target keywords to monitor how the June 2025 Core Update affects your website.
If competitors are gaining traction where you are losing visibility, compare their content depth, structure, and topic coverage against yours. This can help pinpoint where your content is falling short and what improvements may be needed.
Manually check SERPs
As well as checking all these tools and metrics, you can do some manual checks too.
If you know that your pages were previously ranking on featured snippets, image packs, or local results for specific keywords, do some searches for those terms and see if you still hold those positions.
If you were ranking in those placements but aren’t now, it suggests your content may no longer be seen as relevant or helpful.
If you don’t want to check manually, tools like Semrush can help here, too.
Tips for recovering if your website is impacted
Review Google’s official content guidelines
Start with Google’s guidelines around content quality and expertise.
These guidelines aren’t just for webmasters; they’re also meant for content writers, marketers, and business owners to self-assess their pages.
Ask yourself: Does your content actually help someone looking for a solution, or is it just written for search engines? Does it offer original insight or just summarise what others have already published?
You can find the full set of questions on Google’s Search Central Blog from the August 2019 Core Update.
It may be from an older update, but it’s still just as relevant today when assessing your content quality.
Focus on genuinely helpful content
Helpful content is actionable, easy to read, and tailored to what people are actually searching for.
That means avoiding long-winded intros, keyword stuffing, or vague explanations.
The key here is focusing on user intent.
For example, if someone is searching “how to choose a mortgage broker”, don’t just list obvious information or try to sell your services. Give them clear steps, questions to ask, and comparisons to help them decide.
The more useful your content is, the more likely it will rank well in the long term.
Improve E-E-A-T signals
Google still massively emphasises the importance of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
Especially in industries that significantly impact consumers, like financial services, legal, health and medical, and news.
If you’re in these sectors, you can improve your signals by making sure your content shows:
- Who wrote it and why they are qualified
- What business or organisation stands behind it
- Where the information comes from (link to trusted sources)
- When the page was last updated
Add author bios, link to case studies, and make sure your About and Contact pages are credible and easy to find.
You can read Google’s guidance on E-E-A-T and the quality rater guidelines here.
Strengthen your internal links
Strong and logical internal linking structures help Google crawl your site more easily and build topical authority.
Link related pieces of content together, and use descriptive anchor text so your users (and Google) can easily understand the connection.
If you have siloed content, like one strong landing page and several thin blog posts, connect them so they support each other contextually.
This can be a quick win that improves your site structure and engagement.
Update or repurpose old content
Google rewards freshness, especially in competitive industries.
Look at your top 20 blog posts or pages and update them with new examples, up-to-date statistics, FAQ sections, and see if you can make the formatting clearer.
If you have five short blogs covering similar topics and trying to rank for the same keywords, it’s better to merge them into a single, more comprehensive blog to avoid keyword cannibalisation and boost content depth.
Remove or consolidate ‘thin’ pages
If your pages are under 200 to 300 words, have no backlinks, and have little engagement, you should consider combining them with related content or deleting them if they no longer serve a purpose.
Every page on your site should serve a purpose. Whether it’s there to entertain, educate, or convert.
So, avoid bloating your site with duplicate pages, outdated information, or thin, low-quality content. Similarly, don’t flood your website with overly long or drawn-out content or pages.
In the eyes of both Google and your users, content quality is much more important than content quantity.
FAQs about Google’s Core Updates
How often are Core Updates released?
Google typically releases around four Core Updates per year, alongside others like spam updates.
These updates are usually released once a quarter. So far this year, we’ve had the March 2025 Core Update and now the June 2025 Core Update, so we’re pretty much on track for an average year.
That said, Google has released multiple updates at the same time in the past, like last year with the March 2024 Core and Spam updates.
Can I tell if the June 2025 Core Update has impacted my site?
Yes. Using Google Search Console and Analytics tools, you can compare your rankings and organic traffic before and after the release of the June 2025 Core Update. Any drops or gains in key pages may indicate that the June 2025 Core Update has affected your website.
Is a Core Update the same as a Spam Update?
No, Core Updates are different from Spam Updates.
Core Updates are broader in scope and aim to improve how Google ranks content in general. Spam updates target manipulative or low-quality SEO practices, which can lead to penalties for specific websites.
You can read our breakdown of the recent Spam Update, the December 2024 Spam Update here.
How long will my website take to recover?
If your website has suffered a major hit due to the June 2025 Core Update, there is no fixed timeline for recovery.
How quickly your site recovers depends on how much change your content needs, and on your website’s performance, structure, and overall user experience quality.
In most cases, websites significantly impacted by a Core Update can start to recover within a few months if the right changes are made to the content quality, structure, and hierarchy.
How our SEO Specialists can help
If your website has been impacted by the June 2025 Core Update, our SEO Specialists can help you audit your content, ensure you’re following Google’s guidelines, and improve your rankings, traffic, and conversions.
If you’d like to speak to one of our SEO Specialists, you can get in touch here.
