June 30, 2025
As of 17 July, the June 2025 core update is complete. The rollout officially took 16 days. This was the second core update of 2025 and it has caused quite the stir in the SEO community, thanks to high levels of volatility and even a glimmer of hope for sites affected by the 2023 helpful content update (HCU).
Despite Google stating there would be ‘more updates, more often’, at the Web Creator Conversion Event last October, there has only been one other update this year, the March 2025 core update.
This update came as no surprise, with numerous SEOs reporting volatility in the SERPs prior to the update. Barry Schwartz repeatedly took to X to share updates on the rocky search results:
SEO consultant, Glenn Gabe, also had suspicions that a core update may be on the way:
This was a broad core update that targeted all types of content in all regions and languages. The update was aimed to further improve a user's Search experiences by promoting and rewarding great web pages.
There was a lot of anticipation for this core update, as it was the fourth update since Google stated that ‘neither this update nor the next one will recover sites’. Added to this, John Mueller had stated in a Bluesky post that this was a 'bigger Google Search update'.
Volatility in the SERPs began a couple of days after the rollout began, on 2 June, and they have remained volatile ever since. Considering this was a bigger core update, there's no surprise volatility has been significantly elevated.
The most notable outcome for this core update is the partial recoveries that have been recorded by sites affected the 2023 HCU.
On 9 July, Glenn Gabe posted on X:
One user who has seen improvement replied:
However, not all sites impacted by the HCU gained a partial recovery:
But it's certainly a positive step forward for a number of people who did.
Google releases core updates multiple times throughout the year to ‘make significant broad changes to [our] search algorithms and systems’.
Here’s a timeline of the last two years:
It’s not uncommon for the SERPs to become volatile during, and for a while after, a core update. If you do notice a drop in traffic or rankings, there’s no need to assume the worst, it may be temporary.
The best thing you can do for your site is to continue creating helpful content and following E.E.A.T guidelines. But if you are concerned about the impact of any core update, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
