Google Core Update 2025: What It Means for Your Business

Google’s March 2025 core update is officially complete. Rolling out between March 13 and March 27, this update left an imprint on the digital landscape — but what exactly does it mean for small business owners like you?

If you’ve seen fluctuations in your website’s Google ranking, this post will break down what happened, how Google’s core updates work, and how you can leverage this knowledge to boost your online visibility moving forward.

What Happened in the March 2025 Core Update?

The March 2025 core update was a typical refresh of Google’s core algorithms. These updates occur several times a year, with the aim of improving search results for users.

Here’s what you need to know at a glance:

• Timeline: Announced March 13 and finished rolling out by March 27.
• Impact: Some sites experienced major ranking shifts, while others saw little to no change. However, the overall effect appears smaller compared to previous core updates.
• Key industries affected: Key players in retail, forum content, and “programmatic” (automatically generated) pages witnessed highs and lows in visibility.

As a business owner, you may be particularly interested in understanding how this update has impacted the retail industry.

Data insights showed big visibility spikes in platforms such as notonthehighstreet.com (+56%) and uniqlo.com (+76%), while losses affected names like zara.com (-24%) and amazon.com (-13%).

Meanwhile, forum sites like Reddit, Yelp, and Quora are some of the ones getting the most visibility.

Tracking tools like Google Search Console showed increased volatility during the rollout, especially between March 13–15, with additional minor fluctuations toward the end of the update. However, compared to earlier updates, this one showed a similar level of volatility.

What If Your Rankings Dropped?

Google has stated that a decrease in rankings isn’t necessarily a penalty or a reflection of poor content. Instead, it could be that your pages are being outperformed by others better aligned with user intent.

The number one recommendation is to focus on creating helpful, people-first content—but we’ll discuss more about that later.

How Do Google Core Updates Work?

Imagine you have a list of your 20 favorite restaurants from 2019. Over time, new restaurants open, your preferences change, and other factors come into play. You’d revisit the list to reflect the new landscape, and that’s essentially how a core update works.

Google’s updates assess:

• Content quality — Is this helpful, accurate, and reliable?
• Relevance — Does this match what searchers are looking for?
• User experience — Is the content easy to find, read, and interact with on different devices?

Unlike other algorithm tweaks, these updates do not target specific websites or niches but attempt to elevate great content across all industries.

Crafting Content That Ranks Well

If you run a small business, your website’s performance may hinge on whether your content aligns with the people-first approach. Here’s how you can fine-tune your content to align with Google’s expectations:

Step 1: Focus on “Helpful, Reliable, People-First” Content

Google puts users front and center, valuing content that serves genuine needs over those designed purely to rank. Ask yourself:

• Does your content answer real questions your target audience is searching for?
• Is it skimmable, engaging, and easy to read with clear headings and bullet points?
• Are your claims backed by credible sources or experience?

Always prioritize solving your audience’s pain points rather than targeting short-term search trickery.

Google’s ranking systems aim to prioritize helpful, reliable content created for people, not just to boost search engine rankings.

To check if your content meets these standards, use Google’s self-assessment guide. It highlights the importance of quality content, proof of expertise, a great page experience, and avoiding content made solely for search engines.

Explore additional tips for creating valuable content and following Google’s recommendations for better rankings in this blog post:

Must-Have SEO Strategies: Following Google Recommendations
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Step 2: Understand Your Audience’s Needs

For small businesses, your customers are your best insight. Use tools like:

• Search Console to analyze what queries bring traffic to your site
• Social media polls to ask questions directly
• Testimonials and reviews as a reference for understanding common customer concerns
• SEO research tools like Semrush, Moz, or Answer the Public to understand keywords and topics your audience is interested in.

By the way, if you’re unsure which SEO tool is right for you, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide exploring the most popular options in this blog post:

Knowing what your customers are looking for is your first step to tailoring your content to address their concerns and interests. This not only helps improve the overall user experience but also increases the chances of converting website visitors into paying customers.

Step 3: Enhance User Experience

Core updates reward websites that offer seamless browsing. This means:

• Optimize for mobile (since over half of searches come from mobile devices)
• Improve page speed and reduce unnecessary elements that slow load times
• Create navigation that’s intuitive and user-friendly.

Platforms like Google Pagespeed Insights can help pinpoint where your website experience needs improvement.

Check out this blog post for a detailed, step-by-step guide on improving your website’s loading speed:

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What About AI-Generated Content?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed content creation, sparking both debate and speculation about potential penalties from search engines. So where does Google stand on it?

Google allows AI-generated content as long as it’s genuinely helpful and not designed to manipulate rankings unfairly. For instance:

• AI content is fine if used to improve user experience or tackle labor-intensive areas
• Avoid using AI tools to churn out manipulated, redundant, or low-quality pages.

If you employ AI tools to assist your writing, pair it with human editing to ensure the content maintains factual accuracy, creativity, and relevance.

Stay Ahead of Google’s Algorithm Changes

Google’s core updates may cause temporary turbulence but also provide opportunities to reassess, improve, and thrive.

Small businesses can maintain agility and grow their presence by focusing on adaptable strategies:

• Continuously refine your content based on audience insights
• Regularly assess your ranking performance on top queries using SEO tools.
• Ensure your online store is equipped with the right tools to improve SEO. For example, Ecwid stores offer various SEO settings to help optimize your site for both search engines and visitors.

If your rankings took a hit, don’t panic. A drop in rankings doesn’t necessarily indicate an issue with your web pages.

Use this as a chance to evaluate your web presence, upgrade user experience, and produce helpful content built to serve people first.

Ultimately, prioritize long-term perspective. Don’t make reactive changes just to get back in Google’s good graces; instead, focus on creating quality content that aligns with your audience and their needs.