What SEO Professionals Need to Know
After more than two weeks of ranking turbulence, the Google June 2025 Core Update has officially finished rolling out. Kicking off on June 30 and wrapping up just past midnight on July 17 (a full 16 days and 18 hours later), this marks Google’s second confirmed core algorithm update of the year, following March 2025’s sweeping changes.
“This is a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites,” Google explained on LinkedIn, reinforcing the company’s ongoing commitment to surfacing people-first content.
What Actually Happened?
As always, Google kept its core update process somewhat cryptic. According to early tracking data and SEO chatter, the rollout’s real impact began around July 2, with noticeable volatility peaking between July 11 and July 14. This aligns with data shared by Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land, who noted this update triggered:
- Sharp visibility drops for some major publishers and niche blogs
- Partial recoveries for sites previously impacted by the September 2023 Helpful Content Update
- A continuation of Google’s long-term effort to clean up low-value, overly optimized pages
From an SEO standpoint, the key takeaway is that Google’s latest update appears to favour content that delivers topical depth, authentic expertise, and user satisfaction—a consistent trend throughout 2024 and 2025.
Google’s Official Advice (Same as Always?)
If you’ve seen a drop in rankings, don’t expect a magic bullet. Google reiterated its now-standard position:
“There’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people,” the company stated.
Instead, Google directs impacted site owners to its people-first content guidelines, encouraging a review of content quality and page experience. Notably, Google also clarified that:
- There are no specific actions to recover from core updates
- Recovery may occur between updates, but significant change usually comes with the next major core refresh
Core Update Timeline: A Quick Recap
To put this latest update in context, here’s a quick look at Google’s recent core update history:
| Update | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| June 2025 Core Update | June 30, 2025 | July 17, 2025 |
| March 2025 Core Update | March 13, 2025 | March 27, 2025 |
| December 2024 Core Update | December 12, 2024 | December 18, 2024 |
| August 2024 Core Update | August 15, 2024 | September 3, 2024 |
| March 2024 Core Update | March 5, 2024 | April 19, 2024 |
📊 What SEOs Should Do Now
If you’ve noticed traffic shifts since July, now’s the time to audit and assess. Ask yourself:
- Is your content satisfying the intent of the searcher?
- Does your site show real expertise and authority in its niche?
- Are you offering unique insights, not just rehashed information?
These are the same questions Google uses to assess content—and your roadmap to recovery or continued ranking growth.
I advise to treat each core update as a checkpoint, not a crisis. If you’re publishing thin content, relying too heavily on AI without human refinement, or ignoring UX signals, you’re playing a dangerous game in today’s search environment.
The AI + GEO Layer
What’s especially interesting from a technical SEO perspective is how this update reflects Google’s deeper integration of AI and location-aware content indexing.
With the rise of Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Google’s Multimodal AI ranking signals, it’s clear that contextual relevance, geographic intent, and semantic depth are now more critical than ever.
If your site isn’t actively aligning content with user location, behavioural data, or real topical expertise—don’t expect to stay competitive in 2025.
The June 2025 core update won’t be the last. Google continues its cadence of quarterly improvements to weed out manipulative tactics and elevate content that genuinely helps users. Whether you’re in local SEO, ecommerce, affiliate marketing, or content publishing, the goal is the same:
“Create helpful, reliable, people-first content,” as Google says—because algorithms now speak that language fluently.
If your site took a hit, treat it as valuable feedback. If you saw gains, double down on what’s working. In SEO, survival is about adaptation—and the June 2025 core update just raised the bar again.
View more Insights Into Google Core Updates
Max Letek
SEO, GEO & AI Search Expert at Media-M
📍 London, UK | 📧 marketing@media-m.co.uk
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