Google officially completed the rollout of its March 2025 Core Update today at 5:34 AM PDT, ending two weeks of significant volatility in search rankings.
This update began on March 13 and has created notable shifts in search visibility across various sectors and website types.
Widespread Impact Observed
Data collected during the update’s rollout period revealed some of the most volatile search engine results pages (SERPs) in the past 12 months, according to tracking from Local SEO Guide.
Their system, which monitors 100,000 home services keywords, showed unprecedented movement beginning the week of March 10th.
SISTRIX’s Google Update Radar confirmed these findings, detecting substantial changes across UK and US markets starting March 16th.
Forum Content Recalibration
One of the most significant trends emerging from this update is a recalibration of how Google values forum content.
After approximately 18 months of heightened visibility for forum websites following Google’s mid-2023 “hidden gems” update, many forum sites are now experiencing substantial drops in visibility.
SEO strategist Lily Ray highlighted this trend, noting steep visibility declines for platforms like proboards.com, which hosts numerous forum websites.
Ray pointed out that while Reddit continues gaining visibility, many other forum sites that benefited from the 2023 algorithm changes are now diminishing their rankings.
“The SEO glory days of ‘just be a forum and you’ll rank’ might be coming to an end,” Ray observed.
Additional Patterns Identified
Andrew Shotland, CEO of Local SEO Guide, identified several other potential patterns in this update:
- Forum Content Devaluation: While Reddit remains strong, other forums are seeing their previously gained visibility disappear.
- Programmatic Content Penalties: Sites creating large volumes of programmatic pages, particularly those designed specifically for SEO rather than user value, are experiencing significant declines.
- Cross-Sector Impact: Unlike some updates that target specific industries, this core update has affected sites across retail, government, forums, and content publishers.
Industry professionals commenting on the update have noted the potential connection to Google’s broader efforts to improve search result diversity and combat low-value content.
This recalibration may also relate to the ongoing integration of AI-generated content in search results.
What This Means for SEO
With the update now complete, SEO professionals can begin to assess the full impact on their sites and implement appropriate strategies.
For those managing forum content, this update signals the importance of quality over quantity and suggests that simply having forum content is no longer sufficient for strong rankings.
Sites negatively impacted by the update should focus on improving content quality, removing programmatic or low-value pages, and ensuring their content genuinely addresses user needs rather than being created primarily for search engines.
Search Engine Journal will continue to monitor the aftermath of this core update and provide additional analysis as more data becomes available.
