Google’s March Core Update, rolled out mid-March 2025, brought another wave of shifts in search rankings — and the SEO community has been quick to take notice. While every core update is designed to improve the relevance and quality of search results, this one appears to be particularly impactful across a range of industries and website types.

Early Signs of Ranking Volatility

Within days of the update going live, noticeable fluctuations in search engine results pages (SERPs) were observed. Sites that had held steady rankings for months experienced sudden drops, while others saw gains seemingly overnight. This kind of shake-up is typical of a broad core update, but the level of volatility reported in this case suggests some significant algorithmic re-evaluation under the hood.

A Shift in How Forum Content Is Valued?

One trend that’s standing out involves forum and user-generated content. In recent years, especially following Google’s effort to surface more “hidden gems” from online communities, forums had seen an uptick in visibility. But with this update, some of that visibility appears to be pulling back. Certain forum-style platforms have seen noticeable drops, indicating that Google may be refining how it assesses the authority or usefulness of user-generated discussions.

What This Means for Site Owners

If you’ve noticed a sudden drop — or boost — in your site’s traffic, it could be related to this update. As with all core updates, it’s not about penalising specific sites, but rather reassessing content in the context of what Google deems most helpful and relevant at the time.

Here are a few steps worth considering:

● Reassess your content for relevance and depth. Does it genuinely address the user’s needs?

● Focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

● Avoid over-optimisation and ensure your site offers real value to readers.

Expect further movement in the coming weeks as the dust settles and Google fine-tunes the changes.