WEST PALM BACH, FL – According to Search Engine Journal, Google’s March 2025 Core Update began rolling out on March 13, 2025, and is expected to finish this week. As of our own internel research, rankings may have begun to change as early as March 11, 2025. As part of Google’s ongoing effort to reward helpful, relevant content, the update has triggered significant changes in search visibility across many industries.
Winners and Losers
Early data shows that sites like ThisOldHouse.com, Reddit.com, Yelp.com, HomeDepot.com, and Quora.com gained visibility, while DIYChatroom.com, GarageJournal.com, BluettiPower.com, Everfence.com, and MrHandyMan.com saw declines.
The winning sites have some clear commonalities:
- High authority and domain trust
- Broad, community-driven or well-structured how-to content
- A track record of producing original, helpful material that aligns with user search intent
The losing sites are generally more niche or brand/product-specific, with narrower topical focus or more promotional content – areas that may have been deprioritized in favor of broader informational value and trust.
Google’s Ongoing Focus: E-E-A-T & User Experience
This core update continues to reinforce Google’s emphasis on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Sites with content authored by real experts or that demonstrate practical experience appear to be favored, particularly over thin or AI-generated content.
In fact, according to an in-depth analysis by Pam Salon on Medium, Google’s algorithms are now better at detecting low-quality AI-generated content, and may penalize it unless it has been fact-checked, edited, or meaningfully enhanced by humans.
INP: A New Core Web Vital Metric
One technical factor increasingly relevant to site performance is Interaction to Next Paint (INP), which officially replaced First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital in March 2024. INP measures the time it takes for a website to respond to a user interaction – such as a click or tap – and display the result visually.
Though INP is not directly part of Google’s core ranking algorithm, it affects user experience, and with this update, there’s greater scrutiny on how sites perform across both content and usability. Slow interaction responses could impact engagement and ultimately rankings, especially for mobile users, so site speed is more important than ever.
Industry-Wide Impacts
The update has affected sites globally. For example, UK-based notonthehighstreet.com saw a 56% boost in visibility, while uniqlo.com rose over 76%. In contrast, zara.com and amazon.com experienced notable drops. These fluctuations suggest Google is fine-tuning its evaluation of both content quality and user satisfaction signals.
Final Thoughts
While some websites may recover in future updates, Google has cautioned that not all will – even if their content is strong – due to evolving search expectations and competitive shifts. The message is clear: content must be people-first, original, and helpful, and websites need to load quickly, interact smoothly, and demonstrate trust and expertise.
As the March 2025 Core Update continues to roll out, webmasters are encouraged to monitor their analytics and focus on both content quality and technical performance in preparation for what’s next.
