Caleb Ulku breaks down Google's March 2025 core update (officially launched March 13th, with pre-rollout volatility starting March 9th) and its impact on website rankings. The update targets sites with excessive filler content, mass-produced unedited AI content, expired domain purchases, and content that buries its main answer. Based on data from 50+ client accounts, sites with strong local relevance and comprehensive service pages are gaining traffic (up to +18%), while those with thin or generic content are losing visibility. Ulku provides a five-step action plan: avoid panic changes, audit Google Search Console, review vulnerable pages for real value, implement quick wins on key pages, and use AI to compare your declining content against currently-ranking competitor content.
Google's March 2025 core update officially launched on March 13th, 2025. However, many SEOs started noticing significant ranking changes as early as March 9th, and some analysts like Glenn Gabe reported core update-like volatility in early March. This pre-announcement volatility suggests Google was testing elements of the update before officially rolling it out. The full rollout is expected to take about two weeks to complete.
Google's official statement was brief. They described it as 'a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.' They also added that they 'continue their work to surface more content from creators through a series of improvements throughout this year,' noting that some improvements had already happened and additional ones would come later. Experts caution that when Google calls something a 'regular update,' they're often trying to downplay its significance, as core updates can completely reshape the search landscape.
Based on observed patterns and Google's quality guidelines, four types of sites are most likely being negatively affected: (1) Sites with excessive filler content before getting to the main answer — such as recipe sites that include lengthy backstories before the actual recipe; (2) Sites with mass-produced AI content published without proper human oversight or added value; (3) Domains purchased primarily for their SEO value, particularly those bought at auction before expiring to exploit the expired domain loophole; and (4) Content that doesn't directly answer user queries — Google wants the main answer early in the content, not buried deep in the article.
The five-step action plan is: (1) Don't panic or make hasty changes — take time to analyze what's happening first, as Google specifically advises against rushing; (2) Check your Google Search Console data to identify patterns in which types of pages or keywords are losing visibility, then use AI to analyze that content for user intent and helpfulness; (3) Conduct a content audit of your most vulnerable pages, asking whether the content provides real value, gets to the point quickly, and is comprehensive without being fluffy; (4) Implement quick wins on your most important pages — ensure the main answer is in the first paragraph, add clear headings matching user intent, and improve title tags to match what users are actually searching for; (5) Compare your content to what's currently ranking for your target keywords by feeding both your underperforming content and newly ranking competitor content to an AI tool to analyze the differences.
Based on data from one SEO agency managing over 50 local businesses, the impacts vary significantly: A plumbing company in Plano, Texas saw traffic up 18% since March 10th, with service pages showing the biggest improvements due to a strong local content strategy. A LASIK surgeon in Chicago saw traffic down 12% initially, which stabilized after the first week — their blog posts with thin content targeting non-local informational queries took the biggest hit, with no real impact to local rankings. A law firm near New Orleans saw no significant traffic change, but their Google Business Profile calls increased 23% compared to the prior two weeks, and their Google Ads performance improved significantly. The overall pattern shows businesses with strong local relevance signals and comprehensive service pages doing well, while those with thin, generic content are struggling.
Parasite SEO refers to the practice of publishing content on high-authority third-party platforms — such as Medium, Reddit, and LinkedIn — to rank in search results without building your own site's authority. Many SEOs have used this tactic over the past year or so to rank content by leveraging these platforms' existing domain authority. The March 2025 update is expected to cause a significant drop in traffic to these parasite SEO sites, as Google has been clear that they want to reward original sources rather than aggregators and third-party content hosts.
The expired domain loophole is an SEO tactic where practitioners purchase domains at auction before they officially expire, allowing them to retain the domain's accumulated SEO value and backlink profile. For years, Google has been devaluing links from domains that expire and get re-registered, but SEOs worked around this by buying domains before they officially expired. The March 2025 core update appears to be targeting and closing this loophole. Patterns observed suggest this tactic may no longer work as well going forward, as Google seems to be more aggressively identifying and devaluing domains purchased primarily for their SEO value.
AI should be used as a tool in the content creation process with proper human oversight, not as a replacement for content creation. The recommended approach is to use AI to draft content, but have every piece reviewed, edited, and improved by a human who knows the subject matter. Sites that have been using AI to mass-produce dozens, hundreds, or thousands of articles without editing or adding value are seeing significant traffic drops. The key is focusing on user goal completion — answering users' questions clearly in the first sentence or two, then expanding with valuable details. This strategic, human-supervised use of AI helps produce content that Google rewards rather than filters out.
Four key strategic shifts are recommended: (1) Stop using AI as a replacement for content creation — instead use it as a tool with proper human oversight, having subject matter experts review all AI-drafted content; (2) Focus on building genuine expertise signals rather than artificially boosting domain authority, by creating content that demonstrates real understanding of your subject, linking to authoritative sources, and structuring your site to clearly communicate areas of expertise; (3) Implement proper structured data markup (schema) on your site to help Google better understand your content — this can be done by asking AI tools like ChatGPT how to create schema for your specific website type; (4) Create systems for regular content audits and updates, as the 'set it and forget it' approach to SEO is largely over — regularly review content, update outdated information, and improve underperforming pages.
Google's mention of surfacing more content from creators suggests they are trying to give individual content creators a boost over large content farms. This is interpreted as Google attempting to reward original, valuable content produced by genuine creators — whether for a local business or a personal website — rather than content aggregators or mass-content producers. This is considered good news for businesses and individuals creating authentic, original content. It's seen as part of a broader, larger shift in how Google evaluates websites that will likely continue throughout 2025, with Google indicating that additional improvements in this direction are still coming.
Dwell time refers to how long a user spends on your page after clicking from search results, while pogo sticking refers to a user quickly bouncing back to the search results page after visiting your site (indicating dissatisfaction with your content). For SEO purposes, you should focus on avoiding pogo sticking rather than trying to maximize dwell time. Maximizing dwell time can be misleading as a metric — what matters is that users find what they're looking for on your page and don't immediately return to search results. The goal is to satisfy user intent quickly and completely, not to artificially keep users on your page longer.
One notable pattern reported by SEOs is that long-tail keyword rankings (longer, more specific phrases) are remaining relatively stable, while shorter, broader keyword phrases are seeing more significant drops. As one SEO noted: 'long tail keyword rankings are quite fine, but the fewer words in the phrase, the more I drop.' This suggests the update may be having a greater impact on competitive, high-volume short keywords than on more specific, niche long-tail searches.
The March 2025 core update appears to favor longer-form, more comprehensive content over quick answers — which is almost the opposite of what was seen in prior recent updates. Several SEOs have reported this shift. Additionally, the update is considered less extreme in volatility compared to some previous updates, such as the March 2024 algorithm update. However, it is still causing noticeable ranking changes, with some sites experiencing traffic increases of up to 30% while others report sudden drops in visibility.
In Google Search Console, you should look for patterns in what types of pages or keywords are losing visibility. Specifically, identify whether the losses are concentrated in: forum pages, service pages, or product pages. This categorization will tell you where to focus your recovery efforts. Once you identify the most affected pages, you can copy that content and use AI tools to analyze it for user intent, engagement quality, and overall helpfulness. This analysis will help you understand why those pages may have been negatively impacted and what improvements to prioritize.
Websites that are well-positioned to withstand the March 2025 core update share several characteristics: strong local relevance signals, comprehensive service pages, content that directly answers user queries early (in the first sentence or two), proper geographic and topical relevance, structured data markup implementation, genuine expertise signals rather than artificially boosted domain authority, and content that has been produced with human oversight rather than pure AI mass production. Sites following proper local SEO practices with these characteristics are expected to face minimal risk from this update, and some are already seeing improvements in traffic and engagement metrics.