March 2025 Core Update: Completed Rollout and Key Takeaways

Google’s first core update of 2025, known as the March 2025 core update, has officially finished rolling out. The update began on March 13, 2025, and concluded two weeks later on March 27, 2025.

As with previous core updates, this one aimed to refine Google’s core ranking systems to deliver more relevant and helpful search results.

Following the December 2024 Update

This update follows the December 2024 core update, and while Google had suggested that core updates might become more frequent in 2025, it still took a few months before this one was released.

Official Word from Google

Google confirmed the completion of the rollout with a simple statement:

“The rollout was complete as of March 27, 2025.”

What the SEO Community Observed

The update’s effects began surfacing just days after it was announced. Many websites experienced significant shifts in search rankings—both positive and negative. However, the impact of this update wasn’t as broad as some previous core updates. While not as widespread, for the websites that were affected, the changes were substantial.

It’s worth noting that some volatility at the end of the rollout added another layer of fluctuation for certain sites.

Tracking the Impact

Some SEO tracking tools struggled to accurately reflect the changes, in part due to simultaneous modifications on Google’s search result pages. This might make the true impact of the update harder to assess through third-party tools alone.

For site owners looking to understand how their visibility may have shifted, the Google Search Console remains the best source of insight—especially for tracking changes in keyword rankings and performance.