Google releases its June 2025 Core Update with the SEO world awaiting its impact on AI Overviews

Google has launched the second core update of 2025, creating uncertainty and unrest within the SEO world for the weeks to come. The update process will take three weeks to complete, resulting in volatility in rankings and search results.

Core Update 2025: Google Is Poised to Change the SEO Rules

Following the release of its first core update of 2025, the technology company strikes again with a second update—one that could prove even more controversial, given the new role artificial intelligence will play in search results. The core update was launched on June 30 at 07:34 PDT, according to information provided on the Google Search Status Dashboard.

“Today we are launching the June 2025 core update for Google Search. This is a routine update intended to better display relevant and satisfactory content for searchers of all types of sites. We will update our ranking release history page once the rollout is complete,” the company stated in a brief but concise post on LinkedIn.

In particular, this second update is expected to pose an even more complex challenge due to its potential effects on AI Overviews, radically altering how the search engine operates and forcing brands to optimize their SEO strategies in order to avoid damaging their rankings.

It is anticipated that with this update, Gemini 2.5 will deliver much more intelligent, visual, and sophisticated responses to complex queries, although this may come at the expense of traditional traffic, especially for technical long-tail searches.

What Is a Core Update?

According to Google itself, “core updates are changes we make to improve Search overall and to keep pace with the changing nature of the web. While nothing in a core update is specific to any particular website, these updates can result in some noticeable changes in site performance.”

In truth, Google implements changes to the way it ranks search results nearly every day. Although the majority go unnoticed, these changes help continually refine its algorithm, aiming to reward content that is most relevant and most suited to each search executed by users. However, there are occasions—such as this one—when a core update (a central update) takes place, leading to a greater SEO-level impact.

In the current context, where AI-powered searches are gaining prominence, that impact is amplified and becomes more unpredictable. Google continues to adjust its algorithms to prioritize useful and high-quality content, compelling SEO professionals to focus even further on developing original, well-structured material that provides added value. The proliferation of content generated by artificial intelligence has led Google to strengthen its criteria for assessing the experience, authority, and trustworthiness of sources, meaning that strategies based solely on volume or massive automation now carry a higher risk of losing rankings.

Additionally, algorithm updates can alter the way search intent signals are interpreted, affecting both website rankings and the way users interact with the results. With the integration of AI models into search—such as Google’s generative search—SEO professionals must adapt to an environment where featured snippets, direct answers, and contextual semantics carry increasing weight. This adaptation requires optimizing not only for traditional keywords, but also for more conversational formats and specific questions that AI models tend to prioritize.

How to face a Core Update

Google offers this example to better illustrate how such an update works: “Imagine that in 2021 you compiled a list of the 100 best films of all time and that in 2024 you want to update it. Obviously, some changes will occur. You will want to include new films that did not yet exist in 2021, but have since won over audiences. You may also want to change the ranking of movies already on the list. The list will change, and a particular film may move down a spot, but that does not mean it is bad; rather, there are other films that now deserve a higher position.”

Although Google asserts that generally there is nothing you can do following a core algorithm update and that these changes are focused solely on improving how its system evaluates content overall, there are still some points that you can review to enhance your content and, of course, to improve your Google rankings, beyond this or future updates.

To assess whether your website and its content are properly configured, Google suggests that you answer the following questions:

Content and Quality Questions

• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?
• Does the content offer a substantial, comprehensive, or exhaustive description of the topic addressed?
• Does the content present interesting and non-trivial information, or analyze a topic from a useful perspective?
• If the content cites other sources, does it add sufficient value and originality or does it merely copy or rewrite information from those sources?
• Is the title of the content or page helpful and descriptive?
• Does the content or page title avoid exaggerations or sensationalist expressions?
• Is this the type of page you would want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend to someone?
• Would you expect to find this content in a magazine, encyclopedia, or book, even just as a reference?
• Does the content provide valuable information compared to other pages appearing in the search results?
• Does the content contain spelling or stylistic errors?
• Is it apparent that time and effort have been invested in creating the content, or does it seem carelessly produced or hastily assembled?
• Is the content mass-produced by a large number of writers or spread across an extensive network of sites so that each page or specific site receives little attention or care?

Authority Questions

• Does the content present information in a trustworthy manner? For example, are sources clearly cited, does it appear to be produced by an expert, or is information provided about the author or the site publishing it, such as links to a page about them?
• If someone were to search for more information about the site that publishes the content, would they conclude it is trustworthy or a recognized authority on the subject?
• Is the content written by an expert or enthusiast of the topic whose expertise is evident?
• Has the content been checked for easily verifiable errors?
• Is it clearly indicated to visitors who created the content?
• Do the pages include a signature, and is it displayed in the appropriate place?
• Do the signatures provide additional information about the author or authors involved, including their background and the topics they write about?

And of course, Google reserves a place for AI in the “how” the content was created:

• Is the use of automation, including AI generation, made clear to visitors (through notices or other means)?
• Do you provide information about how automation or AI generation was used to create the content?
• Do you explain why automation or AI has been helpful in producing the content?

Beyond asking yourself these questions, consider obtaining honest peer reviews of your website and content. Naturally, you should also conduct an evaluation of the pages you have published that have the greatest impact, examining the types of searches that lead to these high-impact pages. This will help you understand how others are evaluated in comparison to pages you have published previously.

Bear in mind that these are general recommendations and there are no specific actions you must take to recover in case you experience a negative impact following Google’s latest core algorithm update.

Image: GPT-4o