June 2025 Core Update (done! somethings to know)

Jul 27, 2025

Partial Recoveries for Sites Hit by the 2023 Helpful Content Update (HCU)

Numerous sites heavily impacted by the September 2023 Helpful Content Update experienced significant surges starting around July 7, 2025, marking the first major positive shifts after nearly two years of stagnation. When update started rolling out I didn’t have any hope that HCU sites will start to recover.

But as the update rolled out yep! there were some improvements for sites. Also some people in SEO industry were claiming that the recoveries of sites is because of what SEO changes they did on sites. While I think that its mostly Google improving their systems rather than much to do with sites.

Important point about some recoveries of HCU sites cuz of June 2025 Core Update - most that I'm aware of and are seeing some improvements did NOT do any sort of changes to their sites and just continues to publish at lesser frequency since getting hit in Sep 2023. If those are recovering its Google's algorithm which improved and now can identify better content in a better way -> therefore rewarding it. Rather than it having to do anything with any SEO strategy or tactic which those sites implemented.

As the update is done but still I’m waiting before jumping on to any sort of conclusion cuz I know what happened with August 2024 Core Update and even then Google pushed up HCU sites but later reverted back. I’m hoping that same don’t happen this time around.

X post from Gagan Ghotra on 12th July saying "Hoping that June 2025 Core Update HCU sites recovering stick and continue to improve but can't say anything for sure until the core update rollout is done on 21th July. And even after that have to monitor the situation."

Also as SEO Consultant Glenn Gabe mentioned in X post “some have reversed course etc.” which is interesting. Let’s see if the upside stays or not.

X post from SEO Consultant Glenn Gabe saying "Good Morning Google Land! This is the completely unplanned edition of "Post Core Update Notes". :) As many have seen, there has been a lot of volatility AFTER the June core update completed. So I reviewed the many sites I have documented that surged or dropped with the June core update to see how they are faring now. And yep, some are surging or dropping more this week (distinct changes), some have reversed course, etc. See some screenshots below. It's hard to say exactly what Google is doing, but as I've covered before, they could always update a specific core system, or several, outside of a core update. And those smaller core updates can have a big impact on some sites. So if you were impacted by the June core update, definitely check your visibility today, check GSC data, etc. You might be surging or dropping more, or you could be reversing course. I'll cover the HCU(X) situation in my next tweet." and was posted on 22 July 2025.

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