July 2025 Google Search Observations

[Martin Ice Web]

And like every time, google lies about he start of this core update. It definitly started on friday.
And again it rewards old fashion, low content, bad html websites. Even websites with no pics or pictures smaller than 300 width are rewarded.

[edited by: not2easy at 11:55 am (utc) on Jul 1, 2025]
[edit reason] New month, new thread [/edit]

[Treud]

yeah make sense, the more AIO, the less traffic

[tangor]

today's traffic is butchered ! don't know if it's an analytics bug or real drop...
The root of all evil is the love of money. G never met a dollar it could take they didn't like. Sigh.

[RedBar]

After a much-improved traffic week midnight Saturday UK time came and the traffic immediately died. After 12 hours I'm at 15% of this last week's average ... Is my update boost over and done with?

[Whitey]

@tangor: Yeah, I think you’re right; Google’s likely still testing, so fluctuations are part of the shakeout. Let’s watch a few more days.

@RedBar: That sounds rough! I was hoping the uplift would continue. Could just be part of the post-update reshuffle; I’d give it several days before calling it permanent. What are your impressions looking like in GSC?

[RedBar]

What are your impressions looking like in GSC?

Do not use ! Never have:-)

FWIW UK hotel venue doing very well, it's the localisation of traffic, especially in the USA, that's undoubtedly hit my traffic the last few years.

I can understand G's reasoning about this but please G allow at least ONE foreign site with quality and genuine information to be ranked well.

[Gotcha]

Google's June update hits publishers hard (20 to 50% traffic loss in two weeks)

[tech2geek.net...]

[ichthyous]

What are your impressions looking like in GSC?

Both my impressions and especially the clicks have been dropping this entire year as reported in GSC. But my traffic has been relatively steady... Last few days I'm seeing a dip, and especially today.

But GSC reports seem to be disconnected from the actual traffic now. I am seeing more and more traffic from ChatGPT, perplexity and the other Ai chat bots but it certainly does not make up for the gap at all.

[Whitey]

One of our sites has impressions spiking at 4x normal. Others stable.

So my view, FWIW, is a major recalibration testing phase post core update is going on. I sense this exceptional and major movement is due to a rebalancing of page scoring that will take some time to calm down. Such scoring adjustments may eventuate in compensations to click traffic..

But who knows. I dunno. Time will tell.

[edited by: Whitey at 6:45 pm (utc) on Jul 20, 2025]

[RedBar]

Wow, with just over 4 hours of my Googleday to go, today is at 30% and my lowest since 1st January 2025!

[Whitey]

AI overview appearances seem to be playing into this. But conventional monitoring tools including GSC don’t have visibility to this, so it’s just my hunch and a few personal eyeball observations.

[tangor]

In 2 or 3 weeks g will announce that "this last update went a bit too far. Will be rolling back a bit. Stay tuned."

And things will get marginally better, but OVERALL sites will be 2-4% LOWER than before the Core Update. Webmasters will relax, grateful for the relief, and overlook the step down.

Classic marketing theory going back a few centuries.

[Whitey]

Some deeper analysis and I suspect a bug in GSC.

50% approx of impressions increase is shown attributable to one url folder eg /country1/. When I switch filter to /USA/ it is showing /country1/ which it should not.

Go figure. Not sure how others are seeing things in GSC.

[Whitey]

When I switch filter to /USA/ it is showing /country1/ which it should not.

I withdraw this. Switching the folder did not show an error as stated. But 50% approx of impressions is correct, and still holding into day 2.

[Martin Ice Web]

Wow, with just over 4 hours of my Googleday to go, today is at 30% and my lowest since 1st January 2025!

Same ove rhere. And today is not looking better.
Seems this update isn´t over yet.

[saladtosser]

My observations so far is Google June 2025 Core Update has demoted strong, technically optimised pages in favour of non/poorly technically optimised pages, they have also demoted urls that use query prams like ?productid=2394 etc etc. That's what I see currently from this update, anyone here using url query parms been hit? Lack of good internal linking like breadcrumbs may also be playing a small part IMO

[ichthyous]

What I am seeing in GSC is that the number of impressions for the last 28 days is almost double compared to this time last year. The number of clicks is up 23%. The real issue is that the CTR has dropped from 0.6% to 0.4%, even though the average position is higher.

So clearly, the clickthrough rate is dropping like a stone due to what I suppose it 1) less prominent image blocks included in my organic listings 2) inclusion of more ads and AIO at top of page. Of course nobody is clicking through when one tiny image (or no image) is included, and the listing is at the bottom of the page (even when supposedly ranking well). Ads and AIO now take the entire first page for many searches.

[Micha]

Today, traffic has dropped significantly (-60%), along with the rankings. Many other websites are reporting the same. This doesn't look like a 'post-update phase' – it feels more like an 'ongoing update phase'."

[Gotcha]

We run a tech blog with 90,000 monthly page views, primarily from Bing. However, since the weekend of July 19–20, our traffic has dropped by 50%. Could this be due to a Bing algorithm update, similar to a Google Core Update?

[frostitomik]

Bing rankings have been fluctuating a bit recently. My newest website is killing it on Bing and most posts rank immediately on the 1st/2nd position, yet the traffic is down. Google traffic is literally zero. There are many factors affecting traffic these days:

Seasonal (people are on holidays)
Economical (30-40% of people struggle with buying food!)
Geopolitical (people stopped spending and travelling due to uncertainty and fear of tarrifs, etc.)

It's a tough time these days.

[RedBar]

However, since the weekend of July 19–20, our traffic has dropped by 50%. Could this be due to a Bing algorithm update, similar to a Google Core Update?

I do not know the answer to that but what I do know is that since G's announcement that over the weekend every bot and scraper has been visiting to the highest level I've seen this year to the extent of 400+%.

[Fluff_Nutz]

Can also confirm that Bing traffic is really low right now. So I assume an update is indeed underway. But, surprisingly, no one is talking about it. Yet when G does an ''update'' its one of the most biggest talking points online. Yet, both searches generate the same quantity of traffic, for me at least.

Thankfully I'm, currently, not relying on either. So I'm still on target to reaching my usual average. After the recent G update I'm also still clinging on to the nice boost. Which has yet to drop, so far.. It's this boost that generated enough traffic to see it compete with Bing. The two seem to continue fighting over 4th spot in my list now, thanks to that update. But after struggling throughout June it makes for a nice change. I even spotted one of my articles on the first page of Google. First time seeing that happen since 2022, when the site was first hit. Granted I do not look that often.

[christianz]

But, surprisingly, no one is talking about it. Yet when G does an ''update'' its one of the most biggest talking points online. Yet, both searches generate the same quantity of traffic, for me at least.

Your case is outlier. For most publishers Bing is generating about 10 - 20 times less traffic than Google, almost to the point where it is insignificant. If you are doing so well with Bing and so badly with Google, there must be a problem with how Google (not) understands and evaluates your site, and probably big upside if it starts to "respect" it.

For me Bing traffic also has been weaker in last week or two. It's almost as if Google and Microsoft together agreed to en#*$!ify themselves at the same time to leave no "exits" for the user. Cartel behavior.

[frostitomik]

Stop being so paranoid. Bing traffic is mostly older folks and people at work. It's the middle of summer, so it's pretty logical Bing traffic will be down compared to Google. I expect it to get back up in 1-2 months.

[RedBar]

Bing traffic is mostly older folks and people at work.

Fact or assumption?

[BigKat]

Pew Research Center did a study [pewresearch.org...] and 1% of users click on an AIO citation. Obviously it's not worthwhile to chase citations because there's no traffic there either, despite AIO being at the top of the page.

www.pewresearch.org Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results In a March 2025 analysis, Google users who encountered an AI summary were less likely to click on links to other websites than users who did not see one.

[christianz]

Stop being so paranoid. Bing traffic is mostly older folks and people at work. It's the middle of summer, so it's pretty logical Bing traffic will be down compared to Google. I expect it to get back up in 1-2 months.

I am not worried or paranoid about Bing. While there are periods of short downtrends, long term trend for Bing is up. There is no other traffic source for me with such long term uptrend and it is certainly a rare ray of hope in all this depressiveness. Bing share is still very small but it is big enough to where I am actually starting to care about it.

Pew Research Center did a study [pewresearch.org...] and 1% of users click on an AIO citation.

I am happy to not be cited by any AIO or chatbot ever and in all eternity. They simply do not give any traffic and never will. Few days ago I started mitigating bot traffc that has grown crazy lately and even doing basic User-Agent filtering (plus making robots.txt whitelist (disallowing everything by default) and not blacklist) has saved me from hundreds of thousands of daily bot visits - many of them have been ChatGPT-User which is ChatGPT using my site as reference.

These ChatGPT lookups were alarmingly many but they (of course!) yielded very few visits to my site. So naturally I am now 403ing them all. ChatGPT can go f itself.

[Gotcha]

Yes, I confirm the drop in traffic in Bing since July 19th and even my latest articles are indexed but not yet displayed, so perhaps an update is in progress?
some screenshots
[iili.io...]
[iili.io...]

[tangor]

Still think a lot of this is a confluence of summer vacations hitting at the same time as a g update. Include the economy (world wide, not just the USA), uncertainty, regional conflicts, etc.

THAT SAID, g has continually tightened their grip on the advertising eco-system, changed key factors, reduced payouts, streamlined reporting (by removing reporting aspects), and trying to revive the black box myth on how things work.

MEANWHILE, this race to AI, enhanced datacenters, LLM, operating costs, PLUS the growing assault by nation/states on their revenue and monopolistic behaviors has severely hit their profit margins. Wanna bet g is not going to suck it up and bear the new costs, or will they grab every dollar (penny by penny) they can get a hold of? What they don't share is what they can use to address these ongoing expenses.

Suspect that Bing and any other AI driven company is facing the same realities. This NEW vision of the web AIN'T FREE.

(Never was, but that is a different discussion.)

[frostitomik]

@RedBar

It is a well known fact that Bing audience is much older than Google audience. Bing users are usually office workers using Windows, while Google users are often kids and young adults using Chromebooks supplied by schools in 2020-2021. Bing traffic also converts much better than Google traffic in most cases. I also get a lot of DDG visitors, which I think is also older audience.

I have two identical websites in the same niche, but one is aimed at 19 year olds, while the other at older people. The first one gets 95% of traffic from Google, while the other one gets most traffic from other search engines.

[Micha]

The fact that Bing is actually generating noticeable traffic surprises me right. But something else: Can someone explain to me what Google is doing? Since Monday, the news site has collapsed and the rankings keep dropping. The shop has also been dead since Monday, and even via Ads, Google is only sending traffic that's basically useless.
Drops after a core update aren't new, but this level is extreme.

[Martin Ice Web]

Can someone explain to me what Google is doing?

profit maximizing!
All the lost ad clicks from AI overviews must now be accomplished by very bad serps.

[ichthyous]

Google needs to show Wall Street that earnings are keeping up with the rest, that's all. The narrative has been that Google search is dying due to AI, and the stock price has languished for months. Now suddenly it's rising again as people realize that Google is one of the biggest AI players, has huge investments in AI and data centers, and Youtube is beating Netflix. Google reports earnings today...if they are strong the share price will shoot back up

[nordland]

[youtube.com...]

Neil Patel.
"You're showing up in Google but your customers are making decisions somewhere else.

TikTok. Reddit. Amazon. ChatGPT. These are the new "search engines" and most marketers haven't caught up. In this video, I break down one of the biggest shifts in internet history: why ranking no longer equals revenue and what to do instead."

[ichthyous]

@nordland

1) I would take anything Neil Patel has to say with a grain of salt. I wonder how well his own traffic is faring these days? Now he's an expert on everything non-google too?
2) My customers are not on tiktok, nor will they ever have TikTok accounts. If your demographic is teenage kids and GenZ AND you sell low-priced items from the latest influencer's makeup tips then definitely. Not saying that it doesn't work at all, it definitely does for the right product...but just doesn't work for many high-end products. Neither does Instagram.
3) Many of us cannot sell via Amazon and neither do our competitors. This is all highly dependent on the type of product and the price point. I wish I had an alternative platform like Amazon, but Amazon doesn't offer what I sell. My competitors all have their own sites and that's where the sales happen.
4) Reddit - probably the best place to have people talking about you now. Everyone (including myself) Googles Reddit to find businesses and read real world (mostly) opinions...even though the Reddit comments are highly tainted with fake comments, you can still ascertain what is real from what is mostly spin.
5) ChatGPT - nobody is making purchases from ChatGPT yet. They may use it to compare reviews or information about products before buying, but you still need to go to a website or to Amazon to buy. I allow AI Bots to crawl my site and it is generating some traffic. That traffic doesn't make up for what has been lost in search, not by a long shot.

[nordland]

I think you are wrong about a lot of what you write. Who are your customers who are not on Tiktok? Just as an example, I follow an electrician from the Netherlands. He installs a lot of home car chargers, which I am interested in. You don't think all the millions of views he creates generate money for himself and the companies he works for? [tiktok.com...]
Just one example, then of course he has YouTube and Instagram too.

[nordland]

I think you are wrong about a lot of what you write. Why are your customers not on Tiktok? Just as an example, I follow an electrician from the Netherlands. He installs a lot of home car chargers, which I am interested in. You don't think all the millions of views he creates generate money for himself and the companies he works for? [tiktok.com...]
Just one example, then of course he has YouTube and Instagram too.

[RedBar]

@frostitomik

It is a well known fact that Bing audience is much older than Google audience.

Ok, then please show me this well-known factual analysis.

I'm not disputing your claim however I have seen such statements before but with no proof.

For instance is this a US-only "survey" or a general global claim?

Plus, with G's massive dominance in search and at least half the world's population being "older" then why is Bing's overall market share not higher?

[Martin Ice Web]

Customers are on amazon since long time. But after this update we see rising numbers in amazon sales. What means that a big number doesn´t line up with the current serps.

instagram, tiktok aso. will become big players while the now younger users will grow and for sure stay with their socail media platform.

google could be a countweight while presenting clean and relevant serps. Not cluttered with ads.
But instead google tries to be cool for the younger generation. It is just like they tried to be cool with google+. And we all know how it was ending.

[ichthyous]

@nordland. Tiktok is a young audience...that is not who buys fine art, which is what I sell. Most of my sales are to people in their late 30's - 60's. Pieces sell for tens of thousands. As they get older and have more disposable income they will become buyers, will they still be on tiktok at that age? I doubt it highly.

[nordland]

I think Tiktok could be the perfect place for you. I see a lot of people selling paintings there. I just checked my Tiktok stats. 82 percent of all visitors came to my page via the search function. I post new kitchens from the biggest suppliers. I don't sell anything, just post, my own material.

[dakh]

The rankings I lost a year ago have suddenly returned — without any major changes on my end. This just confirms that Google can demote high-quality pages on a whim. Honestly, that’s anything but trustworthy.

[tangor]

@dakh ... Welcome to Webmasterworld!

Sometimes the best move is to do nothing. Over the last several decades we have seen g do this time and time again, while never offering any explanation. Experience suggests that patience is necessary, though one always needs to be wary that the change/loss is in fact LONG TERM and IRREVERSIBLE.

Happy for the Revival! Meanwhile, don't bank on it. g is always "tweaking" the algo/serps. Unfortunately some sites/niches will be impacted.

[RedBar]

My last 24 hours, since 13.00 UK Wednesday, have been the most consistent and stable in ages, it's been like turning the clock back 2-3 years with a good variation and flow of global visitors viewing several related widget pages.

You're simply a big teaser G trying to convince me this would be my traffic if only I were to participate in your classads scheme!

[Martin Ice Web]

@redbar,

confirmed!
But don´t trust the chicken!

[ichthyous]

I'm seeing the opposite...the higher traffic has dropped off considerably and traffic to my home page and some main pages down by a third. It could also just be summer doldrums...

[RedBar]

It could also just be summer doldrums

Being in a global-supply industry often shipping to specific timetables all year round, I tend not to experience this so much except for shipment port arrivals in the West at Xmas and Easter, the Chinese New Year, Diwali and other such festivals. Large projects take on a life of their own 24/7/365 with all the many trades involved in constant liason with each other to ensure a smooth working environment.

Likewise large sporting events or inclement weather conditions or natural disasters, worklife continues generally unabated ... The biggest interuptions / hiccups I ever see are G's annoying updates !

[Micha]

Today is the worst day of this disastrous week. The news site didn't get a single click from Google today, even though its ranking is rising again. The shop has had zero sales via Google today, even though AdWords is spending a lot of money, of course. It currently looks as if Google is re-evaluating websites and once again weeding out small sites.

[seokees]

Dropped again today. Seems like it is still bouncing, but only on page 3 and 4 now... A 95% total drop since July 1th.

[makintocheplus]

My traffic from Google jumped from ~50 to ~100 and fluctuating around... So double the traffic but earning wise I am lower...

[EditorialGuy]

A blog post from Stay22.com, an affiliate platform for travel sites, has an interesting take on the June Core Update's impact:

"Traffic Is Up for Travel Bloggers - June 2025 Google Update"

"After nearly 18 months of punishing updates, this might be the first time creators are finally getting a break, and it’s about time....

"Since the beginning of the Google Update, we’ve seen an 11% bump in impressions across the Stay22 network. The week of July 14th to 20th (when the update finished), compared to the same week in June, we saw an 18% increase."

The Stay22 analysis is based on numbers from some 3,500 travel bloggers who are part of the Stay22 affiliate network.

Stay22's observations are roughly in line with my own experience: Our main site was hit by HCUs in 2023 and 2024 but has witnessed a meaningful improvement with the June Core Update. (I'll wait to cite a specific percentage change until I'm confident that the update and its aftermath are complete.)

Here's the Stay22 article:

[blog.stay22.com...]

blog.stay22.com Traffic Is Up for Travel Bloggers - June 2025 Google Update Google's June 2025 Core Update shows promising traffic boosts for bloggers, offering a potential recovery from past ranking hits.