Google’s June 30th, 3 Week Core Update: Where did your traffic go?

Have you noticed a drop in your Google rankings and visibility? Are your clicks declining rapidly, and leads coming in slower than ever before? If so, this article is essential reading—it will help you understand the recent major reset and what steps you need to take to get back on track.

If your business has already been struggling with declining visibility online as AI-enabled search rises in prominence, Google’s latest core update may have felt like a kick in the teeth when you’re already down. Instead, you should probably be viewing it as a strident wake-up call to take an unflinching look at your digital marketing strategy. Core updates, periodic significant changes made to Google’s search algorithm, are made to improve the quality and applicability of search results to its users, not (as it might feel) to simply punish websites that are working hard to be highly ranked.

In short, core updates are designed to reward high-quality, relevant content. They also tend to filter out results that may formerly have appeared high in search results due to tactics that once worked to boost rankings but aren’t necessarily aligned to what users are truly looking for. If the latest core update has negatively impacted your site, it’s important to review your content with this in mind. Here’s what to do and our insights on what we’ve seen in the short time since this core update has begun to roll out.

Great Search Results Come from Great Content, According to Google

The latest core update is the second one of 2025, and Google has said it could take up to three weeks to complete. Any core update can cause large shifts in ranking and search results, and it’s possible those shifts may not mean that there is anything particularly wrong with your site. However, a wait-and-see approach is not ideal—while Google notes that sites may see some recovery from a dip in rankings between core updates, the greatest changes will be after another core update. (Unstated, of course, is that further changes may also not be for the better!)

Google does not offer specific advice on how to rise to the top of search results. Instead, it encourages creators to produce “helpful, reliable, people-first content,” noting that their rankings “are designed to present helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results.” Start by reviewing their list of questions to self-assess your content on its quality, relevance, and the user experience it provides.

Remember, Google is generally trying to prioritize content that is most useful to its users (not necessarily that which is most useful to a business trying to gain prospects or close sales). The framework it has developed to help evaluate the credibility and quality of information is known as E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Looking over Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines can help provide insight into how these play into search rankings and why your pages may be underperforming.

Staying Visible in a Changing Search Environment

At Iffel International, we are right there in the thick of these changes with you and our clients. While it may feel like recent months (and years!) have been a scramble in the dark to retain or achieve online visibility, that is not the case. As always, the best strategy is to focus on providing a great user experience and creating content that is valuable to your audience. Specifically, here is our take so far:

1. Iffel’s pivot to AI data structures and schema is paying off! Our clients are seeing leads come in from Google’s AI Overview and ChatGPT. It’s not enough to focus on traditional search engine results and rankings—you must meet users where they are looking for information, and increasingly that is not just a regular Google search.
2. Short and long-form videos must be done right to be effective. That means FULL optimization on YouTube, Instagram, and for some, TikTok. This format is helping to contribute to some zero-click search wins for our clients.
3. Local maps marketing is critical for businesses targeting a local audience, such as law firms, medical practices, and professional consultants with offices. Get your reviews up and build an online trust currency.
4. EEAT = Visibility. You must take the time to create authentic content because it rewards the effort you put in. We hit an all-time record with some of our key accounts ,and we’re continuing to grow them. Is it fun dealing with constant change? Absolutely not, and we’ll be the first to admit it! However, the hard work is yielding the results our clients are looking for.

We are seeing a lot of understandable confusion on how search is changing, which is why we’re sharing our findings. Our August AI SEO Executive Master Class is available and open for enrollment to help provide clarity and actionable insights for your business, says Hema Dey, CEO of Iffel International Inc., founder of SEO2Sales^TM

Helping You Gain Visibility and Market Share

Trying to react to endless changes taking place in the online search environment may have left your business flailing, without a good sense of the core strategy that will keep you connected to your ideal audience. Iffel International is your resource to help you deploy the modern marketing techniques, aligned with the bedrock principles that truly connect effective marketing with increased sales, that will enable your business to thrive. To learn more, contact us here to schedule your consultation today.