Navigating the June 2025 Core Update & AI-Driven Search

Executive Summary

This report analyses the June 2025 Google Core Update and its significant impact on the search landscape. It explains the reasons behind the recent volatility and outlines a strategic framework for businesses to adapt and succeed.

Key Findings:

The June 2025 Core Update: This major update, which began rolling out on June 30, 2025, is part of an accelerated trend of frequent, significant changes to Google’s ranking systems. The widespread volatility it has caused is not an isolated event but part of a larger strategic shift. This update has impacted businesses across all sectors, including our own agency, highlighting its broad reach.
AI Overviews are the Driving Force: The primary driver behind these updates is the integration of AI Overviews (AIOs) into search results. Google is transitioning from a traditional search engine to an “answer engine,” aiming to provide direct answers on the results page. Core updates serve to refine the quality of content that the AI uses to generate these summaries, making website authority and content quality more critical than ever.
The “Zero-Click Economy”: A major consequence of AIOs is the rise of “zero-click searches,” where users get their answers without clicking through to a website. Studies indicate that nearly 60% of searches now end without a click, and the presence of an AIO can reduce organic clicks by an average of 35%. This fundamentally changes how success is measured, shifting the focus from raw traffic volume to on-SERP visibility and brand authority.
SEO Has Evolved, Not Died: In this new landscape, SEO is more crucial than ever. The strategy, however, must evolve. The goal is no longer just to win the click but to become the authoritative source cited within AI Overviews. This builds brand trust and can lead to more qualified, high-intent traffic and direct visits later in the customer journey.

Strategic Framework for Success:

The report outlines a three-pillar strategy to navigate this new environment:

Master E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Building a strong E-E-A-T profile is the non-negotiable foundation for success. The algorithms are designed to reward content that demonstrates real-world experience, verifiable expertise, industry authority, and trustworthiness.
Optimise for “Answer Engine” Visibility (AEO): This involves structuring content to be easily understood and cited by AI. Key tactics include using clear Q&A formats, structuring articles with logical headings, and implementing technical schema markup to provide context to search engines.
Diversify with a Multi-Channel Approach: To build resilience, businesses should reduce their sole reliance on Google. A strong SEO strategy can be used as a cornerstone to fuel other channels like email marketing, social media, and paid advertising, creating a more robust and stable digital presence.

In conclusion, the search landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation driven by AI. While this creates challenges and volatility, it also presents significant opportunities for businesses that adapt. By focusing on building true authority, structuring content for an AI-first world, and diversifying marketing channels, businesses can achieve durable, long-term growth.

Section 1: Our Take on the June 2025 Core Update

At Inbound Evolution, our role is to analyse major shifts in the digital landscape to guide our clients’ strategies. The June 2025 Core Update, confirmed by Google on June 30th, is a significant event that has created widespread volatility across the web.¹ This update has been so broad that it has impacted businesses of all sizes and industries, including many in the digital marketing sector and even our own agency’s search visibility. This analysis is designed to explain what’s happening and outline a clear, strategic path forward.

1.1. Timeline, Scope, and Observed Volatility

Google has stated the full rollout of the June 2025 Core Update could take up to three weeks, a timeline that indicates deep and complex changes to the fundamental ranking algorithms. This is what Google calls a “broad core update,” meaning it’s not targeting a specific industry or tactic but is a sweeping reassessment of content quality and relevance across the entire web. Its impact is global and affects all sectors and languages.

The official announcement on June 30th confirmed what our team and the wider SEO community were already observing: a period of intense ranking volatility over the preceding period. Industry tracking tools corroborated these observations, showing sharp spikes in algorithmic turbulence. This data confirms the June 2025 update is a high-impact event, causing significant shifts in search rankings and, consequently, in website traffic.

1.2. Community Reaction and Industry Sentiment

The reaction from business owners and our peers has been one of frustration and uncertainty.We’ve seen reports of significant drops in organic traffic overnight, with some businesses seeing their primary channel for customer acquisition impacted.This isn’t just anecdotal; the impact has been felt across a wide range of accounts, which underscores the depth of this particular update.

A key source of this frustration is the disconnect between the official guidance and the immediate reality for businesses. When a site is negatively impacted, Google’s standard recommendation is to focus on creating “helpful, reliable, people-first content,” with the caveat that there are “no specific fixes.” While this is sound long-term advice, it can be challenging for businesses experiencing sudden traffic drops.

Our experience shows a “shake then settle” pattern during these rollouts.An initial period of extreme volatility is often followed by partial rebounds or further adjustments. This reinforces our strategic advice to clients: avoid knee-jerk reactions. Making drastic changes while the algorithm is in flux can be counterproductive. The right approach is to monitor performance, gather data, and wait for the update to complete before conducting a thorough analysis and formulating a strategic response.

1.3. The Pre-Update Environment and Initial Impact

The performance drop was not an isolated event that began on June 30th. The official announcement was preceded by weeks of intense, unconfirmed ranking fluctuations.¹ This sustained volatility, felt throughout May and June, indicates that the system was already in a state of flux, with the official update being the culmination of these ongoing adjustments.

While Google’s official position is that updates begin when they are announced, the widespread volatility felt in the weeks prior, especially on the weekend of June 28-29, suggests significant testing or phased deployments were already underway.¹ The first major ranking shifts directly attributable to the official rollout began to emerge around July 2nd, as the changes propagated more widely through Google’s systems.⁴

Initial analysis from SEO experts confirmed the start of the rollout’s impact, with some sites seeing surges while others experienced drops.⁴ Chatter within the SEO community was mixed, reflecting the varied impact across different niches. Some webmasters reported slight traffic improvements, while others, particularly smaller publishers, experienced significant drops in traffic and conversions.⁴

The emerging themes from this early analysis align with Google’s long-term trajectory. The update appears to be a continuation of the push to reward high-quality, authoritative content that demonstrates strong signals of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).¹² Concurrently, it seems to be further demoting thin, low-value, or unhelpful AI-generated content.¹⁵

Date(s)	Event Type	Description/Observation	Source(s)
May 12-13, 2025	Unconfirmed Volatility	Significant ranking fluctuations detected by industry tracking tools.	⁵
May 26-29, 2025	Major Indexing Crisis	Mass de-indexing of pages begins, affecting thousands of sites. Google dismisses it as “normal.”	¹¹
June 9, 2025	Unconfirmed Volatility	Continued instability, with some content-heavy sites seeing drops in clicks despite stable rankings.	⁸
June 18, 2025	Unconfirmed Volatility	Peak volatility reported by tracking tools since the March update; high-performing transactional pages affected.	⁸
June 28-29, 2025	Widespread Volatility	Significant, widespread ranking volatility observed over the weekend, prompting speculation of an imminent core update.	¹
June 30, 2025	Official Core Update	Google officially announces the rollout of the June 2025 Core Update, with a 3-week completion timeline.	²
July 2, 2025	Impact Felt	SEO tracking tools begin to detect the first major ranking shifts directly attributable to the core update rollout.	⁴

1.4. The Accelerated Cadence: Placing the June Update in Context

The June 2025 Core Update arrived just over three months after the March 2025 update, representing a marked acceleration from the historical four-to-six-month cadence.¹

This trend towards more frequent, major algorithmic shifts points to a new operational model for search engines: a state of near-constant refinement, with “core updates” serving as major calibration points.³ For our clients, this means strategy must be built for resilience within a dynamic environment.

Section 2: The Engine Driving the Change: AI Overviews and the New Search Paradigm

From our strategic viewpoint, the accelerated pace of core updates is not random. It is intrinsically linked to the integration of generative AI into the search experience. To understand the “why” behind the June update, we must analyse its role in supporting these AI-first ambitions.

2.1. From SGE to AIO: The Strategic Evolution of Generative Search

The generative search journey began with the “Search Generative Experience” (SGE) experiment in May 2023.¹⁸ A year later, it was officially launched as “AI Overviews” (AIOs) and aggressively rolled out across the globe, reaching Australia by October 2024.¹⁹ This rapid deployment shows an unwavering commitment to making AIOs a core part of the search experience.²¹

2.2. The Symbiotic Relationship: How Core Updates Refine AI Performance

The link between core updates and AI Overviews is causal. An official spokesperson confirmed in August 2024 that core updates directly affect AIOs.¹⁹

The mechanism is clear: AI Overviews synthesise information from authoritative web pages that rank highly.²³ Core updates are Google’s primary tool for assessing the quality, relevance, and trustworthiness of those source pages.¹⁰ Therefore, every core update is a massive refinement of the training data that feeds the AI. This means the goals of ranking well in traditional search and being cited as a trusted source by the AI have now merged.

This is most apparent in “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) sectors—like finance and health—which see high volatility during updates.⁶ By aggressively re-evaluating YMYL content, core updates act as a quality control mechanism, filtering out what the algorithm deems “unreliable” to ensure its AI has the highest quality raw material to work with.

2.3. Causal Analysis: The June 2025 Update as a Tool for AI-First Search

Through our lens, the June 2025 Core Update is a foundational tool for building a trustworthy AI-first search product. It reflects a strategic shift from a “search engine” that points to external sites to an “answer engine” that provides answers directly on the results page.²⁴

The accelerated update cadence is also a direct consequence. The explosion of low-quality, AI-generated content is a threat to the integrity of the search results.⁷ To protect its own AI product, Google’s system must be able to distinguish high-quality human expertise from this “AI-generated fluff.”⁷ Frequent and aggressive core updates are its primary weapon in this technological arms race. The volatility experienced by legitimate businesses can be an unfortunate side effect of this larger effort to maintain information quality.

Section 3: Quantifying the Impact: The Zero-Click Economy and Its Consequences

This strategic shift toward an AI-first model has profound economic consequences for every Australian business that relies on organic search. The rise of AI Overviews has given birth to the “zero-click economy,” a new reality where user engagement is increasingly contained within the search engine’s ecosystem.

3.1. Data Deep Dive: Analysing the Decline in Organic Click-Through Rates

The defining feature of this new economy is the growth of “zero-click searches,” where a user’s query is answered directly on the results page.²⁶ Multiple studies suggest that nearly 60% of all Google searches now end without a click to a website.¹⁵ For every 1,000 searches, only 360 to 374 result in a click to the open web.¹³

AI Overviews are a primary driver of this trend, reducing organic clicks by an average of nearly 35% when present.¹⁹ Even top-ranking sites are not immune, with some studies showing a CTR decline of over 7% for the highest positions.²² This is corroborated by reports from businesses that have seen organic traffic fall by 20% to 40% since the widespread rollout of AIOs.²²

This shift in user behaviour means that while overall click volume may decrease for certain queries, the traffic that does click through to a website may be more qualified or have a higher intent, having already had their initial informational needs met by the AIO. This places a greater emphasis on the quality and conversion potential of the remaining traffic, rather than just the raw volume.

The following table consolidates key statistics that illustrate the business impact of this shift.

Metric	Statistic	Source Snippet(s)	Strategic Implication for Your Business
Prevalence of Zero-Click Searches	Approximately 60% of Google searches end without a click.	¹⁵	The majority of search interactions now occur on the SERP itself, making on-SERP visibility a primary goal.
AIO Impact on Organic CTR	Presence of an AIO reduces clicks by an average of 34.5%.	¹⁹	Over-reliance on organic click-throughs as a primary KPI is a significant business risk.
Publisher Traffic Decline	Some sites report a 20-40% decrease in search traffic since AIO introduction.	²²	Budgets and revenue forecasts based on historical organic traffic levels need to be urgently re-evaluated.
AIO Prevalence by Query Type	Nearly 100% of keywords triggering AIOs are informational.	²²	Your content strategy must differentiate between informational “visibility plays” and commercial “click-driving plays.”
AIO Screen Real Estate	AIOs occupy ~42% of desktop and ~48% of mobile screen space.	²²	The value of ranking #1 is diminished if it appears “below the fold” of an AIO.

3.2. The Analytics Black Box: Challenges in Measuring AIO and Zero-Click Impact

Compounding this challenge is a critical gap in measurement capabilities. Google Search Console does not currently differentiate between impressions and clicks from an AI Overview versus a traditional organic listing.¹⁹ This “analytics black box” makes it difficult to directly measure the impact of AIOs using Google’s native tools.¹⁹

This forces us to rely on third-party platforms and interpret ambiguous data patterns. For example, a common signal of being featured in an AIO is when a page’s impressions hold steady or increase, while its CTR and traffic decline sharply.⁸ This indirect analysis is inefficient but necessary for strategic decision-making.

3.3. Beyond the Click: Redefining Success with Visibility and Brand Metrics

The rise of the zero-click economy requires a fundamental re-evaluation of what constitutes success in SEO. At Inbound Evolution, we believe the new primary objective must shift from winning the click to winning visibility and establishing authority directly on the SERP.²⁶ Being the brand cited in an AI Overview becomes a primary KPI.

Accordingly, the metrics we use to measure success must also evolve. A modern SEO dashboard must incorporate new KPIs:

Impressions and Average Position: These serve as a proxy for brand exposure and reach.²⁶
SERP Feature Ownership: Tracking the percentage of target keywords for which your brand appears in high-visibility features like AIOs and “People Also Ask” boxes.²⁶
Direct and Branded Search Traffic: These are crucial lagging indicators. An increase in users searching directly for your brand suggests that on-SERP visibility is successfully building brand awareness and trust.²⁶

This new model acknowledges the “compressed buyer journey.”²⁹ A user sees your brand in an AIO, doesn’t click, but builds familiarity. When they are later ready to make a commercial query, they are more likely to search directly for the brand they now trust. On-SERP brand building is now a critical long-term strategy.

Section 4: Our Strategic Response Framework for the AI-First Era

Adapting to this new reality requires more than tactical tweaks; it demands a new strategic framework. At Inbound Evolution, we’re guiding our clients to build on principles of trustworthiness and authoritativeness to adapt and thrive in this new landscape. The following three pillars form our strategic response.

4.1. Pillar 1: Mastering E-E-A-T for Market Dominance

In an AI-first world, Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) are the non-negotiable foundation for success.³⁰ For an AI to cite your business, it must first trust you. E-E-A-T signals are the primary inputs for this trust algorithm.⁷ This is about building an unassailable fortress of authority that modern algorithms are designed to reward.

Demonstrating Experience: Showcase real, first-hand experience through client case studies, lessons learned, and content written by practitioners with tangible, real-world experience.³²
Showcasing Expertise: Make expertise verifiable with detailed author bios listing professional credentials, degrees, and links to other authoritative publications. Ensure all content is factually accurate and comprehensive.³²
Building Authority: Build authority off-site by earning mentions and high-quality backlinks from recognised authorities like reputable industry news outlets and government institutions.³²
Establishing Trust: Trust is the most critical component.³⁵ It’s signalled through technical security (HTTPS), operational transparency (clear contact info, accessible policies), and social proof (positive online reviews, third-party validation).³²

4.2. Pillar 2: Optimising for “Answer Engine” Visibility (AEO)

The goal must shift from simply ranking to becoming the definitive answer. This requires a move from traditional SEO to a more nuanced discipline we call Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).²⁴ This is about structuring content to be maximally useful for AI algorithms, ensuring that when your content is used, your brand is prominently featured.

Content Structuring for AI:

Lead with the Answer: Start content with a concise summary or direct answer to the primary question.¹⁶
Use a Q&A Format: Structure content around natural language questions, using headings that mirror how a user asks a query.¹⁶
Employ Structured Formatting: Use bullet points, numbered lists, and data tables to break down complex information into machine-readable chunks.²⁸
Semantic SEO and Structured Data:

Build Topical Authority: Create comprehensive content clusters with a central “pillar page” on a broad topic supported by a network of “cluster pages” on specific subtopics.³⁴
Implement Schema Markup: Use structured data (schema) to explicitly define your content for search engines. Implementing relevant schema types (FAQPage, HowTo, Product, LocalBusiness, Person) dramatically increases the likelihood of being featured in rich results and AIOs.²³

4.3. Pillar 3: A Multi-Channel Approach to Build a Resilient Brand

The combination of frequent updates and the zero-click trend makes over-reliance on a single organic search channel a significant business risk.¹ While a strong SEO strategy remains a cornerstone of digital marketing, a resilient digital presence should be diversified to mitigate the risks associated with any single channel’s volatility.

Diversifying Traffic Sources:

Email Marketing: An email list provides a direct line of communication to your audience, unmediated by a third-party algorithm. It is an asset you own and control.²⁸
Social Media: Platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok are increasingly used as search and discovery engines.²⁸
Paid Media (PPC): Paid search remains a powerful tool for targeting high-intent, transactional keywords where a user is ready to convert.²⁸
Community Building: Fostering a brand-owned community on platforms like Reddit or dedicated forums can create a loyal following that drives highly engaged, direct traffic.³⁹

Our core conclusion is this: in the zero-click economy, your brand is the new ranking. As direct clicks decline, the long-term value shifts to being consistently visible as the authoritative source. This on-SERP visibility builds brand recall and trust, leading to high-value direct and branded searches later. Your SEO strategy must now incorporate brand marketing principles.

Section 5: Actionable Recommendations for Australian Businesses

This strategic framework provides the roadmap. For Australian businesses across all sectors, applying these principles requires a specific set of actions. Here is our practical implementation plan.

5.1. Content and Structural Plays to Win AIO Citations

To appear in AI Overviews, your content must be structured to answer user questions directly and authoritatively.

Write for Real Questions, Not Just Keywords: Shift from a keyword-centric to a question-centric approach. Your product and service pages should feature comprehensive FAQ sections that address common customer concerns.²³ Use Google’s “People Also Ask” (PAA) feature as a direct source of relevant questions.²³
Target Long-Tail Informational Queries: Data shows AIOs are most frequently triggered by longer, more specific informational queries.⁴⁰ Create in-depth guides that answer these complex questions like “how to choose the right running shoes for marathon training” or “what are the best pet-friendly flooring options?”.
Structure for Citability: The structure of your content is paramount. Use clear H2 and H3 headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break down complex processes into logical, easy-to-follow steps.²⁸ This machine-readable format makes your content easy for AI to parse and cite.
Leverage Local SEO for Geo-Specific Services: For businesses with a physical presence, creating local landing pages is critical. These pages should answer location-specific questions, such as “best coffee shops in Fitzroy” or “emergency plumbers in Perth,” to capture local search intent.⁴¹
Implement Relevant Schema: Use structured data to explicitly define the attributes of your products, services, or business information. This provides Google with unambiguous data, making it easier to feature your offerings in relevant search results.²³

The following table provides our detailed checklist for implementing E-E-A-T, the non-negotiable foundation for all content efforts.

E-E-A-T Component	Actionable Tactic	Implementation Detail	Source Snippet(s)
Experience	Showcase real-world application of your products or services.	Publish client case studies with specific, quantifiable outcomes. Create a blog or video series where practitioners share practical lessons from their field.	³²
Expertise	Prominently display author and business credentials.	On every article, include a detailed author bio with a professional photo, job title, and a link to a full biography page listing relevant qualifications, certifications, and industry memberships.
	Implement a formal expert review process.	For all content offering direct advice, add a “Reviewed by” byline to demonstrate a rigorous fact-checking and accuracy protocol.
Authoritativeness	Build high-quality, relevant backlinks.	Commission and publish original research, such as a proprietary report on industry trends or a study on consumer behaviour. Promote these assets to industry journalists and educational institutions to earn authoritative citations and links.
	Feature third-party validation and media mentions.	Create a dedicated “Press” or “As Seen In” page on the website that showcases logos and links to any mentions or features in reputable media outlets, industry publications, or news platforms.
Trust	Optimise technical and on-page trust signals.	Ensure the entire site uses HTTPS encryption. Prominently display security badges for any transaction portals. Maintain an easily accessible and clearly written privacy policy and terms of service.	³²
	Maintain absolute transparency.	Clearly disclose all fee structures, business policies, and potential conflicts of interest. The “About Us” page should be detailed, outlining the company’s history, mission, and values.
	Leverage social proof through reviews.	Actively manage the business’s online reputation by encouraging satisfied clients to leave reviews on trusted third-party platforms like Google Business Profile. Display positive testimonials (with permission) on the website.