Date: 08/05/2025

Author: John Lang, Bristol

Introduction

It does seem as of late, Google is rolling out a new update, well what seems like every 5 minutes. This has meant that sometimes, as soon as one Google update roll-out has happened, it’s only a very short period before another occurs.

However, there are some updates which we don’t believe have had a significant effect on the majority of businesses (as long as they have followed white hat SEO best practices).

However, this update is different and sustained regarding the ranking flux that is being witnessed. From what we can see, it is substantial update affecting many businesses, and it seems to have frozen businesses in place in the Serp’s for some time now.
Google Search Console.

We are a well-known SEO agency serving the South West of England. Therefore, we work with companies in Bristol and the neighbouring city of Bath, so we can only comment on what we see for our marketing company and clients.

But here we go:

The impression data has substantially increased in Google Search Console over the last 3 weeks.

Not just that, it seems volatile, meaning it goes up and down, and every 2.5 hours or so.

Now, as an agency that likes to keep a close eye on our clients’ SEO analytics, we have to say that we get a good sense of what the impression data should be, yet at the moment, it looks pretty high.

That means we think it is higher than what we would typically be if we were to compare it with a baseline daily figure.

So, what can we take away from that?

We can presume that we think Google is testing an algorithm change, and we believe what is coming will be big.

Google Update May 2025

So, for the past year, there have been multiple Google updates, and we saw a lot of volatility, for example, during March there was a large Google update.

What makes the May 2025 Google update different is that this seems sustained; the ranking flux appears to be held for what we think is a prolonged period.

Why is Google rolling out this update?

We still cannot say the exact reason for the ranking flux that we seem to be occurring at this moment in time. After the Google update has rolled out, we can see which businesses have emerged higher and which have moved down the SERP’s.

Using various SEO tools, we can decipher which companies were negatively impacted by the Google update.

We are a marketing agency with our fingers on the pulse, which means, like other leading agencies, you get a good sense of what work your direct competitors are working on when improving their SEO.

What changes did your agency notice?

We have noticed keyword position changes; the most apparent change is in Google Search Console regarding impression data.

If you have been monitoring the exact keywords for consecutive years, you get a sense of the daily impressions and the fluctuations that can occur.

However, this seems to be more than that; for some SEO keywords, the fluctuations in terms of daily impressions seem to have increased by over 50%.

On top of that, keyword positions will be detailed in the Google Search Console. However, these do not reflect what is shown in the SERP for some of the clients we are working for.

What this means is that at this moment in time, we cannot tell how this Google May 2025 update is impacting the SERP.

What websites were affected?

Some business sectors we work with have seen a positive uplift, while others seem to have been put into a deep freeze.

What we mean by that is after substantial link building efforts and adding content marketing, the SERP seem to remain frozen.

This, we would say, has carried on from the Google updates back in March 2025. We would therefore state that this seems to be some continuation of that rollout.

Why wouldn’t we recommend making any changes right now to your SEO

After significant Google updates, whether a Google update or a Google core update, we would not recommend that any business make changes to their SEO straightaway. The reason is that it often takes multiple days, if not sometimes weeks, for the rollout to roll out fully.

Therefore, some businesses jump into making changes, which can magnify the drop in rankings.

Let’s give you an example: some businesses may believe it’s a link penalty, then disavow good quality links, which will, of course, cause a drop in the business’s organic rankings over the long run.

Therefore, you must take your time and let the Google update fully roll out, and then you can evaluate where your business has moved.

During Google’s updates, the ranking flux often causes the website to move down or up, but only temporarily. Then, after the update has fully rolled out, you may move into a new position, which may stabilise for a while.

How have your Bristol clients been affected?

Our Bristol clients have moved up, yet before we pat ourselves on the back for our hard work, we must wait until the Google May 2025 rollout has fully rolled out.

Why is Google rolling out so many updates?

It used to be the case that the Google updates, or at least the large ones, had names assigned to them, such as Google Panda, Penguin or Hummingbird.

SEO companies would have an excellent idea of what the Google update purpose; for example, it may have been targeting link spam.

But now, well, things are very different.

The rollout of new Google updates is much more frequent, plus many SEO businesses do not know what the updates are targeting. We are therefore very much in the dark, and all we can do is the same as many other businesses: track the changes in our SEO tools.

How can you better equip your business for Google updates?

So some businesses, well, 100% of their sales may come online, which means that when a Google update is rolled out, and changes are made to Google’s core algorithm, the business can be massively affected in terms of sales it can generate.

Therefore, the U.K. businesses we represent and work with naturally they will want a way to better protect themselves from such updates.

However, all you can do is follow Google E-EAT’s advice and white hat best practices.

Then our second piece of essential advice is this: don’t make massive changes to your SEO or website during a rollout.

So many businesses panic when Google is rolling out a significant update.

They start changing page titles, the content marketing, and the links for example.
But don’t, you have to wait.

Wait and see how the Google update has impacted your business’s rankings after the rollout, and then make changes.
Don’t make changes to your business’s search engine optimisation (SEO) during a roll-out because that can amplify the swing of where your business will rank post-roll-out.

How can we help?

We are Digital Tailors, an SEO agency serving Bristol and the neighbouring city of Bath.

We are a white-hat SEO company that can offer fixed-priced SEO packages that start from just £1k per month.

We work with various businesses, from solicitors to construction companies. If your business needs a tailor-made SEO and marketing solution, we are the company to call in the South West of England.