The SEO Reset: Mid-Year Digital Marketing SEO Updates You Can’t Ignore

Between 30 June and 17 July 2025, Google rolled out its June 2025 core update. If you’re responsible for digital marketing SEO and haven’t reviewed your strategy since the start of the year, now is the time to adapt.

What Changed in Google’s June 2025 Update and Why Does It Matter?

This update sharpened Google’s focus on relevant, satisfying content and reinforced spam policies from March 2024, including scaled content abuse, expired domain abuse, and site reputation abuse. Audit your site for thin or low-value pages, merge or remove weak content, add clear bylines to show expertise, and avoid parasite-SEO tactics. Confirm backlinks are from relevant and trusted sources. This remains critical for any digital marketing SEO plan.

How Can You Improve Core Web Vitals?

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) replaced First Input Delay in March 2024 and remains a key metric in 2025. Aim for INP ≤ 200 ms at the 75th percentile by reducing long input delays, self-hosting fonts, removing unused JavaScript, and preconnecting to critical resources.

Run a Lighthouse audit monthly. Faster interaction improves conversions and rankings, particularly on mobile. Consider testing lazy loading for offscreen content to further improve user experience and strengthen your overall digital marketing SEO performance.

How Do You Target Multi-Step Queries and People Also Ask in 2025?

AI Overviews and PAA boxes reward concise, direct answers. Use natural, question-based subheadings with concise responses directly below (around 40–60 words often work well).

For example: “What Is INP in SEO?” followed by a clear definition. With AI Overviews now in 200+ countries, direct answers under question-led subheads improve clarity for users and eligibility for certain SERP features.

Which Structured Data Still Delivers in 2025?

FAQ visibility is limited and How-To rich results are deprecated. Focus on Article, Organisation, Product, Review, and Video Object schema.

For videos, make the video file fetchable, mark it up with Video Object (including content URL), and add transcripts. Apply Product and Review markup where eligible, using only ratings visible to users on the page, per Google’s Review Snippet guidelines. Improve image search performance with descriptive filenames, accurate alt text, captions, and placing images near relevant text to boost your digital marketing SEO.

How Do You Keep Crawl and Indexing Clean Mid-Year?

Remove dead URLs from your sitemap, keeping only canonical, indexable pages. Submit updated sitemaps in Search Console.

For duplicates, consolidate with rel=canonical or noindex; avoid using robots.txt for canonicalisation. Fix redirect chains. Use Crawl Stats to spot server errors and needless crawls. Large sites can trim crawl waste, while smaller sites should focus on clean sitemaps and links; Google’s detailed crawl-budget guidance primarily applies to very large sites. Add structured navigation to help both users and search engines.

How Can Search Console Insights Help You Spot Opportunities?

The upgraded Insights highlight rising pages and queries. Review monthly, refresh intros and stats, and add internal links from related pages. Link from high-traffic pages to underperforming ones using descriptive anchor text. Check the Links report to close gaps. Use Insights to test seasonal keyword shifts for upcoming campaigns and refine your digital marketing SEO approach.

Use these findings to choose the right digital marketing packages for your goals.

Book your free digital marketing SEO audit to get a Core Web Vitals review, content audit, and ranking stability check.

What Local SEO Steps Should You Take Mid-Year?

Update your Google Business Profile with categories, services, hours, and high-quality images. Post weekly updates and promote events or specials. Expand to Bing Places and Apple Business Connect. For eligible sectors like hospitality, use GBP’s “What’s Happening” feature to boost local visibility. Collect and respond to customer reviews promptly to strengthen trust signals.

How Does E-E-A-T Keep Your Rankings Stable in 2025?

Add expert bios, cite reputable sources, and show proof of experience with process images, data tables, or case studies. Keep content updated to maintain trust signals.

How to Leverage AI Tools for SEO in 2025

Use AI for keyword clustering, content briefs, and SERP analysis. For example, an SME can cluster seasonal search terms for a campaign, then refine content with human editing to ensure quality. Pair AI analysis with manual competitor reviews to find content gaps and improve your digital marketing SEO strategy.

Mid-Year Content Refresh Checklist

Update stats and links, merge or remove outdated low-traffic pages, add internal links from newer high-performing content, re-optimise metadata, and reassess target keywords. Ensure refreshed content aligns with current user intent.

International SEO Considerations

Implement hreflang tags correctly, adapt content to local language nuances, and adjust offers for local buying cycles. Consider currency and unit localisation for better user experience.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in a Mid-Year SEO Audit

Check Core Web Vitals, ensure mobile usability, resolve content cannibalisation, and revisit local citations. Avoid neglecting non-branded keywords that could drive new traffic.

Aligning SEO with Paid Media Mid-Year

Sync SEO insights with PPC campaigns. Use top organic keywords in ads and send paid clicks to high-engagement pages. Review paid and organic keyword cannibalisation to avoid wasting spend and strengthen integrated digital marketing SEO efforts.

How to Secure Featured Snippets in 2025

Answer each question concisely (around 40–60 words often work well), and use tables, numbered lists, and clear definitions. Test snippet eligibility with structured headings.

How to Prepare for the Next Core Update

Review technical health, update your best-performing pages, and refresh schema. Maintain a change log to track adjustments and monitor impact after updates.

What’s the Best Way to Measure SEO Success Now?

Pair GA4 with GSC. In GA4, track organic conversions by landing page. In GSC Insights, find rising queries and connect them to Core Web Vitals improvements.

Keep SEO Proactive

Mid-year is the perfect time to recheck technical health, content quality, and SERP positioning. Strengthen your digital marketing SEO foundation. If you prefer managed support, choose from our digital marketing packages and book your free audit today to stay competitive.