James Smith | SEO Expert @Airlift | 11 June 2025
In May 2025, Google rolled out one of its most aggressive updates yet — and the aftermath was brutal. HubSpot reports show over 80% of websites experienced a drop in traffic, with many business owners waking up to find their rankings wiped from Page 1 overnight. And unlike past updates, this one wasn’t about backlinks, content length, or keyword stuffing. It was about speed.
Google’s Not Just Ranking Pages — It’s Ranking Experiences
With AI Overviews now answering most search queries upfront, users barely make it to organic results. So when they do click, the experience has to be instant.
That means:
Google isn’t measuring just your content. It's measuring how your page feels.
We monitored thousands of WordPress sites through May. We looked at traffic, load speed, interaction delays, and layout shifts. What we saw was clear, poorly optimised and slow sites tanked.
But here's the good news, you can still fix this. And it’s easier than you think!
We’ve Put Together a Free Checklist to Help You Bounce Back
This isn’t some complex technical guide. It’s a simple 5-point diagnostic based on real fixes that worked across 5,000+ websites — and they’re all things you can check in minutes.
✔️ No logins
✔️ No tools required
✔️ No signup
Just a quick list to help you figure out, “Am I next?”
A part of the Web Performance Journal — June 2025 Edition. © 2025 Airlift.net