March update reviewed: Winners and losers among Switzerland's top shops

The first Google Core Update of 2025 has been fully completed for approximately two weeks. It began on March 13, 2025, and was finished about two weeks later on March 27, 2025. 

This update was a typical core update, where Google updates its central ranking system to make search results more relevant and helpful.

In Switzerland, significant effects were observed just a few days after the announcement. Some websites experienced large fluctuations in traffic, while others remained relatively stable. Overall, however, the update appeared to be less far-reaching than some previous core updates, which affected considerably more websites.

We, as an SEO agency with our own Swiss Online Shop Index We wanted to find out how the core update specifically affected the ten online shops with the highest SEO visibility in Switzerland. Here are the results of our analysis:

1. Orell Füssli Thalia AG (orellfuessli.ch)

The shop with the highest visibility in Switzerland has seen a significant decline since the core update. While the visibility index was 593 on March 10th, it now stands at 534,66 (as of April 10th) – a decrease of 10,92%. Despite this, the shop still achieves over 964.000 rankings on Google Switzerland.

2. Digitec Galaxus AG (galaxus.ch)

In contrast to Orell Füssli, Galaxus was able to significantly increase its visibility. On March 10th, the index was still at 296,30 and rose to 330,56 by April 10th.+11,56%)Galaxus is found in Switzerland using over 815.000 keywords.

3. Scout24 Switzerland AG (autoscout24.ch)

Compared to the previous month, autoscout24.ch achieved an increase of 9,63% – the index rose from 237,57 to 260,44. Over 269.000 keywords are listed on Google Switzerland.

4. Zalando SE (zalando.ch)

Zalando has maintained very consistent visibility for years. Even the core update has had little impact on this: the index fell slightly from 211,07 to 202,45 (-4,08%). Zalando is found in Switzerland using more than 300.000 keywords.

5. Digitec Galaxus AG (digitec.ch)

Digitec Galaxus AG's second online store showed a slight downward trend but remained almost stable. The visibility index fell from 199,22 to 193,69 (-2,77%). The store ranks for over 465.000 keywords.

6. HORNBACH Baumarkt (Schweiz) AG (hornbach.ch)

There were hardly any changes at hornbach.ch. The index currently stands at 183,29 and was at 183,76 a month ago (-0,26%).

7. HolidayCheck AG (holidaycheck.ch)

HolidayCheck has been gradually losing visibility for years. However, the latest core update had little impact: the score even rose slightly from 114,48 to 115,73 (+1,09%). The portal has over 500.000 indexed keywords.

8. Ex Libris AG (exlibris.ch)

The biggest loser of the update is exlibris.ch, with a decline of 21,56%. Within 30 days, its visibility index fell from 140,84 to 110,47. Despite approximately 384.000 indexed keywords, this drop is considerable.

9. Conrad Electronic AG (conrad.ch)

The visibility of conrad.ch has decreased slightly since March 17, 2025. It fell from 105,93 to 100,86 (-4,79%). Approximately 177.000 keywords are indexed by Google Switzerland.

10. Ricardo AG (ricardo.ch)

Ricardo.ch has steadily lost visibility over the past five years, but the recent core update has resulted in a noticeable increase: from 74,21 to 89,35 (+20,45%). With over 445.000 keywords, the shop remains well-positioned.

The following is a table summarizing the information:

Conclusion

Although the Google Core Update from March 2025 did not have the widespread impact of earlier updates, a clear pattern can be seen: Some established shops suffered significant losses, while others benefited. 

Overall, Google seems to be placing even greater emphasis on relevant content and a user-centric page structure with this update. The fundamental principles remain the same: constantly optimize your website, provide high-quality content, and focus on a positive user experience to benefit from updates in the long run.

Anyone who lost visibility due to the March update should analyze whether their content is consistently up-to-date, comprehensive, and unique. It's also worth looking for potential technical weaknesses such as long loading times, faulty redirects, or insufficient mobile optimization. 

Careful monitoring over several weeks and checking important SEO metrics This helps to assess the exact impact of the update. Ultimately, consistency in SEO pays off in the long run, as Google increasingly prioritizes user-friendliness and page quality with each algorithm update.

methodology

1. Time period and data basis
   • The data collection covers the period from March 10, 2025 (immediately before the start of the update) to April 10, 2025 (almost two weeks after completion).
   • The visibility data used comes from SISTRIX, a common SEO tool that uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the "visibility index".
2. Selection of shops
   • For the analysis, the ten online shops with the highest SEO visibility in Switzerland were selected. Criteria included keyword rankings and the estimated monthly search volume.
3. SISTRIX Visibility Index
   • The index takes into account the number of ranking keywords, their position in Google search results, and the associated search volume. This results in a score that reflects a domain's "visibility" in the Google index.
   • An increase or decrease in the index therefore signals that a website ranks well or poorly on average for more or less important keywords.
4. Interpretation of the results
   • Visibility changes from day to day can be influenced by many factors (e.g., seasonal fluctuations, technical adjustments, content updates).
   • Not every change can be directly attributed to the Google Core Update. Therefore, it's all the more important to observe trends over a longer period and to include other SEO metrics (e.g., clicks, conversions).