December 11, 2025
Google Search Central announced on X and LinkedIn that Google has officially released the December 2025 core update.
The update is expected to take up to three weeks to complete and is a ‘regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.’ So there’s nothing new to worry about.
This update comes as no surprise - we’ve seen plenty of volatility in the SERPs recently, as reported by Barry Schwartz:
Schwartz also warned us on X a few days ago that John Mueller confirmed an upcoming update, though many didn’t expect it to be quite so soon.
Google had previously said there would be ‘more updates, more often’ at the Web Creator Conversion Event last October. However, this is only the third core update and fourth Google update of this year, after the March 2025 core update and the June 2025 core update, along with the August 2025 spam update. And with the year quickly drawing to a close, it seems unlikely that there will be any more after this.
As usual, reactions to the update haven’t been particularly positive, especially with it being so close to Christmas. Chandan Singh responded to Google Search Central’s announcement on X:
Google releases core updates multiple times throughout the year to ‘make significant broad changes to [our] search algorithms and systems’.
Here’s a timeline of the last couple of years:
There are concerns that this is going to be a big update. However, as with all updates, there is no specific advice to follow. Just focus on creating helpful content and following E.E.A.T guidelines. Remember that volatility is usually high during and for a little while after the update has completed, so don’t panic if you do see a drop in traffic or rankings, it may well be temporary.
If you are worried about how this update might affect your site, feel free to get in touch with us today.
