Google Santa knew just what every Search Engine Marketer wanted gift-wrapped under the tree: A reason to obsessively check site rankings for signs of volatility. So, on December 11, 2025, Google started rolling out a broad new core algorithm update.
What Exactly Are Core Updates? Why Do They Matter?
A core update is a broad, system-wide change to Google’s ranking algorithm. Core updates recalibrate how the search engine evaluates content. They often make fundamental adjustments to how Google assesses content quality and search intent. These updates can drive dramatic ranking fluctuations, both upward and downward. They often take several weeks to fully settle.
So far, the December update appears to be one of the more substantial core recalibrations of 2025, a year in which Google refined how it gauges content relevance, expertise, and overall usefulness.
What Marketers Are Seeing
SEOs are already spotting notable patterns in ranking behavior.
Ranking Volatility Across Industries
Large swings in rankings have affected many websites, especially in such sectors as finance, health/medical, and e-commerce. Some sites have made dramatic gains; some have experienced sudden drops in visibility.
Ranked impressions may be more varied: Some sites are appearing for more queries but at lower positions (e.g., page 2–3). This indicates that Google is reshuffling relevance signals broadly.
News and Publisher Traffic Declines
Google Discover traffic has been hit particularly hard, with some news publishers reporting traffic dropping to near zero shortly after the update’s rollout. Google Discover has been a key source of traffic for news sources in the past, so this could be a challenging time for publishers.
Traditional top stories results and news rankings are also shifting, indicating that the update extends beyond core search to surface features, including Discover and News.
Featured Snippet and SERP Feature Changes
Some marketers report fluctuations in featured snippet placements and how often pages appear in rich results, although these patterns can vary widely by niche and query type.
Who's Winning and Losing in this Update?
Content That’s Performing Well
Long-form, expert-led content with clear author attribution and credentials is holding or improving in many niches. Author bylines and building up individual contributor authority have been part of the SEO landscape for some time, but they’re becoming more important amid the superabundance of mindless, programmatic content that crowds search results.
Content that offers original insights, actionable data, and first-hand experience has bumped up in visibility. Again, this reads like a direct attempt to counter braindead keyword-farming and AI slop content that’s become so popular with SEOs.
Mass-produced AI content that lacks expert review is reportedly subject to significant ranking losses, particularly when it doesn’t add new information. Regurgitated or slightly reframed versions of existing content are an ongoing problem for Google results as more and more digital marketers rely on AI for content production.
Thin affiliate content or generic review pages that mainly repackage product info without original testing or deep insight are also subject to negative impact.
Generic, “SEO-first” content crafted primarily around keywords – rather than a desire to answer users’ questions and otherwise meet their needs – is underperforming. Primarily is a very important word, here. Focus words, phrases, and questions are still essential to rank well, but cramming them into copy should never be the first goal of your content. While Google is still far and away the largest search engine on the market (REALLY far and away), they still need to serve user-focused content to stay relevant.
The themes of the update are pretty clear. Google’s core updates continue to reward sites that meet Google’s traditional criteria: E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness & Trust).
E-E-A-T isn’t a new concept, but it’s become more important as content quality and usefulness have declined across the web.
So, What SEO Tactics Make Sense After the Update?
To put it simply: Create content that demonstrates your expertise and answers users’ questions. How to do that? A few tactics, some emergent and some time-tested, are attracting attention.
1. Expert-First Content Strategies
Some brands now require subject-matter expert involvement (and public author credits) on content, especially for medical content and technical topics.
Content revisions focus on first-hand experience, proprietary data, and nuanced insights rather than generic summaries.
Include bylines and support your individual contributors in building their own brand visibility online.
2. AI to Enhance Copy, Not Replace Copywriters
Instead of generating entire articles with AI, top performers use AI for research, outlines, or structural drafting. Human editors vet and expand the substance. But whether you use AI to generate content or not, experts must be involved at some point.
Depth, credibility, and originality are the keys to success. Generative AI isn’t so good at those three things.
3. Audience-Centered UX and Technical SEO
Improve page experience, accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and site architecture. These elements play bigger roles in stabilizing rankings amidst volatility. Google treats site performance as an indication of regular governance, as they should. A well-maintained site is less likely to publish thousands of pages of sloppy, useless content.
Technical SEO is big, again. Schema markup can do a lot to boost visibility across different search modalities. It helps search engines better understand your content and serve it to the right audiences.
4. Content Refresh Cycles
You don’t have to constantly publish new content. Supplement new content by refreshing previously published work. This practice keeps facts and figures current, keeps your content current as your business sector evolves, and adjusts it to new search criteria and evolving user search strategies.
What Do I Do if I'm Losing Search Rankings?
Quick tweaks aren’t going to save you from falling rankings. A consistent, ongoing effort to improve the quality of your content is the only path forward.
If your site took a hit after the December core update, consider:
Re-evaluating content quality. Is the content genuinely helpful, insightful, and user-focused? Is it focused on ranking for keywords or answering user’s questions?
Adding expertise signals. Include verified author bios, credentials, and source references. Help your authors build their own brands.
Improving UX and performance. Make sure that your site loads quickly and is accessible and mobile-friendly.
Technical SEO audit. Update surface schema markup to help define and categorize your content for search engines.
Need help creating content that search engines love? Contact us about Content and SEO services today.
446197/Blog/Understanding-Googles-December-2025-Core-Update6<p>Google Santa knew just what every Search Engine Marketer wanted gift-wrapped under the tree: A reason to obsessively check site rankings for signs of volatility. So, on December 11, 2025, Google started rolling out a broad new core algorithm update.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-releases-december-2025-core-update/563134/" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">third major core update of 2025</a> followed similar major adjustments in March and June.</p>
<h2>What Exactly Are Core Updates? Why Do They Matter?</h2>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px">A <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-updates" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">core update</a> is a broad, system-wide change to Google’s ranking algorithm. Core updates recalibrate how the search engine evaluates content. They often make fundamental adjustments to how Google assesses content quality and search intent. These updates can drive dramatic ranking fluctuations, both upward and downward. They often take several weeks to fully settle.</p>
<p>So far, the December update appears to be one of the more substantial core recalibrations of 2025, a year in which Google refined how it gauges content relevance, expertise, and overall usefulness.</p>
<h2>What Marketers Are Seeing</h2>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px">SEOs are already spotting notable patterns in ranking behavior.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom:11px">Ranking Volatility Across Industries</h3>
<ul>
<li style="margin-bottom:11px"><strong>Large swings in rankings</strong> have affected <a href="https://www.stanventures.com/news/google-december-2025-core-update-6455" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">many websites,</a> especially in such sectors as finance, health/medical, and e-commerce. Some sites have made dramatic gains; some have experienced sudden drops in visibility.</li>
<li>Ranked impressions may be more varied: Some sites are appearing for more queries but at lower positions (e.g., page 2–3). This indicates that Google is reshuffling relevance signals broadly.</li>
</ul>
<h3>News and Publisher Traffic Declines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Google Discover traffic</strong> has been hit particularly hard, with some news publishers reporting <a href="https://ppc.land/googles-december-update-destroys-discover-traffic-for-news-sites/" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">traffic dropping to near zero</a> shortly after the update’s rollout. Google Discover has been a key source of traffic for news sources in the past, so this could be a challenging time for publishers.</li>
<li>Traditional top stories results and <a href="https://www.stanventures.com/news/google-december-2025-core-update-6455" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">news rankings are also shifting</a>, indicating that the update extends beyond core search to surface features, including Discover and News.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Featured Snippet and SERP Feature Changes</h3>
<ul>
<li>Some marketers report fluctuations in featured snippet placements and how often pages appear in rich results, although these patterns can vary widely by niche and query type.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Who's Winning and Losing in this Update?</h2>
<h3 style="margin-bottom:11px">Content That’s Performing Well</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Long-form, expert-led content </strong>with clear author attribution and credentials is holding or improving in many niches. Author bylines and building up individual contributor authority have been part of the SEO landscape for some time, but they’re becoming more important amid the superabundance of mindless, programmatic content that crowds search results.</li>
<li><strong>Content that offers original insights, actionable data, and first-hand experience</strong> has bumped up in visibility. Again, this reads like a direct attempt to counter braindead keyword-farming and AI slop content that’s become so popular with SEOs.</li>
<li><strong>Sites with strong user experience signals</strong> – mobile friendliness, solid performance, accessibility, and clear internal structure – <a href="https://almcorp.com/blog/google-december-2025-core-update-complete-guide" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">are less volatile and often make modest gains</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Content That’s Struggling</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Mass-produced AI content that lacks expert review</strong> is reportedly <a href="https://almcorp.com/blog/google-december-2025-core-update-complete-guide/" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subject to significant ranking losses</a>, particularly when it doesn’t add new information. Regurgitated or slightly reframed versions of existing content are an ongoing problem for Google results as more and more digital marketers rely on AI for content production.</li>
<li><strong>Thin affiliate content or generic review pages</strong> that mainly repackage product info without original testing or deep insight are also subject to negative impact.</li>
<li><strong>Generic, “SEO-first” content</strong> crafted primarily around keywords – rather than a desire to answer users’ questions and otherwise meet their needs – is underperforming. <em>Primarily</em> is a very important word, here. <em>Focus words, phrases, and questions are still essential to rank well</em>, but cramming them into copy should never be the first goal of your content. While Google is still far and away the <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">largest search engine on the market</a> (REALLY far and away), they still need to serve user-focused content to stay relevant.</li>
</ul>
<p>The themes of the update are pretty clear. Google’s core updates continue to reward sites that meet Google’s traditional criteria: <strong>E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness & Trust)</strong>.</p>
<p>E-E-A-T isn’t a new concept, but it’s become more important as content quality and usefulness have declined across the web.</p>
<h2>So, What SEO Tactics Make Sense After the Update?</h2>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px">To put it simply: Create content that demonstrates your expertise and answers users’ questions. How to do that? A few tactics, some emergent and some time-tested, are attracting attention.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom:11px">1. Expert-First Content Strategies</h3>
<ul>
<li>Some brands now require subject-matter expert involvement (and public author credits) on content, especially for medical content and technical topics.</li>
<li>Content revisions focus on first-hand experience, proprietary data, and nuanced insights rather than generic summaries.</li>
<li>Include bylines and support your individual contributors in building their own brand visibility online.</li>
</ul>
<h3>2. AI to Enhance Copy, Not Replace Copywriters</h3>
<ul>
<li>Instead of generating entire articles with AI, top performers use AI for research, outlines, or structural drafting. Human editors vet and expand the substance. But whether you use AI to generate content or not, experts must be involved at some point.</li>
<li>Depth, credibility, and originality are the keys to success. Generative AI isn’t so good at those three things.</li>
</ul>
<h3> 3. Audience-Centered UX and Technical SEO</h3>
<ul>
<li>Improve page experience, accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and site architecture. These elements play bigger roles in stabilizing rankings amidst volatility. Google treats site performance as an indication of regular governance, as they should. A well-maintained site is less likely to publish thousands of pages of sloppy, useless content.</li>
<li>Technical SEO is big, again. Schema markup can do a lot to boost visibility across different search modalities. It helps search engines better understand your content and serve it to the right audiences.</li>
</ul>
<h3>4. Content Refresh Cycles</h3>
<ul>
<li>You don’t have to constantly publish new content. Supplement new content by refreshing previously published work. This practice keeps facts and figures current, keeps your content current as your business sector evolves, and adjusts it to new search criteria and evolving user search strategies.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What Do I Do if I'm Losing Search Rankings?</h2>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px">Quick tweaks aren’t going to <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/google-core-updates" linktype="3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">save you from falling rankings</a>. A consistent, ongoing effort to improve the quality of your content is the only path forward.</p>
<p>If your site took a hit after the December core update, consider:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Re-evaluating content quality</strong>. Is the content genuinely helpful, insightful, and user-focused? Is it focused on ranking for keywords or answering user’s questions?</li>
<li><strong>Adding expertise signals</strong>. Include verified author bios, credentials, and source references. Help your authors build their own brands.</li>
<li><strong>Improving UX and performance</strong>. Make sure that your site loads quickly and is <a href="https://www.nwsdigital.com/Services/Websites/Web-Accessibility">accessible</a> and mobile-friendly.</li>
<li><strong>Technical SEO audit</strong>. Update surface schema markup to help define and categorize your content for search engines.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Need help creating content that search engines love? Contact us about <a href="https://www.nwsdigital.com/Services/Digital-Marketing/SEO-AI-Search-and-Content-Strategy" linktype="3" target="_self">Content and SEO services</a> today.</em></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"></span></span></span></p>/Northwoods-2020/Hero-Images/Hiker-Looking-Out-Over-Mountains.pngHiker looking out over the mountainsAlex Boston/Northwoods-2020/People/Alex-Boston.jpgAlex Boston standing in front of a log cabin with soft, warm lighting<script charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript" src="//js.hsforms.net/forms/embed/v2.js"></script><script>hbspt.forms.create({ region: "na1", portalId: "23630176", formId: "40c5bbae-05a2-42ea-94dd-1662181fd56e" });</script>/Northwoods-2023/Blog/Social-Cards/Understanding-Googles-December-2025-Core-Update---Social-Card.jpg?LargeUnderstanding Google's December 2025 Core Update2026-01-26T00:00:00/Northwoods-2023/Blog/Social-Cards/Understanding-Googles-December-2025-Core-Update---Social-Card.jpgGoogle started rolling out its third major core algorithm update of 2025 just in time for the holidays. Here's the impact we're seeing so far and what you should do if your site is losing rankings.3953511/People/Alex-BostonAlexBostonSEO & Content Lead<p>Alex blends his academic background in creative writing with rigorous data analysis to conceptualize, create, and assess digital content for Northwoods clients. He applies more than 10 years of digital marketing experience to his work in content strategy, search engine optimization, accessibility, and user experience research. Alex prioritizes flexibility, simplicity, and the needs of his target audience. When he’s not at work, he enjoys playing music, writing fiction, and playing tabletop roleplaying games. <br />
</p>Alex BostonAlex blends his academic background in creative writing with rigorous data analysis to conceptualize, create, and assess content for Northwoods clients./Northwoods-2020/People/Alex-Boston.jpgAlex BostonAdd-In Type - NWS Data ModulesAudience - NWS Data ModulesCategory - NWS Data ModulesCommittee - NWS Data ModulesDivision - NWS Data ModulesEvent Audience - NWS Data ModulesEvent Service - NWS Data ModulesEvent Type - NWS Data ModulesFile Type - NWS Data ModulesLocality - NWS Data ModulesModule - NWS Data ModulesPackage Type - NWS Data ModulesPerson - NWS Data ModulesPersonID - NWS Data ModulesAlex BostonPractice Area - NWS Data ModulesProduct Version - NWS Data ModulesProductVersion - NWS Data ModulesRecord Maturity - NWS Data ModulesRecorded Webinar TopicsRegion - NWS Data ModulesResource Type - NWS Data ModulesSite Display - NWS Data ModulesSkillLevel - NWS Data ModulesTopic - NWS Data ModulesVideo Status - NWS Data ModulesVideoAudience - NWS Data ModulesVideoClassification - NWS Data ModulesVideoStatus - NWS Data ModulesTeamAll StaffStrategistsAdd-In Type - NWS Data ModulesAudience - NWS Data ModulesCategory - NWS Data ModulesCommittee - NWS Data ModulesDivision - NWS Data ModulesEvent Audience - NWS Data ModulesEvent Service - NWS Data ModulesEvent Type - NWS Data ModulesFile Type - NWS Data ModulesLocality - NWS Data ModulesModule - NWS Data ModulesPackage Type - NWS Data ModulesPerson - NWS Data ModulesPersonID - NWS Data ModulesAlex BostonPractice Area - NWS Data ModulesProduct Version - NWS Data ModulesProductVersion - NWS Data ModulesRecord Maturity - NWS Data ModulesRecorded Webinar TopicsRegion - NWS Data ModulesResource Type - NWS Data ModulesSite Display - NWS Data ModulesNWS DigitalSkillLevel - NWS Data ModulesTopic - NWS Data ModulesArtificial Intelligence (AI)Digital MarketingSEO & Content MarketingVideo Status - NWS Data ModulesVideoAudience - NWS Data ModulesVideoClassification - NWS Data ModulesVideoStatus - NWS Data Modules02026-01-26T07:01:20.94000
