Google’s December 2025 Core Update: What It Means for Your Business

Google has officially launched its latest major update, and if you are a business owner or responsible for marketing in your business, you might be wondering what this means for your website traffic.

On 11 December 2025, Google began rolling out its December Core Update. 

Here is a breakdown of what a "Core Update" is, why Google does it, and what you can expect over the coming weeks.

Plainly speaking, a core update is when Google updates its algorithm to learn better ways to decide which websites are the most helpful to users.

Think of it as Google reorganising its library. It isn’t trying to punish specific books (websites); it is simply reshuffling the shelves to ensure the most useful, relevant, and accurate books are easiest to find.

• Launch Date: 11 December 2025
• Rollout Duration: Google has stated it could take up to 3 weeks for the update to fully roll out and for search results to settle.

This is Google’s third significant core update of 2025, following the updates in March and June. Since the rollout began, many sites across the web have seen their rankings move up or down as the system re-evaluates what is most useful for each search query.

Google’s primary goal is always the user. They want to surface more relevant and satisfying content, basically, to show the pages that best answer what people are actually looking for.

Important Note: This update does not target a specific niche. It is a broad, global change that affects how Google evaluates all types of websites.

Because this is a broad core update, the following effects are normal during the rollout window:

• Ranking Shifts: You may see some of your pages move up in search results, while others may dip.
• Temporary Volatility: Rankings may fluctuate day-to-day while the rollout continues.
• Larger Swings: Some businesses may notice larger swings than usual in their analytics.

This volatility is standard. It simply means Google’s ranking system is adjusting how it weights signals like relevance, quality, trust, and clarity.

If your site sees a dip in rankings after this update, it is not necessarily because Google has "punished" you. It often just means Google found other pages it currently thinks answer the user’s question slightly better.

Our Approach:

• Avoid Knee-Jerk Reactions: We advise against making drastic changes while the update is live. We suggest you continue to monitor the data closely.
• Focus on the User: The best defence against volatility is ensuring your content is clear, useful, and helps the user finish their task quickly (focusing on the path to conversion, and answering all your market's questions around your product and service).

Since the update is still rolling out until roughly the end of December, the full impact won’t be clear until the dust settles after the three-week window.

If you are already a client with us for SEO, please be aware that Bloomtools is committed to ensuring that all these changes are closely monitored and, if needed, will be addressed in a timely manner for you.

If you notice anything major regarding your website's performance and would like our assistance, please reach out to our SEO team through your Bloomtools Consultant.