Between Christmas parties and wrapping up last year’s activity, you would be forgiven for missing Google’s December Core Update—so here’s a short and a longer summary for you!
TL;DR
Google continues to experiment with longer AI Overviews, strengthening the case for leveraging third-party sites (e.g. Reddit) and for focusing on specialisation, expertise and commercially oriented content.
Search Console is also getting even better, with more features around AI and socials—make sure you’ve claimed yours and are using it as part of your BAU SEO reporting and hygiene!
On this page:
Overview of the Core Update: When and Why
Google released a broad core algorithm update on 11 December 2025, which took just over 18 days to fully roll out and was confirmed completed on 29th December.
It was Google’s third core update of 2025 (following the March and June core updates).
This update was described by Google as a regular core update, not a penalty and they list the update as an “incident affecting ranking” on its status dashboard.
Worth noting that two days before this core update, Google updated its core updates documentation with new language about ongoing algorithm changes.
They have stated that “you don’t necessarily have to wait for a major core update to see the effect of your improvements. We’re continually making updates to our search algorithms, including smaller core updates. These updates are not announced because they aren’t widely noticeable, but they are another way that your content can see a rise in position (if you’ve made improvements).”
Google has not published any information regarding specific update changes during this update.
Summary of Noticed Changes Across Industries
SaaS:
Non-specialized SaaS and publications decrease in rankings for software related queries, while more specialized/niche software sites increased. This is another incentive to reward specialization, expertise and showcase more commercially oriented content.
Publications:
Decrease in rankings for “Best of” / broader queries that had been identified with an informational intent and for which there are now more brands and/or commercial sites ranking better.
Ecommerce:
Broader retailers decreased in rankings across mid-funnel product queries vs specialized retailers or brands, showcasing more specific authority/expertise in that product line, eg: Macy’s decreased in rankings for “winter boots women”, “winter coats”, whilst Columbia and the The North Face have performed well post-update.
2. Search Console Developments
Google has expanded Search Console Insights to include social channel performance data, showing clicks and impressions tied to linked social profiles directly in Search Console.
This is still in experimental phase so may not be seen across all clients yet.
Additional AI-powered reports and deeper performance insights were also rolled out in Search Console during December.
3. Google Testing Long AI Search Snippets
Google is now testing out long AI-generated search snippets within search results.
Similar to the experiment from October, with the snippet now appearing much longer in some instances, rather than the standard 3 lines with the ‘more’ button like previously.
Experiment is confined to only forum results from Reddit and is showing on both mobile and desktop, once again showing a continued preference to showcase authentic firsthand experiences from real users.
If you want to know more, or need help with your B2B SEO, please get in touch and we will be happy to help!
