Another December core update, another mid-Christmas crisis for SEOs.
To be fair, the December 2025 core update was much anticipated. Major SEO influencers like Barry Schwartz and Glenn Gabe had been picking up on trends that suggested it was about to peek through the blinds.
Weirdly enough, it was the calmest the SERPs have been throughout all core updates this year. But there is still a lot to cover. So, let’s uncover what this one was all about.
Rollout Period
The last update of the year dropped on December 11 and had a rollout of 18 days, ending on December 29th.
In general, broad core updates affect every search realm, including SERPs, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Discover, Top Stories, PAAs, News, Forums, and more. Google points out:
“Core updates are designed to ensure that overall, we’re delivering on our mission to present helpful and reliable results for searchers.”
And with every core update, there are the much-anticipated ranking fluctuations. Websites climbing and falling in the SERPs based on the latest ranking signals is a common occurrence.
But that didn’t happen with the December core update. This update demonstrated an unusually calm behavior for most part of the rollout period, as you can see in the volatility chart below.
Sure, high volatility was reported on December 20th, along with some other dotted reds on other days, but apart from that, it was a rather calm update, hitting the lowest volatilities.
The Impact of December 2025 Core Update
Historical trends suggest that core updates take a day or two to land after the rollout announcement. And that’s when people start observing noticeable movement across different niches.
Site owners and SEOs start sharing their experiences on forums and discussing the observed movements, the highs and lows, and all that.
We’ve analyzed every niche, community platform, and influencer tab to understand the impact of the December 2025 core update and noted patterns that suggest the following.
Inconsistency Across Gaming Sites
Our analysis suggested traffic and ranking fluctuations across many niches. However, one niche that stood out to be the most inconsistent was the gaming niche.
There were seemingly multiple reports of contradictory movements on gaming sites. Here’s a breakdown of what the site owners had to say:
“I don’t see any change. Maybe a little growth. But it can crash in a heartbeat. Handwritten blog in the gaming niche.” – Reddit
“My gaming website tanked from 10k clicks per day to like 300 clicks per day! Obviously it was a side project and I just started it 9 months ago but I would not call it spam in any sense as it was closing user intent! I think I should wait before I make any changes to the website.” – Twitter
Notable YMYL Movement
This update, the YMYL niche was hit the hardest. Despite the overall volatility being particularly low, the same wasn’t the case for YMYL sites.
What are YMYL sites? These are the sites working on critical niches like health, finance, legal, safety, or more. Essentially, any content with a major implication on your life as a reader. That is why YMYL sites not only face strict content policies but are also held to a higher standard algorithmically.
During the December core update, we saw many people reporting their YMYL sites losing visibility at concerning levels. That is, despite not implementing anything remotely dodgy.
“Glad there are others in here talking about the YMYL sites!
Most of my portfolio and clients sites have seen very little movement but one site we manage in the YMYL niche has seen a huge tanking. We have not been doing anything remotely dodgy on that site so its come as a big shock.
Trying to unpick what the main reasons are for it.” – Reddit
“Seeing the same GSC data is lagging and impressions are down across most sites. Hard to tell what’s noise vs. real change yet.
Some sites in local and YMYL niches seem hit harder. Still too early for clear patterns, but volatility is definitely up.
Give it a few more days before making big changes. Watch for updates from Google and check forums for trends.” – Reddit
“I continue to run the visibility numbers across many sites previously impacted by major algorithm updates. And that volatility leads me to others in each vertical impacted. For today, I’ll share an interesting find. For a very sensitive YMYL category (within finance), many sites in that niche are seeing a lot of movement. There are some heavy hits there… while others surge into those top spots.” – Glenn Gabe
What We Found Analyzing YMYL Domains
Digging deeper, we checked some sites and witnessed the significance of the shift ourselves.
Among the sites we analyzed, finance and medical sites exhibited the greatest degree of alteration. We reviewed sites like Investopedia, Medical News, and CNN Business, each of which highlighted a downward traffic trend.
It seems that with this update, Google has rearranged YMYL dials, reassessing the quality of many sites. Perhaps that’s the reason there’s a boatload of volatility in this niche.
Volatility in the Home Services Niche
Along with that, we saw some home services businesses receiving the blow too. Case in point are these sites in the relevant niche that lost a humongous amount of traffic during this update.
Check out their traffic trends in the Ahrefs Site Explorer tool to verify visibility loss yourself.
Wins Noted for Niche Brands
Another trend noted was that broader retailers saw a decrease in rankings for keywords, while niche brands focusing on their primary product had improved visibility.
Alyeda Solis shared her insights after the December 2025 core update rollout, explaining this with an example. She wrote in her LinkedIn post:
She also told that a similar trend was observed on the publication site, Game Radar Guide, where broader queries are declining in traffic, while popular game brands are gaining traction.
The Recovery Angle of Core Updates
Sites that work to improve user experience and content can regain visibility and rankings during core updates. For example, a site that was hit due to spammy practices in previous updates can make a comeback in the next core updates if they successfully remove all factors that make them spammy.
Similarly, there were some good recoveries in the December 2025 core update for sites that got hit during the August Spam Update. As explained by Glenn Gabe, it’s possible to recover from the hit during core update rollout if you’ve put in time and effort tackling the spam situation thoroughly. And if not, you’re likely to get hit even harder with the next update.
Here are a few real-world examples of August-hit sites gaining traffic this update.
But recoveries aren’t just contingent on the next core updates. Marie Haynes pointed out notable changes in the core updates document about recovering from the algorithmic hit of the broad core update, focusing particularly on the point below.
“However, you don’t necessarily have to wait for a major core update to see the effect of your improvements.”
Previously, the document emphasized waiting for another core update to see the results of the improvement you’ve made on the site. But now, removing this over-reliance, it clarifies that you don’t necessarily have to wait for another broad core update to see site recoveries. Because, as Google keeps rolling out smaller core updates, they give you a chance to achieve recoveries or traffic gains as the improvements happen.
Can Core Updates Lead to Recoveries?
Core updates rollout doesn’t push a reset button and guarantee you instant recoveries from the previous hits. It’s more of an ongoing, iterative process where Google takes its time to reassess the entire web altogether. This means that your coveted victory depends on a multitude of factors. For instance,
- If multiple complex algorithms are spotting the changes you’re making.
- Whether Google is scrutinizing your niche through a big magnifying glass.
- How your industry is evolving on micro and macro levels.
- Whether the changes you’ve made to your site align with what Google wants or not.
- Whether you’re putting up premium quality content or delivering a poor user experience.
Takeaway
With the December 2025 Core Update, the year comes to an end with many sites celebrating and others mourning their traffic loss. However, in all the years of us covering these Core Updates, what we’ve learned is that they’re essentially a shared experience. Gains and losses, spikes and reversals, anticipation and disappointment – they are and will remain an inevitable parts of this search reshuffling ritual.
Hope this one wasn’t too harsh on you. To stay current on every latest Google core update, stay tuned to the LBHQ network!
