Google has launched its December 2025 Core Update, which will last up to three weeks and will cover all regions and languages. This is the latest major change to its search algorithm this year, aimed at better aligning results with user intent and promoting the most valuable content. At the same time, Google is testing and implementing new features in search results and Search Console, including a "Read more" link and a unified social media data report. Read more SEO news!
Google December 2025 Core Update – What Do We Know So Far?
Google has officially confirmed the rollout of the December 2025 Core Update. The deployment started on December 11, 2025, and according to Google, it may take up to three weeks to fully complete. As the company explains, this is a standard core algorithm update aimed at better aligning search results with user intent and promoting content considered the most relevant and valuable.
This is already the third core update in 2025. Earlier this year, Google released core updates in March and June, followed by a spam-focused update in August.
Signals Before the Update – Increased Googlebot Activity and Google’s December Pattern
Several days before the official announcement, clear warning signs were already visible. Across multiple projects, an analysis of indexing statistics in Google Search Console revealed a sudden spike in Googlebot activity. Crawling peaks were particularly noticeable on December 4–5, which for experienced algorithm watchers was a clear sign that changes were imminent.
Moreover, December has historically been a month when Google regularly introduces significant ranking system updates. A quick look at recent years confirms this pattern:
December 2021 Product Reviews Update
December 2022 Link Spam Update
December 2022 Helpful Content Update
December 2024 Core Update
December 2024 Spam Update
What Does the December 2025 Core Update Cover?
The December update is global in nature and applies to all regions and languages. It affects all types of content and websites, and it does not work by issuing penalties.
Google once again emphasizes that core updates focus on improving how content quality is assessed. As a result, some websites may gain visibility while others lose it, without any single element being identified as something that needs to be “fixed”.
It is also worth remembering that core algorithms are refreshed regularly, and Google does not always announce smaller updates. This means that some of the fluctuations observed in recent weeks may have been related to such unannounced changes. More precise analysis should become possible once reporting in Google Search Console is further improved.
At this point, these are all the confirmed details regarding the December 2025 Core Update.
Why Doesn’t Google Announce Algorithm Updates in Advance? John Mueller Explains
Staying on the topic of core updates, one question keeps coming back: why doesn’t Google inform users in advance about upcoming algorithm changes? This question was addressed by John Mueller.
Mueller explained that Google is not able to plan the exact date or time of quality-related changes in advance, including core updates. The reason is simple: such improvements require extensive testing, evaluation, and final decisions that can change until the very last moment.
Google’s teams aim to roll out quality improvements as soon as they are considered ready and safe. As a result, announcing specific dates in advance would not be realistic or reliable. In practice, this means that even internally, the release date of a core update may not be known until just a few days before launch.
It is worth noting that this approach differs from earlier declarations. Back in 2019, Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison at the time, expressed a desire to provide earlier notice of upcoming algorithm updates. In reality, however, such announcements have rarely materialized, especially when it comes to core updates and broader quality-related changes.
Google Tests a “Read More” Link in Search Results
Google appears to have completed the testing phase of a new search results feature and has begun rolling it out more broadly. The feature is a “Read more” link displayed at the end of certain snippets, allowing users to jump directly to a specific section of the destination page.
Initial tests of this functionality were observed as early as July, but in recent days more and more SEO professionals have reported seeing it in live results. This suggests that the feature is no longer just an experiment. We have also observed it ourselves.
After clicking the link, users are not taken to the top of the page. Instead, they are redirected directly to the section of the content that Google considers most relevant to the query.
It is important to note that the link is not yet visible in all search results. The feature appears selectively, only for certain queries and within specific snippets.
Search Console Experiments with a New Feature: Social Channel Data in One Report
Google has announced a new experiment in Search Console that expands the capabilities of the Search Console Insights report. Starting December 8, 2025, selected website owners will gain access to a unified view of performance data from Google Search, covering not only websites but also connected social media channels.
The new report allows users to review, among other things:
total reach – the combined number of clicks and impressions driving traffic from Google to social channels,
content performance – top-performing posts and content gaining or losing popularity,
search queries – phrases that lead users to social profiles,
audience location – countries generating the highest number of clicks,
additional traffic sources – such as image search, video search, news, and Google Discover.
This change reflects how companies and organizations build their online presence today. Users increasingly discover content through a mix of formats and platforms, including social media, and Google aims to better represent this ecosystem within its analytics tools. The new integration makes it possible to analyze how social media profiles connected to a website perform in Google Search, directly from within Search Console.
Junior SEO Specialist with experience in copywriting. He has been with Delante since 2023, where he combines creative writing with an analytical approach to SEO. A graduate of the Jagiellonian University (Journalism and Social Communication, Sports Management). Outside of work, he is an active fan of sports, cooking, and TV series.
Junior SEO Specialist with experience in copywriting. He has been with Delante since 2023, where he combines creative writing with an analytical approach to SEO. A graduate of the Jagiellonian University (Journalism and Social Communication, Sports Management). Outside of work, he is an active fan of sports, cooking, and TV series.
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