When did the Google December 2025 Core Update roll out?

Google launched the December 2025 core update on December 11, 2025. The rollout lasted for approximately three weeks, concluding in late December. It was characterized by a unique 'two-wave' volatility pattern.

Why did news publishers see declines after the Google Core Update?

Many news publishers, particularly India-based sites ranking in U.S. results, saw declines because the update prioritized topic relevance, user intent, and content trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). Google appears to be correcting for geographical relevance and authority.

How much did traffic drop for news sites in December 2025?

Impacts were severe for many publishers. Some large legacy outlets experienced double-digit visibility losses, while traffic from Google Discover dropped by 70-90% for some domains, causing entire content silos to vanish.

How can publishers recover from the December 2025 Core Update?

Experts recommend reinforcing E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals, auditing for 'content decay' to remove obsolete pages, and diversifying traffic sources to reduce reliance on Google Discover.

Published on Sat, January 3, 2026 at 10:50 PM CST

News Publishers See Declines: Google Core Update December 2025 Analysis

Major news publishers worldwide have experienced sharp drops in organic visibility following the completion of the December 2025 core update. As the dust settles, SEO experts are highlighting dramatic impacts, specifically noting how international news publishers saw declines after the Google Core Update, particularly India-based sites ranking in U.S. search results.

This analysis covers the timeline, the specific data regarding these declines, and expert insights on potential recovery strategies.

Update Timeline and Scope

Google launched the December 2025 core update on December 11, 2025. The rollout continued for nearly three weeks, concluding in late December.

While the rollout was expected to take time, the intensity was unexpected. As detailed in our comprehensive analysis of the broader Google December 2025 Core Update Volatility, this specific update was characterized by a unique "two-wave" surge pattern that destabilized rankings across multiple verticals before settling.

Unlike minor tweaks, this broad core algorithm shift prioritized three main pillars:

Topic Relevance
User Intent
Content Trustworthiness

The update led to significant fluctuations in rankings. Publishers reported disruptions not just in standard Search, but also across Google Discover, Google News, Top Stories, and the News tab, indicating a holistic shift in how Google evaluates news authority.

Key Impacts: Why News Publishers Face Declines

The most significant trend observed in this cycle is the localization of authority.

India-based news sites took a particularly heavy hit in U.S. SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). According to Sistrix visibility data shared by Will Flannigan, Senior SEO Editor at The Wall Street Journal, Google appears to be correcting for geographical relevance.

Google Visibility by Sistrix on Indian News Publishers

However, the volatility was not limited to international targeting. U.S. and global publishers saw similar instability:

Double-Digit Losses: Many large legacy outlets suffered heavy visibility losses.
Discover Erasure: Traffic from Google Discover dropped 70-90% for some domains, causing entire content silos to vanish from users' feeds.
Cross-Vertical Volatility: The instability extended beyond news, hitting health, e-commerce, and AI-generated content silos.

Glenn Gabe, a noted SEO consultant, highlighted on X (formerly Twitter) that multiple publishers contacted him regarding intense swings during the rollout, confirming that several news publishers' declines during the Google core update trend were industry-wide.

"Core Updates Notes" cont'd for 12/19: Beyond the health and medical volatility, I'm seeing a number of news publishers with heavy impact. I have also had several publishers reach out over the past few days explaining the volatility they are seeing (and across surfaces like… pic.twitter.com/274aLCsRBO
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 19, 2025

Expert Observations and Data

Data visualizations have been crucial in understanding the scale of this update.

These trends echo the volatility of the March 2024 update, where data showed that most of the 70 tracked publishers lost visibility, with major entities such as BBC News experiencing a 37% drop. The recurrence of these drops suggests a permanent shift in how Google prefers to serve news content based on E-E-A-T signals.

Potential Recovery and Strategic Lessons

Recovery remains uncertain amid ongoing "tremors" following the rollout. While some sites may rebound in the coming weeks, reliance on reversal is risky.

Experts recommend a pivot in strategy to combat these declines:

Reinforce E-E-A-T: Ensure all content demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
Audit for "Content Decay": Remove or update obsolete content that may be dragging down domain authority.
Diversification: Publishers over-reliant on Google surfaces (especially Discover) face the biggest risks. Building direct traffic sources (newsletters, apps) is critical.