Just as the search marketers were heading into the 2025 holiday season, Google delivered its final – and perhaps most volatile – major shakeup of the year: the Google December 2025 Core Update. This was the 4th core update of the year, following the March, June and August Core Updates, and it caused significant volatility among affected websites, including many well-known publishers and brands.
Wikipedia alone lost over 435 visibility points, making it the biggest loser of the update, while major health publishers, news outlets, and social platforms saw sweeping declines. Meanwhile, eCommerce and retail brands emerged as some of the biggest winners—a welcome recovery for sites that had struggled throughout 2024 and early 2025.
During core updates, Google aims to improve the overall quality and relevance of its search results by re-evaluating and adjusting how its core ranking systems assess various quality signals across the web. Core updates, often long-awaited by site owners and marketers, can quickly reveal whether or not improvements made to a site will lead to increased or decreased organic visibility. This is especially true for site owners who have been negatively impacted by prior Google updates, as major recoveries usually don’t take place until a future core update rolls out.
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The Rollout Timeline
Google officially announced the start of the December 2025 Core Update on December 11, 2025. True to Google’s announcement that core updates can take several weeks to fully propagate, the rollout officially lasted 18 days, with Google confirming its completion on December 29, 2025.
The timing was particularly challenging for eCommerce and retail brands, as the peak of the volatility occurred during the critical final weeks of the holiday shopping season. Early data showed intense fluctuations on December 13th and December 20th, some of the most important dates of the year for sites selling products online.
Our Methodology: Measuring the Impact
To understand the true “Winners and Losers” of this update, I have once leveraged the same data-led methodology I’ve used for years to analyze core updates. By analyzing SISTRIX Visibility Index data, we can see the immediate absolute and percentage changes in organic visibility across the 1,000 biggest winners and losers of the update, using U.S. visibility index data.
Our analysis for this update included 1,000 domains, categorized into four groups: those with the largest percentage visibility growth, those with the largest absolute visibility growth, those with the largest percentage visibility decline, and those with the largest absolute visibility decline. As some domains appeared in multiple lists (for instance, both percentage and absolute winners), the total number of unique domains evaluated was 803.
Additionally, I have integrated Similarweb website category data to analyze how the core update impacted sites across business categories.
As a sidenote: implementing SEO improvements is one of many variables that can influence how a website fares during these algorithm updates. Organic search rankings may also be influenced by factors such as QDF (query deserves freshness), new SERP features or SERP layouts, site migrations, political and global events, significant shifts in consumer behavior, seasonality, and more.
Greatest Visibility Winners of the December 2025 Core Update
Percent Winners:
Absolute Winners:
Greatest Visibility Losers of the December 2025 Core Update
Percent Losers:
Absolute Losers:
Impact by Category
The above chart chart reveals the average percent visibility change across Similarweb categories for domains impacted by the December 2025 Core Update. Digging deeper into the data reveals several interesting patterns and trends.
Analysis of December 2025 Core Update Winners & Losers
eCommerce Dominates the Top Winners
One of the most noticeable trends in the data is that the top-performing categories are overwhelmingly eCommerce driven. ‘Apparel’, ‘Family & Community’, ‘Retailers & General Merchandise’, ‘Real Estate’, and ‘Sports & Fitness’ all include significant transactional and shopping-focused sites among their lists of greatest winners. This suggests the December 2025 Core Update may have favored commercial content, particularly from established retail brands – a notable shift given Amazon’s struggles and the broader eCommerce volatility seen throughout 2025.
Apparel Leads All Categories (+19%)
The ‘Apparel’ sector saw the highest average percent gains, driven by visibility increases among both traditional retailers and direct-to-consumer fashion brands:
| Domain | Percent Change |
|---|---|
| aritzia.com | +56% |
| jcpenney.com | +52% |
| thenorthface.com | +52% |
| altardstate.com | +51% |
| nordstromrack.com | +35% |
| zara.com | +34% |
| princesspolly.com | +33% |
| stevemadden.com | +30% |
| kohls.com | +30% |
The past-year organic visibility trends for 6 of these fashion retailers is shown below, highlighting their substantial increases during the December 2025 Core Update (shown as the letter ‘B’):
Artizia, The North Face, Steve Madden and Zara saw substantial growth toward the back half of 2025, amplified by the core update. After being impacted by the June 2025 Core Update, JC Penney recovered back to visibility levels not seen since March 2025.
Retailers & General Merchandise Winners (+14%)
The strong performance in the Retailers & General Merchandise category reflects gains among established eCommerce brands, particularly traditional department stores and big-box retailers whose visibility declined between 2023-2024:
- bedbathandbeyond.com (+43%)
- kohls.com (+30%)
- kroger.com (+26%)
- costco.com (+11%)
- groupon.com (+12%)
Finance Sector Gains (+15%)
The Finance category saw broad-based gains across insurance, mortgage, investing, and government housing sites:
- cigna.com (+107%)
- hud.gov (+56%)
- robinhood.com (+55%)
- fool.com (+65%)
- freedommortgage.com (+96%)
- nationwide.com (+34%)
- bankrate.com (+10%)
- fidelity.com (+9%)
The visibility increases seen by robinhood.com and fool.com were particularly noteworthy. Fool.com had seen visibility decline in late 2024, while robinhood.com has seen steady increases in visibility over the last several years. Both sites’ visibility shot up significantly during the December 2025 Core Update:
Robinhood.com saw much of its new visibility stem from better rankings for its US stock pages:
Social Platforms and UGC: Significant Drops
Perhaps the most significant pattern in the December 2025 Core Update is the sweeping visibility losses across major user-generated content (UGC) and social platforms, especially in terms of absolute declines:
| Platform | Absolute Change | Percent Change |
|---|---|---|
| wikipedia.org | -435.03 | -5% |
| facebook.com | -105.81 | -7% |
| reddit.com | -82.85 | -3% |
| x.com | -63.55 | -23% |
| instagram.com | -58.35 | -4% |
| youtube.com | -56.17 | -2% |
| quora.com | -53.96 | -25% |
| pinterest.com | -16.33 | -5% |
| tiktok.com | -8.27 | -5% |
| medium.com | -4.58 | -8% |
| linkedIn.com | -2.44 | -1% |
However, it’s important to note that Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube quickly rebounded to pre-update visibility levels in the week following the official end of the December 2025 Core Update, as shown below. TikTok and Quora, however, dropped and continued to decline after the update:
Meta’s Threads (threads.com) saw substantial growth during the December core update, and was an outlier among social media sites otherwise seeing declines in visibility: Threads’ visibility grew by 69% during the core update.
Q&A and Forum Sites: Across-the-Board Declines
Alongside declines in the social media category, several major Q&A and forum platforms declined in visibility, after steady growth over the last couple of years:
justanswer.com (-2.58, -14%)
reddit.com (-82.85, -3%)
quora.com (-53.96, -25%)
stackoverflow.com (-9.54, -16%)
superuser.com (-4.79, -23%)
stackexchange.com (-3.05, -7%)
The below chart shows Reddit and Quora’s growth over the last 6 years. Quora saw visibility decline throughout 2025, and the December core update accelerated its visibility decline. After tremendous growth between 2023 and late 2025, Reddit began to drop in visibility in late 2025, which was also exacerbated by the core update:
News Publisher Declines
As Glenn Gabe pointed out in his detailed article breaking down Google’s December 2025 Core Update, many major news publishers were heavily impacted by the update:
- nytimes.com (-30.41, -21%)
- bbc.com (-12.31, -18%)
- theguardian.com (-8.79, -16%)
- cbsnews.com (-7.83, -27%)
- cnn.com (-6.56, -12%)
- reuters.com (-5.17, -34%)
- usatoday.com (-4.75, -13%)
- nbcnews.com (-4.52, -26%)
- newsweek.com (-4.26, -59%)
- apnews.com (-4.02, -33%)
Similar to social media sites, which saw some visibility bounce back in the week after the update formally ended, NY Times, BBC, The Guardian, CBS News, CNN and Reuters all saw visibility increases after the declines caused by the December core update.
Major Health Publishers: Near-Universal Declines
One surprising development from the December Core Update was the negative impact it had on various, authoritative health publisher sites. The major health publishing sites were hit hard by the December 2025 Core Update. Only healthgrades.com saw gains among the major players:
| Domain | Absolute Change | Percent Change |
|---|---|---|
| healthgrades.com | +1.32 | +31% |
| medicinenet.com | -1.53 | -39% |
| everydayhealth.com | -2.23 | -30% |
| health.com | -2.94 | -33% |
| verywellmind.com | -4.63 | -22% |
| drugs.com | -9.26 | -23% |
| verywellhealth.com | -12.39 | -46% |
| medscape.com | -14.33 | -39% |
| medicalnewstoday.com | -20.98 | -42% |
| mayoclinic.org | -25.45 | -7% |
| webmd.com | -25.45 | -19% |
| healthline.com | -29.88 | -27% |
| clevelandclinic.org | -36.82 | -8% |
Looking at 6 of the below health publishers over time shows how the broader category appears to have been affected by the core update, with several sites losing over 20 visibility points, and hitting their lowest visibility scores in years:
One interesting nuance in this category is that high-authority health institutions, Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, also saw their visibility drop during the core update, but like several other sites shown above, their visibility appears to have bounced back after the update concluded. This could signal that Google was still making adjustments and refinements to its algorithms even after the update officially finished rolling out.
WebMD, shown in green in the below chart, saw a substantial drop-off throughout 2025 that was also accelerated during the December 2025 Core Update:
Review & Ranking Sites: Vertical-Specific Winners vs. General Aggregators
Substantial increases from sites like niche.com and trustpilot.com hint at a broader trend: review and ranking sites with structured, data-driven content gained, while traditional review aggregators relying heavily on user-generated reviews declined.
Niche.com, Trustpilot, Healthgrades, and Capterra all provide curated ratings alongside user reviews, while TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Greatschools.org rely more heavily on crowdsourced reviews. This aligns with the broader UGC drops we’re seeing across the update.
One theory: perhaps Google is dialing down the visibility of pure UGC sites, which are more prone to spam and manipulation, and have been heavily targeted for promotional purposes with the rise of AI Search. Perhaps Google is dialing up the visibility of sites where reviews are verified, moderated, or tied to authenticated users—such as Trustpilot’s transaction-verified reviews, Niche.com’s requirement that reviewers verify their enrollment or residency, or Capterra’s verification that reviewers are actual software users. These platforms have stricter barriers to entry for leaving reviews, making them inherently more resistant to the kind of spam and manipulation that has plagued open review platforms.
Interestingly, greatschools.org (-21%) lost while niche.com (+13%) gained – two sites in the same space with opposite outcomes. This could reflect differences in content depth, data methodology, or how Google perceives the quality signals from each site.
Vertical-Focused Review Sites That Won:
| Domain | Absolute Change | Percent Change | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| niche.com | +9.01 | +13% | Schools, colleges, neighborhoods |
| trustpilot.com | +6.54 | +49% | Business reviews |
| collegeboard.org | +2.51 | +10% | College planning/testing |
| healthgrades.com | +1.32 | +31% | Doctor/hospital reviews |
| princetonreview.com | +1.30 | +9% | College rankings/test prep |
| usnews.com | +1.07 | +1% | Rankings (colleges, hospitals, etc.) |
| capterra.com | +0.69 | +61% | Software reviews |
Review/Rating Aggregators That Lost:
| Domain | Absolute Change | Percent Change | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| tripadvisor.com | -49.70 | -8% | Travel reviews |
| edmunds.com | -5.21 | -18% | Car reviews |
| yelp.com | -4.73 | -2% | Local business reviews |
| bbb.org | -3.33 | -24% | Business ratings |
| caranddriver.com | -2.55 | -9% | Car reviews |
| greatschools.org | -2.32 | -21% | School ratings |
Reference & Dictionary Sites:
One of the most significant trends from the December 2025 Core Update is the divergent luck of several major ‘dictionary and reference’ sites. Thesaurus.com emerged as the biggest absolute winner of December 2025 Core Update, gaining an impressive 41.90 visibility points (+33%), while several other ‘reference’ domains saw similarly strong gains:
Reference Sites That Gained Visibility:
- thesaurus.com (+41.90, +33%)
- vocabulary.com (+13.80, +6%)
- oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com (+12.43, +25%)
- etymonline.com (+8.91, +29%)
- webstersdictionary1828.com (+4.36, +46%)
- ldoceonline.com (+3.65, +39%)
Reference Sites That Lost:
- merriam-webster.com (-143.17, -11%)
- cambridge.org (-81.21, -14%)
- britannica.com (-76.37, -16%)
- dictionary.com (-42.86, -12%)
- collinsdictionary.com (-27.77, -20%)
Hotel & Travel: A Clear Split (+10%)
The Travel & Tourism category averaged +10% gains, but hotel and booking sites showed a stark divide. Some direct hotel brand sites and OTAs (online travel agencies) performed well, while review-focused platforms and some major chains declined:
Hotel/Travel Winners:
- vacasa.com (+79%)
- applevacations.com (+75%)
- mrandmrssmith.com (+45%)
- ihg.com (+32%)
- vrbo.com (+20%)
- hotwire.com (+19%)
- trivago.com (+15%)
- hilton.com (+14%)
- united.com (+13%)
- travelocity.com (+10%)
- hotels.com (+8%)
Hotel/Travel Losers:
- choicehotels.com (-43%)
- hyatt.com (-29%)
- marriott.com (-12%)
- tripadvisor.com (-8%)
- booking.com (-8%)
IHG.com (InterContinental Hotels Group) saw its biggest spike in visibility at any point in the last 5 years as a result of the December Core Update:
Conclusion
The December 2025 Core Update arrived at a critical moment for eCommerce and retail brands, causing significant volatility during the final weeks of the holiday shopping season. Several notable patterns emerged from this update: eCommerce and apparel sites saw some of the strongest gains, with traditional retailers like JCPenney, Kohl’s, and Bed Bath & Beyond recovering visibility lost in recent months and years.
Meanwhile, major UGC and social platforms experienced sweeping declines—though many, including Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram, appear to have quickly rebounded after the update concluded. Several major health publishers faced substantial losses, with sites like Healthline, WebMD, Medical News Today, and even authoritative institutions like Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic seeing notable drops.
The reference and dictionary category showed a striking divergence, with thesaurus.com emerging as the update’s biggest winner, while merriam-webster.com was among the biggest losers. News publishers also continued their challenging trajectory, with several major outlets in our analysis declining during the rollout.
The gains seen by review platforms like niche.com and trustpilot.com – paired with declines at traditional review aggregators like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Greatschools.org – suggest Google may be favoring sites with stricter review verification and moderation over open, crowdsourced platforms more susceptible to spam and manipulation. This aligns with the broader UGC correction observed throughout this update.
As always, site owners should focus on comprehensive quality improvements across all aspects of their sites, prioritizing genuine user value over short-term optimization tactics. This approach works to avoid being negatively impacted by algorithm updates, and can help affected sites recover lost visibility over time. With four core updates in 2025, Google has demonstrated its commitment to continuous evolution of search quality, and the December update’s holiday timing serves as a reminder that algorithm changes don’t pause for the shopping season.
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