Google's December update destroys Discover traffic for news sites

Google announced the December 2025 core update on December 11 at 12:25 PM Eastern Time, unleashing what industry tracking tools and publisher reports characterize as one of the most aggressive algorithm adjustments of the year. The update began demonstrating significant impact on search results by December 13, with particularly intense effects on Google Discover traffic that left some publishers with zero impressions after years of stable performance.

The timing proves particularly harsh for content publishers. Seasonal revenue typically peaks during December as advertising rates increase and audiences engage more actively with content. Instead, hundreds of website operators now face their worst traffic period in years, with some reporting 70-85% declines in daily visitor counts. One forum participant described losing all ranking overnight for a website exceeding 10 years in age that had never utilized artificial intelligence for content generation.

Google stated through its Search Status Dashboard that the update represents "a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites." The company indicated the rollout "may take up to 3 weeks to complete," placing expected conclusion around January 1, 2026. This three-week implementation window matches Google's typical core update deployment schedule established through previous algorithm modifications throughout 2025.

The December update arrives approximately five months after Google's June 2025 core update, which required 16 days to implement and demonstrated what industry experts described as one of the most significant ranking shifts in recent months. The June deployment enabled partial recoveries for websites previously impacted by the September 2023 Helpful Content Update, though many sites experienced mixed results.

Discover traffic collapses to zero

Publishers monitoring Google Discover reported catastrophic traffic losses beginning December 12, one day after the official update announcement. Multiple website operators documented complete cessation of Discover impressions and clicks within 24 hours, according to discussions on Reddit's SEO community and Search Engine Roundtable.

One publisher operating four news websites reported receiving over 100,000 clicks per day from Discover before December 12. "Until then we were receiving over 100,000 clicks per day, and now it's down to zero. We've had stable Google Discover traffic for years before this," the publisher wrote on Reddit. The operator questioned whether anyone had experienced similar patterns or managed recovery after such dramatic declines.

Another publisher described Discover traffic dropping 98% in the days leading to the update announcement. "Mine hasn't completely disappeared yet, but it dropped by 98% in the days leading up to this update being announced," according to a Search Engine Roundtable comment. The pattern suggests Google may have begun testing certain algorithm components before the full rollout commenced, consistent with tracking tool data that detected elevated volatility December 7-8.

The Discover impact extends beyond individual publishers. Research published in August 2025 found that Google Discover had become the dominant traffic source for news and media websites, accounting for two-thirds of Google referrals. This shift occurred as AI Overviews reduced traditional search click-through rates throughout 2024 and 2025.

Traditional Google Search traffic dropped from approximately 16% to 10% of total referrals during the period when AI Overviews rolled out to more than 100 countries, according to Chartbeat data analyzed by Press Gazette. The inflection point occurred in late October 2024, coinciding with Google's AI Overviews expansion. Publishers now face situations where both traditional search and Discover traffic sources experience simultaneous disruption.

Ranking volatility hits maximum levels

Industry tracking tools registered extreme volatility throughout the December 13-15 weekend, with multiple platforms showing heat signatures typically associated with major confirmed updates. Semrush, Advanced Web Rankings, Mozcast, Sistrix, Cognitive SEO, SimilarWeb, Accuranker, Mangools, Wincher, Data For SEO, SERPstat, and Algoroo all recorded substantial ranking movements beginning December 13.

SEO analyst Glenn Gabe shared charts on December 14 showing dramatic visibility swings for sites previously impacted by major algorithm updates. "Google Morning Google Land! This is the 12/14 edition of 'Core Update Notes'. As expected, the update is landing, and in a big way for some sites already. I'm seeing big swings in search visibility based on running the numbers for over 3K sites previously impacted by major updates," Gabe posted on social media.

Forum discussions revealed patterns of established sites losing rankings despite years of stable performance. "Consistently ranked top 1-3 on most of my relevant keywords for 2-3 years, now i'm on the 2nd page all of a sudden. Feels like a bad joke by Google," one WebmasterWorld participant commented. Another described dropping from top three positions maintained for four years to the fourth page within days.

The ranking fluctuations demonstrated unusual severity compared to recent core updates. "My website dropped to 4th page after being in top 3 for like 4 years, I have seen many updates but 4 years of content designed for user experience is nothing to google but a Google site with an image and a silly link to an ad seems to be better than mine," according to a Black Hat World forum comment.

SISTRIX's Update Radar measured volatility at 3.54 on December 11, indicating "increased SERP fluctuation" though not yet reaching the threshold of 6.0 that typically signals a major confirmed update. The radar system tracks both the extent of changes across domains and the strength of those shifts to calculate an index value scaled against the previous 90-day average.

Rankings continued demonstrating instability throughout the initial deployment phase. Multiple publishers reported keyword positions fluctuating between first page and fifth page within hours, with different results appearing on mobile versus desktop searches. "My keyword rankings are fluctuating a lot right now. A site that was on the first page dropped to the fifth page, but when I search again it shows up on the first page. The rankings are also different between mobile and PC," one forum participant observed.

Publishers report catastrophic traffic declines

Website operators shared data documenting severe traffic losses across various site types and industries. The reported impacts range from 12% daily declines to complete traffic elimination, with particularly concentrated damage among sites relying heavily on Google as their primary traffic source.

One travel site operator reported zero affiliate sales on December 14 after maintaining consistent conversion rates for years. "So for today: travel site zero affiliate sales, niche-niche-niche site: one good lead/ sale. Traffic on the travel site: worse than ever, and as said, none are converting," according to a Search Engine Roundtable comment. The operator noted experiencing 12% declines overnight throughout the update period.

Another site owner documented 85% reduction in AdSense revenue during the week of Christmas. "I am seeing the week of christmas (when we should be relaxing) seeing 85% less adsense a day, it was never this low even when I first launched the site two decades ago. Also 10% down day on day, waiting for 0 - 20 year old site," the publisher wrote on Search Engine Roundtable.

Multiple publishers reported 40-70% traffic decreases within days of the update announcement. "Drop 40 percent" over the weekend, one operator noted. Another described losing 30% of Google traffic during March 2024, then experiencing an additional 40% decline with the December update, totaling 70% cumulative traffic loss. "Drop is about -70%," characterizing it as the "biggest drop since Panda algo was released years ago."

The timing amplified financial pressure on content operations dependent on advertising revenue. December typically represents peak earning periods as advertisers increase spending during holiday shopping seasons. "Is it time for me to announce the news to the team for Merry Christmas? Is there any hope?" asked one publisher managing a 12-person team that previously generated 300,000 impressions per day through Discover traffic.

Sites maintaining first-position rankings experienced traffic declines despite stable search result placement. "You can rank #1 all day long, But when you have 930823498023 things above you, you might as well just be on the 10th page. Or when you have to scroll 2-3 times to just to get to the 1st organic link," one publisher explained, referencing the proliferation of AI Overviews, featured snippets, and other SERP features that consume screen space above traditional blue links.

Affiliate sites face elimination

Publishers operating affiliate marketing websites reported particular vulnerability to the December update, with several noting complete disappearance from search results for commercial keywords. The pattern suggests Google may have adjusted how it evaluates sites monetizing through affiliate relationships, though the company has not confirmed specific targeting of this business model.

"It's amazing how Google no longer ranks any of my sites with affiliate links. One of my deal sites with the cheapest manually-curated offers and many high-authority backlinks gets pushed to page 3 or 4 in favor of low-authority ecommerce sites with only an image, a two-sentence description and a few bulleted specs. The prices on these ecommerce sites are also very high," one publisher wrote on Search Engine Roundtable.

The observation aligns with broader patterns where established content sites experience displacement by newer domains with minimal content. "Cheap domains, in mass lots of ai.. generic image and top 10.. do this 100 times and you will make a killing like everyone esle.. we keep compaling about the results instead of accepting this is how we need to do business now. Wasting time using real writers, building awesome quality sites to get pushed out by dozens of spammy one click ai gen sites," another forum participant commented.

Industry observers noted contradictory signals between Google's stated quality objectives and observed ranking patterns. The December update announcement emphasized surfacing "relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites," yet reports suggested sites with minimal content but strong domain signals gained visibility while comprehensive resources lost rankings.

Google's March 2025 core update included specific language about highlighting content from individual creators and small publishers. "We know people appreciate having content that showcases diverse perspectives on a variety of topics," Google stated at the time. The company specified that some changes "have already happened" while "additional ones will come later," suggesting an ongoing strategy to adjust small site visibility.

The December update appears to contradict these stated priorities in multiple documented cases. Exact-match domains with minimal content reportedly gained rankings for commercial queries while established sites with comprehensive information lost visibility. "Suddenly EMDs are ranking #1 again. And in 8 months they will be gone again," one forum comment observed, suggesting cyclical patterns where different site types gain temporary advantage during successive updates.

Technical signals remain unstable

Search Console reporting delays complicated publisher attempts to assess update impacts. Google Search Console performance data experienced delays throughout the update period, making it difficult for website operators to analyze traffic changes with precision. "Keep in mind, the Google Search Console reporting is still delayed making it a big harder for some to track," Barry Schwartz noted on December 14.

Publishers reported unusual patterns where impressions increased while clicks remained stable or declined. "One of my sites got a huge boost of web search impressions (double the normal) between Friday, December 12th and Tuesday, December 16 (most recent data) according to Search Console -- but traffic remained at the normal number of clicks," one operator documented. The pattern suggests ranking positions may have improved for certain queries while click-through rates simultaneously decreased, potentially due to increased AI Overview presence or other SERP feature changes.

Bot activity increased significantly during the update period, according to multiple reports. "Bot activity is at an all-time high," one Search Engine Roundtable participant observed. Elevated bot traffic during algorithm updates can complicate analytics interpretation as automated systems probe for ranking changes and competitors monitor position shifts.

Tracking tool accuracy appeared degraded during the update rollout. "The tracking tools are borked, whatever theyre doing to bypass the num=100, causes them to have serious flux when updates happen now. But they're not accurate, manual checks, result in seeing the keyword ranking exactly where it was the day prior. So these trackers aren't doing good at monitoring now during algo updates," according to a forum comment on December 17.

The technical instability extended beyond position tracking. Publishers reported unusual behavior where newly published articles failed to appear in Discover despite meeting all documented requirements. "New articles aren't showing up in Discover, but that's been happening all the time lately," one news publisher noted, suggesting ongoing issues with content discovery systems beyond the core update itself.

Update completion timeline uncertain

Google indicated the December 2025 core update may require up to three weeks to complete, placing expected conclusion around January 1, 2026. However, historical patterns suggest volatility often continues after official completion announcements as systems stabilize and related algorithm components receive adjustments.

The June 2025 core update demonstrated this pattern clearly. "It doesn't seem like this core update is fully done yet. The tools themselves are still pretty heated," Schwartz observed after the official completion announcement on July 17. The extended implementation period exceeded Google's typical core update timeline, with most updates completing within 14 days.

Recovery patterns from previous core updates suggest sites experiencing traffic losses face challenging restoration prospects. According to documentation of the June update impacts, partial recoveries occurred for some websites previously hit by the September 2023 Helpful Content Update. However, "many aren't back to where they were before September 2023, but there are some full (or near-full) recoveries in the mix," according to analysis tracking over 3,000 affected sites.

The December update's completion during the holiday period creates additional complications for assessment. "It is dead today but it's the week before Christmas. Ask the question again on January 1st," one forum participant suggested, noting that reduced user activity during holidays makes it difficult to separate algorithm impacts from seasonal traffic variations.

Google's historical approach includes potential adjustments during and after core update periods. "Generally, but not always, we start to see ranking movement from these updates a day or two after it is announced and this update seems to show that. Then generally, we see another big shift with these updates a week or two into the update. Then we may see smaller or sometimes even bigger shuffled throughout and even after the core update was announced done - maybe smaller core updates and adjustments," Schwartz explained based on tracking dozens of previous deployments.

Industry reactions intensify

Publisher frustration reached extreme levels throughout the update period, with forum discussions demonstrating unusually hostile sentiment toward Google's algorithm management. The combination of pre-Christmas timing, Discover traffic elimination, and multi-year traffic declines created what several commenters characterized as existential threats to independent publishing.

"From everything I read, one thing is clear. Google's latest update is a blunder. A colossal bug. Thousands of broken destinies just before Christmas. If you are not affected yet, don't rejoice. Tomorrow you will be. Google is not a partner you can rely on. Do not work with this company," one Search Engine Roundtable comment stated. The author continued: "Google is a snake that obsesses over your life and work and simply crushes you in an instant. And for no reason."

Multiple publishers questioned whether the severity of impacts indicates technical errors rather than intentional algorithm improvements. "I am just wondering if Google is now is just owned by the government as I can't see a company doing this much damage to itself commercially," one commenter speculated, suggesting the ranking chaos appeared inconsistent with rational business strategy.

Other industry observers noted patterns suggesting algorithmic randomization rather than quality assessment. "Its all just shuffling results randomly. Sites that used to rank #1 for everything are just gone every 7 months or so. There is really nothing to aim for anymore. You used to rank by improving your site. Now it is all just seemingly random," according to a forum discussion on December 16.

The sentiment reflects broader concerns about Google's relationship with content publishers as AI features fundamentally alter traffic distribution. Publishers filed antitrust complaints with the European Commission in June 2025 alleging that Google's AI-powered search features caused "significant harm to publishers, including news publishers in the form of traffic, readership and revenue loss."

Small publishers and independent creators expressed particular vulnerability. "Google trashers are playing with quality traffic, there is no doubt, how else can I have like tens of sales during 1/2 days and then nothing? it's like they literally close the faucet! today 55 UNIQUE clicks, 0 sales," one e-commerce site operator wrote, describing patterns suggesting traffic throttling rather than natural user behavior changes.

December update represents third 2025 adjustment

The December 2025 core update marks Google's third confirmed broad core algorithm modification of 2025, following deployments in March and June. This frequency represents an acceleration from historical patterns where core updates typically occurred every four to six months.

The March 2025 update lasted 14 days and concluded on March 27, 2025, after demonstrating "mixed impacts on websites across industries." The update included three notable specifications from Google, particularly emphasizing efforts to "highlight content from a variety of creators, especially content demonstrating first-hand expertise and knowledge."

Some websites experienced early impacts before the March announcement. Glenn Gabe noted on LinkedIn that many sites had begun experiencing "core update-like impact" as early as March 6, roughly a week before Google's official March 13 announcement. "Some sites are seeing recent surges or drops (post Google announcement), but there are many that saw surges or drops starting around 3/6," Gabe observed, documenting "wild swings in the mix."

The June 2025 core update began rolling out on June 30, 2025, and required 16 days to complete. Recovery patterns documented across multiple sites showed that ranking improvements often coincided with enhanced feature snippet visibility and inclusion in AI Overviews. However, "A lot of sites that were hit by this September helpful content update or previous core updates did not see any recoveries. In fact, some saw more devastating declines in their traffic and rankings," according to analysis of the June results.

Between confirmed core updates, tracking tools detected numerous unconfirmed ranking fluctuations. Schwartz documented potential updates on June 25-26, June 18, June 9, June 4, May 29, May 21, May 16, and May 12-13, suggesting continuous algorithmic refinements beyond officially announced deployments. This pattern makes it difficult for publishers to distinguish between core update impacts and other ranking system adjustments.

Search ecosystem faces structural transformation

The December update occurs amid broader shifts in search result presentation that fundamentally alter website traffic potential. AI Overviews now serve over 2 billion monthly users according to CEO Sundar Pichai, often satisfying user intent without requiring clicks to external websites. "We know how popular AI Overviews are because they are now driving over 10% more queries globally for the types of queries that show them," Pichai stated during third quarter 2025 earnings.

This query increase doesn't translate proportionally to publisher traffic, creating what industry analysts term "the great decoupling" between search engagement and website visits. Independent research consistently demonstrates traffic reductions contradicting Google's assertions about AI feature benefits. Analysis from Ahrefs revealed that AI Overviews reduce organic clicks by 34.5% when present in search results.

The combination of core update volatility and AI feature expansion creates compounding challenges for content publishers. "AI Overviews and AI Mode are the final nails to the coffin," one Search Engine Roundtable commenter observed. "Google is effectively diverting all our traffic."

Google's network advertising revenue, encompassing AdSense, AdMob, and Google Ad Manager, declined 1% to $7.4 billion during second quarter 2025 according to Alphabet's earnings. Jason Kint, president of Digital Content Next, highlighted acceleration of revenue shifts away from publisher networks. "Just updated data in light of eye-popping acceleration of 'zero-click' searches as Google's AI Overview scheme captures web traffic. I've been watching G's ad revenue mix shift from network (publishers) to its own properties for over a decade. It just hit 90% for first time," Kint posted on August 7, 2025.

Publishers face situations where optimization for traditional search, Discover, and AI features requires potentially conflicting strategies. Google executives have stated that "the way to optimize to do well in Google's AI experiences is very similar, I would say, the same as how to perform well in traditional search," according to Nick Fox, SVP of Knowledge and Information. However, documented traffic patterns suggest this guidance doesn't reflect operational reality for publishers experiencing simultaneous declines across multiple Google traffic sources.

Timeline

• March 13, 2025: Google announces March 2025 core update emphasizing content from individual creators
• March 27, 2025: March update concludes after 14 days showing mixed publisher impacts
• April 9, 2025: Google announces Discover expansion to desktop, creating new traffic opportunities
• June 30, 2025: Google confirms June 2025 core update amid ranking volatility
• July 17, 2025: June update completes after 16 days with partial HCU recoveries
• August 9, 2025: Research reveals Google Discover accounts for two-thirds of news site referrals
• December 7-8, 2025: Tracking tools detect elevated volatility before official announcement
• December 11, 2025: Google announces December 2025 core update at 12:25 PM ET
• December 12, 2025: Publishers report dramatic Discover traffic declines beginning
• December 13, 2025: Weekend volatility reaches maximum levels across tracking platforms
• December 14, 2025: Glenn Gabe shares analysis showing dramatic visibility swings for 3,000+ sites
• January 1, 2026: Expected completion date based on three-week rollout estimate

Summary

Who: Google implemented the December 2025 core update affecting website owners, publishers, and digital marketers globally while Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz and SEO analyst Glenn Gabe documented impacts.

What: The December 2025 core update represents Google's third confirmed major algorithm adjustment of 2025, causing severe ranking volatility, Discover traffic elimination for numerous publishers, and traffic declines ranging from 12% to 100% across affected websites.

When: Google announced the update on December 11, 2025, at 12:25 PM Eastern Time with significant impacts appearing December 12-13 and expected completion around January 1, 2026, following a three-week rollout period.

Where: The algorithmic changes affect search results globally across all Google surfaces including web search, Google Discover, image search, video search, Google News, and top stories, with tracking tools detecting impacts across multiple languages and geographic regions.

Why: Google stated the update aims to "better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites" though publishers question whether observed ranking patterns align with stated quality objectives, particularly given timing before Christmas and elimination of traffic for established sites with years of stable performance.