Google’s Latest Search Updates (and What We’re Actually Seeing in the Real World)

By Expressive Design If you follow SEO headlines, it can feel like Google is constantly updating its algorithm — and in truth, it is. But towards the end of 2025, several changes have landed that are particularly relevant for business owners, content creators, and anyone relying on organic search for enquiries. Following the popularity of our previous algorithm post, we wanted to share not just what Google has changed — but what it means in practice, based on what we’re seeing across real client websites.

Google has just begun rolling out its December 2025 broad core algorithm update, starting around 11 December!

The December Core Update: Refinement, Not Reinvention

Google’s most recent broad core update is rolling out now, and like most modern core updates, it isn’t about penalising websites or targeting specific tactics. Instead, it’s about refinement. In plain terms, with the assistance of ai Google is getting better at:

• Understanding context and intent
• Weighing depth over surface-level content
• Identifying pages that genuinely answer a user’s question
• We’ve already seen some sites dip briefly and recover within days, while others gain steady visibility without any sudden spikes. That pattern alone tells us this update is less about punishment and more about recalibration.

Continuous Updates Are the New Normal

One important shift many businesses still underestimate is this: core updates are no longer isolated events. Google now makes smaller, ongoing adjustments throughout the year — often without announcements. That’s why rankings can move even when there’s no headline “update” to point to. From an SEO perspective, this reinforces a key truth:

• Search performance should be monitored over time, not judged week-by-week.
• Quick reactions often do more harm than good.
• AI Search Is Changing How Visibility Works

Perhaps the biggest shift we’re seeing isn’t in rankings alone, but in how users consume search results. Google’s AI-driven features — including AI Overviews and AI Mode — are now influencing what gets seen, clicked, and trusted. Rather than simply ranking pages, Google is increasingly summarising the web. The encouraging news is that Google has started linking more clearly to source content within AI results. That means well-structured, authoritative pages can still earn visibility — even when users don’t scroll traditional listings. This is where clarity, structure, and credibility matter more than ever.

What We’re Seeing Across Expressive Design Client Sites

• Across our own projects and client websites, a few consistent trends are emerging:
• Pages with clear intent and focused topics are performing better than broad, catch-all pages
• Sites with strong internal linking are being crawled and understood more efficiently
• Content supported by schema markup is appearing more consistently in enhanced results

Websites that are already thinking about AI discoverability (not just Google rankings) are better positioned for what’s coming next This is one of the reasons we’ve been actively working with structured data, AI-friendly indexing, and emerging standards like LLMS.txt — not as a gimmick, but as future-proofing.

Quality Still Wins — But “Quality” Has Evolved

Google’s message hasn’t really changed, but its interpretation has matured. High-quality content in 2025 means:

• Written for humans first, not algorithms
• Structured so both people and AI systems can understand it
• Supported by real expertise and experience
• Kept up to date and reviewed, not published and forgotten
• Shortcuts simply don’t hold up anymore.
• What Businesses Should Focus On Now

If there’s one takeaway from Google’s recent changes, it’s this: sustainable visibility comes from consistency and clarity, not quick fixes. For most businesses, that means: Investing in better quality pages rather than lots of thin content

• Reviewing existing pages instead of endlessly chasing new ones
• Making sure your site is technically sound and easy to interpret
• Thinking beyond “ranking” and towards being referenced
• Concentrating on the ‘hidden’ SEO elements such as Titles, tags, meta, schema & LLMS

Search is no longer just about being found — it’s about being trusted. 

Get in touch with us to find out the latest information