Google’s 2025 December Core Update Could Affect Your B2B Website

Google announced its December 2025 core update on December 11th. It’s rolling out right now and is already having an effect on millions of websites, yours included.

In this article I will take you through what these core updates are, and what you should be doing to protect yourself from any negative impacts it could have on your ability to attract inquiries.

What Is a Core Algorithm Update?

Google’s algorithm decides which websites appear at the top of search results. When someone types “aluminium die casting manufacturer” or “CNC machining services Taiwan” into Google, the algorithm determines who shows up first, second, third, and so on.

Google tweaks this system constantly. Most changes are minor and go completely unnoticed, but several times a year, they roll out what they call a “core update.” These are substantial changes that can impact rankings significantly for all types of websites, including maybe yours.

We’ve already had three core updates in 2025: March, June, and now December. According to Google’s documentation, these updates aim to “better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.” Put simply, Google keeps trying to show the most helpful, trustworthy results to people searching.

That is what Google says, but it is always worth remembering that Google’s search results are the ones it wants you to see. The results are usually reasonably good and have certainly been improving over the last few years, but it is worth trying some other search engines such as BIng, which ChatGPT uses, or even the independent search engine Duck Duck Go, as you may get different results.

The December update will take up to three weeks to fully roll out. During this period, expect your rankings to jump around a fair bit before settling.

Why Should You Care?

For B2B manufacturers, organic search traffic is often your most valuable source of international inquiries. If your website drops in the rankings, you’ll see fewer visitors. Fewer enquiries and fewer sales inquiries.
The business impact can be severe. Earlier this year, Monday.com publicly disclosed that algorithm changes had affected their customer acquisition. Some publishers have lost millions of monthly visitors after major updates. Most B2B manufacturers won’t experience swings quite that dramatic, but even a modest drop means losing qualified leads to competitors who rank above you.

Here’s what makes this particularly critical for B2B: your potential customers typically search multiple times during their research phase before making any purchasing decision. If you’re invisible during that research, you won’t even make it onto their shortlist.

Who Will Be Affected Most?

Looking at the 2025 updates, certain types of websites consistently perform better than others.

Websites that tend to gain rankings:

• Publish original, in-depth technical content (e.g., case studies, application examples, detailed product guides that help buyers understand what you offer).
• Demonstrate genuine expertise and keep your content fresh.
• Ensure fast-loading, mobile-friendly websites with a good user experience.

Websites that tend to lose rankings:

• Product pages that contain only basic specifications copied from catalogues.
• Generic manufacturer descriptions without any unique perspective.
• Content that hasn’t been touched in years.
  Sites churning out AI-generated text without genuine human expertise.

For manufacturers specifically, I’ve noticed that product pages with nothing but specifications tend to struggle. If your website reads like an online catalogue with no explanation of applications, benefits, or reasons a buyer should choose you over the competition, Google’s updates probably won’t treat you kindly.

Google’s helpful content guidelines emphasise creating content for people first, not for search engines. Writing pages purely to rank for keywords rather than to genuinely help potential customers becomes less effective with each update.

Track Your Website Data

If you’re not already monitoring your website performance, start now. You need Google Analytics and Google Search Console set up. Both are free.

Keep an eye on:

• Organic traffic: How many visitors find you through Google search?
• Keyword rankings: Which search terms bring up your site, and in what position?
• Impressions and clicks: How often does your site appear in search results, and how often do people actually click through?

If you spot a drop, look for patterns. Which specific pages lost traffic? Which keywords shifted position? This tells you where to focus your efforts.

What Can You Do About It If You Are Affected?

The first thing is don’t make big changes whilst the update is still rolling out. Wait for things to settle, then act.

Start by auditing your affected pages. Be honest with yourself: is this page genuinely helpful to a buyer researching your products? Does it answer their real questions, or does it simply list specifications they could find anywhere?

Here’s what I’d suggest:

Add genuine value to your product pages. Go beyond specs. Include application examples. Explain what problems your product solves. Describe what makes your approach different from competitors. Give buyers a reason to choose you.

Create content that demonstrates expertise. Write about your manufacturing processes. Share case studies of successful projects. Explain technical concepts your buyers need to understand. This builds trust with Google and with your potential customers.

Refresh outdated content. Pages that haven’t been touched in years look stale. Google notices. Update them with current information, recent examples, and fresh insights.

Sort out your website experience. Make sure your site loads quickly, works properly on mobile, and is easy to navigate. Google’s PageSpeed Insights will show you where improvements are needed.

The reassuring news? Google’s advice has remained consistent for years: focus on creating genuinely helpful content for your users. Do that consistently and you’ll weather future updates far better than sites chasing shortcuts.

A Note on AI Search Tools

Worth mentioning: Google’s algorithm updates only affect Google search. If you’re also worried about visibility in AI tools like ChatGPT, that’s a separate consideration. ChatGPT uses Bing as its search engine, not Google, so this update won’t directly affect how you appear there.

That said, the principles of quality content and demonstrated expertise apply across all platforms. What works for Google generally works for AI search tools too.

If you’d like help assessing how your website is positioned for this update, or developing a content strategy that builds long-term search visibility, get in touch.