Three Google Core Updates in Six Months: December 2025, March and May 2026

In the past six months Google released three broad core updates. Each took around two weeks or more to roll out and applied globally, in all languages.

What changed

Core updates are broad changes to how Google’s systems assess content overall. They do not target specific sites or techniques. In December 2025 Google also added a note to its documentation: besides the announced updates, it continuously releases smaller core updates that are not announced – so improving your content can lead to better results without waiting for the next big update.

How to tell whether you were affected

Google recommends waiting until a rollout is complete, then waiting at least another week, and comparing a week before the update with a week after it in Search Console. A small drop of a few positions is different from a large drop across many queries. It is also worth analysing web, image, video and news search separately, because they can be affected differently.

Why it matters for businesses

Traffic swings during a core update are not a penalty but a reassessment of content quality. The right response is to keep improving your content over the long term – not quick technical fixes. Google also notes that deleting content should be a last resort, and that recovery can take months, often until the next core update.

What it means in Central and Eastern Europe

Core updates apply to all languages at the same time, so Slovenian, Croatian or Hungarian results move together with English ones. In smaller markets with fewer competing pages, one strong or weak site can move a lot. If several markets dropped at once, look first at shared causes – templates, translated content, product pages that are similar across all language versions.

Checklist: what to do after a core update

• Confirm on the Google Search Status Dashboard that the rollout is complete.
• Wait at least a week, then compare a week before and after the update in Search Console.
• Separate the analysis by search type, country and page type.
• Use Google’s self-assessment questions on helpful content for the pages that lost the most.
• Improve the content: accuracy, expertise, original information, up-to-date facts.
• Avoid quick fixes and mass deletions; record what you change so you can measure it later.

Update, October 2026: After these three core updates, Google also rolled out a spam update from 24 September to 8 October 2026. The chart compares the official rollout durations. Read about the September 2026 spam update →

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