December 2025 SEO news recap covering Google Core Update, ChatGPT local panels, Search Console AI features, and ads in AI search results.
SEO News December 2025: Google Core Update, ChatGPT Features & Search Console Updates
Happy New Year! 🎉
Before stepping fully into 2026, it’s important to look back at December 2025, a month that proved to be intense and transformative for the SEO world. A major Google Core Update, new ChatGPT local search features, fresh Google Search Console tools, and early signals of advertising inside AI responses made December one of the most impactful months for digital marketers and website owners.
Despite the growing popularity of AI tools, Google remains the most widely used search platform in the world as 2026 begins. Even ChatGPT relies heavily on Google-sourced data for search-style answers, especially for local queries. This reality makes one thing clear: SEO is still essential in 2026, even if traffic is increasingly distributed across AI-driven platforms.
Google December 2025 Core Update: What Happened?
The Google December 2025 Core Update officially began rolling out on December 11 and completed on December 29, taking nearly three weeks. As with most core updates, it caused widespread ranking volatility and anxiety among website owners—many of whom noticed traffic drops during the holiday season.
Google described the update only briefly, stating that it was:
“A regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.”
This limited explanation left SEOs relying on third-party analysis and real-world data.
Key Observations from SEO Experts
SEO analyst Glenn Gabe closely tracked the update and published an in-depth analysis in early January 2026. His findings revealed:
- Significant losses for large news publishers and content networks
- Major volatility in YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) niches such as health and finance
- Visibility drops in Google Discover
- Ranking changes affecting AI Overviews and AI Mode results
User Experience & Navboost Signals
A standout takeaway from Glenn Gabe’s analysis was the increased importance of user experience. He highlighted a ranking signal known as Navboost, which evaluates user satisfaction:
- If users stay on a page, rankings may improve
- If users bounce back quickly to search results, rankings may decline
Pages with poor layouts, intrusive ads, or confusing navigation appear to have suffered the most. If your site dropped rankings between December 11–29, 2025, and has not recovered, the Core Update may be responsible.
ChatGPT Introduces Local Knowledge Panels
On December 11, 2025, OpenAI released the GPT-5.2 model. While the announcement didn’t emphasize local search, a major discovery followed just days later.
Local SEO expert Greg Sterling identified that ChatGPT now displays local search results with a knowledge panel, similar to Google’s local knowledge graph.
How ChatGPT Local Results Work
- Results include a map with business locations
- Clicking a listing opens a business knowledge panel
- Panels show summaries, reviews, images, contact details, and directions
- The Directions button links directly to Google Maps
- Business data is often sourced from Google Business Profile
Although OpenAI states that this data is compiled from multiple third-party sources, real-world tests confirm strong reliance on Google’s ecosystem.
What Business Owners Should Do
If you run a local business:
- Search for your business in ChatGPT
- Check website links, phone numbers, and addresses
- Review images and descriptions for accuracy
- Inspect listed sources if errors appear
Google also announced that its AI assistant Gemini will show local results in a new visual format, making local SEO more important than ever.
Sponsored Content Coming to AI Responses
Running large AI systems is expensive, and December 2025 brought clearer signs of AI monetization through advertising.
Google Ads in AI Overviews
Google expanded ads in AI Overviews to 12 new countries and began testing ads in AI Mode (currently limited to the United States). These ads:
- Are clearly labeled “Sponsored”
- Appear separately from AI-generated answers
- Are still relatively rare
Again, Glenn Gabe documented early sightings of these ads in late December.
Advertising Inside ChatGPT?
According to industry reports, OpenAI is preparing advertising options for ChatGPT. Possible formats include:
- Sponsored placements in sidebars
- Clearly labeled promoted results
- Experimental formats where sponsored content may influence responses
This would represent a major shift in how users experience AI answers and raises important transparency questions.
Previously, Perplexity AI tested sponsored follow-up questions in 2024, showing that AI advertising experiments are already underway.
New Google Search Console Features (December 2025)
Google continues to invest heavily in Google Search Console, making it more powerful and accessible for site owners. Several important features were released in December:
1. AI-Powered Report Configuration
Users can now type a prompt (for example, “Show clicks from mobile users in the last 3 months”) and Search Console will automatically:
- Apply filters
- Select metrics
- Set date ranges
- Generate custom reports
This dramatically reduces manual setup time.
2. Social Channels (Experimental)
A limited rollout feature that shows:
- Visibility data for linked social media profiles
- Insights within the Search Console Insights report
This hints at deeper integration between search and social signals.
3. Weekly & Monthly Performance Views
Previously limited to daily data, the Performance report now allows:
- Weekly trend analysis
- Monthly comparisons
This makes long-term SEO performance easier to interpret.
Why SEO Still Matters in 2026
Even as AI tools reshape how people search, Google indexing and keyword rankings remain the foundation of online visibility. AI assistants often reuse Google’s data—meaning SEO influences not just search results, but also AI answers.
Whether traffic comes directly from Google or indirectly through AI platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini, strong SEO ensures your content is discoverable everywhere.
As we move into 2026:
- Focus on user experience
- Maintain accurate structured data
- Optimize for local SEO
- Monitor performance using Search Console
- Prepare for AI-driven advertising
SEO is evolving—but it’s far from disappearing. The December 2025 updates made that clearer than ever.