Google’s December Core Update 2025 and What Law Firms Should Do Next

The December core update 2025 is now rolling out, and while Google updates can feel far removed from day-to-day legal work, this one has real implications for how potential clients find your firm online. If your practice relies on organic search visibility for enquiries, referrals, or credibility, this update is worth paying attention to.

Google hasn’t just adjusted rankings. It has clarified how often changes happen, reinforced its focus on expertise and trust, and introduced features that give users more control over the sources they see. For law firms, where reputation and authority matter, these shifts are particularly relevant.

Here’s what’s changed and what it means for your legal practice.

Google’s Latest Core Update: The Essentials

Google confirmed that a broad core update began rolling out on December 11th and may take up to three weeks to complete. This is the third major core update of the year, following earlier updates in March and June.

Core updates don’t target specific professions or penalise sites directly. Instead, they adjust how Google assesses content quality across the entire index. As a result, law firm websites may see ranking or traffic changes even if nothing has been altered recently.

If you notice visibility shifts in mid to late December, this update is the most likely cause.

Why Law Firm Rankings Can Change Without Warning

Legal websites sit firmly in what Google considers “Your Money or Your Life” territory. That means standards around accuracy, clarity, and expertise are higher than in many other industries.

During a core update, Google reassesses how well pages demonstrate:

• Legal expertise and subject knowledge
• Clear purpose and relevance to user intent
• Trust signals such as authorship, credentials, and transparency

Your firm’s pages aren’t only judged in isolation. They’re compared against other firms, legal publishers, and authoritative resources across the web. That’s why rankings can move even if you haven’t touched your content.

This December update also sits alongside ongoing, smaller ranking adjustments that Google has now formally acknowledged. In other words, this isn’t a single switch being flipped. It’s part of a continuous evaluation process.

What Law Firms Should Do During the Rollout

The most important thing right now is restraint. Making rushed changes during an active update often causes more harm than good.

Instead:

• Mark the rollout period in your analytics and reporting
• Track changes by practice area, not just overall traffic
• Compare current movements with what happened during earlier 2025 updates

For many firms, December is already an uneven month due to holidays and court schedules. Separating seasonal behaviour from algorithm impact will help you avoid false conclusions.

Once the rollout finishes, patterns become clearer and more actionable.

How This Update Reinforces Google’s Direction for Legal Content

Earlier in the same week, Google updated its documentation to clarify that smaller core updates happen continuously, not only during headline announcements. For law firms, this is significant.

It means improvements to content, structure, and clarity don’t have to wait months to be recognised. If you refine a service page, strengthen legal explanations, or improve transparency around who wrote your content, Google can reassess that work outside major update windows.

This supports a steady, professional approach to SEO. Regular refinement is now more aligned with how Google evaluates sites than large, infrequent overhauls.

What SEO Professionals Are Noticing

Within the SEO community, reactions to the update focused less on shock and more on confirmation.

Many professionals see this as further evidence that Google’s ranking systems are layered. Big updates still matter, but they sit within a wider framework of ongoing evaluation, increasingly supported by AI systems.

There was also renewed discussion around content quality. Several commentators expressed hope that genuinely expert, human-written content would gain more visibility, particularly in fields where accuracy and trust are critical.

For law firms, this aligns with long-standing best practice: clear legal explanations, written or reviewed by qualified professionals, tend to perform better over time than generic or heavily templated pages.

Preferred Sources and the Growing Role of Trust

Google is also expanding its “Preferred Sources” feature for English-language users globally. This allows users to choose specific publishers or sites they want to see more often in Top Stories and similar news surfaces.

While this feature mainly affects publishers, it signals a wider shift. Google is giving users more say in which sources they trust and return to.

For law firms that publish regular insights, legal updates, or commentary, brand recognition and consistency matter more than ever. The clearer your firm’s voice and expertise, the easier it is for users to recognise and prefer your content over time.

Where the December Core Update Fits for Law Firms

Zooming out, the December core update 2025 reinforces a pattern that’s been building for years. Google is moving toward continuous evaluation, higher standards for expert content, and less emphasis on single “make or break” update moments.

For solicitors and law firms, this should feel familiar. SEO success increasingly mirrors professional best practice: accuracy, clarity, consistency, and accountability.

Firms that invest in well-structured service pages, regularly updated insights, and transparent authorship are better positioned to weather updates without disruption.

Consistency is Key

Core updates will always bring uncertainty, especially in a profession where visibility and trust are closely linked. But Google’s direction is becoming clearer, not more chaotic.

If your firm’s website reflects genuine expertise, answers real client questions, and is maintained consistently, updates like this are less a threat and more a test you’re already prepared for. The key is not to chase algorithms, but to consistently build a site that deserves to rank.

At Kinetic Traffic, we provide SEO solutions designed to keep law firm websites resilient through algorithm changes. Our approach focuses on strong foundations, from authoritative content and technical performance to clear trust signals, so your firm stays visible no matter when Google updates roll out. Get in touch today, and discover how we can help your law firm stay visible in an ever-changing landscape.