December 2020 core update

What changed

Google announced the December 2020 core update on the day of release and confirmed roughly two weeks later that the rollout was complete. Trackers recorded it as one of the largest updates of the year, with strong movement across health, finance, retail and news. Its timing in the peak shopping period drew criticism from ecommerce publishers.

Timing

Rollout began 3 December 2020. Google declared it complete on 16 December 2020, 13 days later. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.

What it affected