The rollout of the March 2026 Google Core Update concluded on April 8. According to two analyses conducted by SISTRIX, the results in France and Germany are quite severe: Google is significantly redistributing visibility in favor of official sources and established brands, which is detrimental to online boutiques, forums, and language tools. In France, there is 1 winner for every 14 losers. In Germany, this ratio is 1 winner for every 4 losers. Let’s provide a comparative perspective.

Highlights:

  • Google supports corporate resources and market leaders in both countries.
  • Language and education tools are the most affected sector, likely linked to the rise of artificial intelligence tools.
  • Online boutiques are experiencing significant losses regardless of their size or sector.
  • The imbalance between losers and winners is much more pronounced in France (14 to 1) than in Germany (4 to 1).

The Same Signal, Two Different Amplitudes

On March 27, 2026, Google launched the March Core Update, and the rollout ended on April 8. The logic is the same for both sides: the authority of a source comes before the interchangeability of its content. However, the magnitude of the damages is not the same.

In France, an analysis of 2,991 domains showing significant changes identified 239 losers and only 17 winners.

Major losers in France - Source: SISTRIX

In Germany, among the 1,371 domains analyzed, there are 134 losers and 32 winners. Thus, the French market has taken a proportionally much harsher hit; the loser/winner ratio is 14 to 1, while in Germany it is 4 to 1.

Online Boutiques: The Most Affected Sector in Both Countries

This is the clearest and most widespread trend.

In France, 80 out of 239 losers are online boutiques, which accounts for exactly one third. The losses are not focused on a single segment: furniture (alinea.com -37%, pierimport.fr -28%), food (elmut.fr -50%, graines-semences.com -28%), music (paul-beuscher.com -58%), automotive (europcar.fr -26%), or technology (backmarket.fr -25%).

In Germany, 39 out of 134 losers are e-commerce sites, making them the largest group. The same situation applies here: losses cover all categories. Fashion (cecil.de -30%), electronics (media-dealer.de -37%, alternate.de, conrad.de), plants and gardening (123zimmerpflanzen.de -27%, samenhaus.de -26%), B2B materials (otto-office.com, hygi.de). And contrary to what one might imagine, major brands are also affected: notebooksbilliger.de and expert.de each lose 11%.

The message is clear: owning an online boutique is no longer enough. Without strong brand recognition behind it, organic visibility decreases.

Language Tools and Educational Tools Facing Artificial Intelligence

This is one of the most striking trends of this update. In both countries, conjugation, translation, definition, and learning tools are dropping simultaneously.

In France: toutelaconjugaison.com (-32%), littre.org (-30%), bab.la (-20%), glosbe.com (-25%), lingolia.com (-15%), kartable.fr (-14%), reverso.net (-12%), francaisfacile.com (-7%). The situation of Littré is particularly symbolic: this historic reference for the French language drops its visibility index from 61 to 43. This is a sharp decline for a site that has been an authority for decades.

Change in visibility of Littre.org - Source: SISTRIX

In Germany, the table is almost the same: verbformen.de (-30%), bab.la (-22%), korrekturen.de (-15%), studysmarter.de (-15%), linguee.de (-10%), openthesaurus.de (-9%), reverso.net (-7%). Seven tools are affected simultaneously.

What makes this set special is the context in which it exists. These sites now offer functions increasingly covered by artificial intelligence applications: conjugations, translations, synonyms, grammar exercises. In Germany, chatgpt.com gains 32% visibility during the same period. It is hard not to draw a connection. However, it is worth being cautious: is Google actively devaluing these sites, or are users' search behaviors changing? Future updates may provide answers to this.

Forums and User-Generated Content

UGC (user-generated content) platforms are also under pressure, but Google is making clear distinctions.

In France, supertoinette.com, a cooking forum, loses 46% of its visibility. stackoverflow.com is down 45% in the French market. jecontacte.com (-31%) is also affected.

In Germany, gutefrage.net loses nearly a quarter of its visibility (from 62 to 47). The trajectory of this site is quite remarkable: its visibility index reached 127 in spring 2025. It had already dropped to 54 before the Core Update, and with this update, it fell to 47. X.com loses 25%, while xing.com loses 14%.

However, Google is not punishing all forums in the same way: Reddit has gained visibility in recent updates. Therefore, the issue is not solely about the UGC format but is likely being penalized on specific platforms, possibly due to quality or perceived authority reasons.

Publishers and Media: Targeted Losses

In France, many media and publishers are affected: dvdclassik.com (-33%), hachette-vins.com (-46%), herodote.net (-26%), as well as nouvelobs.com and lesechos.fr.

In Germany, recipe portals are particularly targeted: kuechengoetter.de (-29%), schlemmer-atlas.de (-25%), eatsmarter.de (-18%), essen-und-trinken.de (-11%), lecker.de (-6%). However, the leader of the German recipe market, chefkoch.de, remains stable. This signal is consistent with the overall logic of the update: leaders survive, secondary players falter.

Winners: Few, but Instructive

The list on the winners' side is short. There are 17 in France and 32 in Germany. However, their profiles are quite instructive.

In France, four official sites are progressing simultaneously: pole-emploi.fr (+11%), hautsdefrance.fr (+7%), paris.fr (+3%), interieur.gouv.fr (+1%). The reference site for checking French company data, societe.com, increases its visibility by 50% (raising its index from 13 to 19). conforama.fr (+7%) and cuisineaz.com (+2%), both leaders in their segments, are also progressing. pleinevie.fr, a general magazine founded in 1981 with about 800,000 copies distributed, doubles its visibility.

In Germany, the strongest signal comes from an unexpected cluster: four official airports are winning simultaneously. Stuttgart (+22%), Köln-Bonn (+18%), Hamburg (+17%), and Munich (+8%). The simultaneous and parallel progress of four domains from the same niche is no coincidence. Google seems to have reorganized search results related to airports in favor of official sites, to the detriment of comparators and third-party aggregators. Other notable winners include ratiopharm.de (+12%), commerzbank.de (+11%), and government sites hessen.de, arbeitsagentur.de, wwf.de. And audible.de, with +172%, is the biggest winner of this update in Germany, with its impact felt only from April 3, a week after the rollout.