As of the week commencing the 15th of September 2025, Search Console users will have noticed some unusual-looking graphs. A quick look at LinkedIn and the many SEO’s I follow revealed that everyone was experiencing the same thing.
Google unexpectedly removed &num=100, a parameter that allows 100 top search results to be shown at the same time, rather than displaying 10 at a time.
This has resulted in impressions falling quite dramatically, while average position rose sharply.
Google Search Console data has generally been the go-to for rank tracking data, but over the last 12 months, we’ve seen a shift in the numbers, particularly impressions.
The crocodile effect, as it became known, was widely thought to be impacted by AI Overviews.
Impressions flew sky high while clicks generally stayed put, and CTR plummeted as AIOs were rolled out across the world.
It seemed reasonable to conclude that this was due to increased crawling activity from Google, a rise in Google searches, and a boost in rank tracking tools.
There has been another school of thought that rank trackers and bots might have been impacting GSC.
As soon as &num=100 was disabled, the sudden fall in impressions has shocked even those who believe bot traffic was inflating the numbers.
Surely the internet isn’t that full of rank trackers and bots?!
Dead internet theory, anyone?
It feels improbable, but so far, it seems that the impact of bots and crawlers was bigger than anyone expected, maybe even Google.
Quote from SEMrush:
In what has already been a dynamic year for search, this change is rippling through the SEO industry. Rank tracking tools, including Semrush, traditionally rely on this parameter to efficiently capture organic results at scale. Without it, getting the full top 100 results now requires 10 times as many requests, making the process significantly more resource-intensive.
It’s not just third-party platforms feeling the effects. Many SEOs are also noticing issues in Google Search Console performance reports. Brodie Clark and others have reported unusual shifts, including sharp declines in desktop impressions and spikes in average position.
What does this mean for my data?
We are monitoring this situation closely. At present, nothing is set in stone, and Google may change their mind on this; they are known for testing things without warning and rolling back.
If you use a third-party rank tracking tool like Ahrefs and SEMrush, wait for their advice on it, and be prepared for price rises.
One thing is for sure: you shouldn't rely on third-party tools to report on your SEO progress, so consider an alternative approach. It is arguably becoming redundant to track keywords in an increasingly AI-dominated world of search.
Can you trust Google Search Console?
GSC has its flaws, but it is the best source of data we have as SEO’s for checking on search behaviour and keyword rankings.
We often have to deal with fluctuations in the data; the hardest thing is how we communicate these shifts to our clients.
Google has not yet publicly commented on this situation, though it is expected that they will. Should they fail to revert the &num=100 change, a significant increase in rank tracking costs is probable.
It will be interesting to observe how GSC data changes in the coming days and if this dataset can provide further insights into the impact of AI overviews.
You need SEO experts to help you interpret your data
What is becoming clear is that the tools we use are currently in a state of flux. Semrush calls it a “dynamic year”.
What they probably mean is: “We’re having to constantly react to unexpected changes that Google is making”.
Imagine the sleepless nights!
We are all still waiting for GSC to get an update that means we can see more of the dynamic and personalised search results from AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Until that happens, we’re still stuck in attempting to report the traditional way.
Our clients can rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to stay ahead of the changes and adapt accordingly. One way of doing this has been to build our our tracking tools and focus on 1st party data (which is why we don’t rely on third-party keyword tracking).
If you are working with an SEO, are they up to speed with all this? Are they offering enough transparency with these developments? Contact us if you are looking for advice.
