Google has disabled the &num=100 parameter in search URLs which many SEO tools use to pull ranking data. This has resulted in a significant change to Google Search Console data with impressions declining dramatically.
Previously, when a full 100-result page was requested, Google would log every result on that page as an impression in Search Console, including the low-ranked listings, even if no real user ever saw them. This inflated impression counts by counting bot traffic as if it were a user seeing the listing on the SERP.
Why this matters
This change has raised questions about the idea of ‘The Great Decoupling’ where impressions were increasing but clicks weren’t following. It’s now looking like a lot of these impressions may have come from bots or SEO tools scraping search results as opposed to organic traffic. With the parameter gone, impression data should now reflect more accurately what users see in the search results.
What to expect
- Impression baselines from before September 2025 might not be reliable
- Impression drop is more pronounced on desktop where scraping was most common
- Page rankings outside the top 10 are now less likely to show meaningful visibility
Next steps
- Review Google Search Console data from early September to account for the shift
- Reevaluate CTR and position metrics if reporting includes YoY comparisons
- Educate clients that recent impression drops are likely technical and not performance related
