Key Takeaways
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Google has removed the “&num=100” search parameter, which allowed SEO tools to view the top 100 results on one page. Now, only 10 results are loaded per page.
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Data visibility has shifted — not your rankings. Expect impression drops in tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console, but clicks and high rankings remain stable.
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The change mainly affects deep-page tracking (positions 20–100) and is pushing the SEO industry toward cleaner, more realistic performance data.
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Page 1 is now the only reliable visibility zone. With deeper results harder to measure, ranking within the top 10 has never mattered more.
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Reporting should reflect this correction. Recalibrate baselines post-September, focus on real user metrics like clicks and conversions, and annotate dashboards to explain the shift.
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AI data scraping limits may be part of Google’s motive, signalling a broader push to reduce large-scale SERP data extraction by tools and AI models.
If you’ve been struggling to explain sudden shifts in your SEO data, there’s a clear reason why. Many marketers have noticed unusual drops in visibility reports in September. This is likely the result of what we are calling the num=100 parameter update. Let’s take a look at why it happened, and what it means for your keyword performance tracking.
What is num=100 and what has suddenly changed?
Think of it like this: Google used to have a secret shortcut button built into its search results page.
That shortcut was a simple piece of code in the web address called &num=100. When a computer (or a person, theoretically) added this to the search URL, Google would instantly display the top 100 results on that single page. As of 10 September 2025 Google has removed that shortcut.
Now, whether you are a person or an automated tool, you can only see 10 results at a time. If you want to see results 11 through 100, you have to click through 10 different pages.
Why did Google remove the num=100 parameter?
While we can only guess Google’s exact reasoning, the sources suggest a few likely motivations (which are based on opinion):
- It’s Expensive for Google: Displaying and saving those huge 100-result lists for every search query uses up a lot of Google’s resources.
- Nobody Looks That Far: The vast majority of people never look past the first page of search results anyway.
- The AI Search Factor: Many people agree that this move is less about stopping regular scrapers and more about limiting how huge AI models (like ChatGPT or Perplexity) can quickly gather massive amounts of search data. Now, those models have to “click” through 10 pages, increasing their costs and slowing them down.
How does the num=100 update affect keyword tracking?
This change is a huge deal for any third-party SEO tool. Here’s how it affects your keyword reports:
1. Higher Cost for Data (And Maybe for The Users)
Since Ahrefs (or its data providers) now has to crawl 10 pages instead of 1 to get the same 100 results, the cost to scrape Google search results has gone up dramatically. This means tools face higher scraping costs or limited visibility, which might eventually lead to subscription prices rising.
2. We Can’t See As Deep
Ahrefs uses third-party providers who relied on the old &num=100 feature to accurately assess a website’s presence in search results. Because of the change, Ahrefs now has reduced the number of results they can check for each search term beyond Google’s first page.
3. Reporting Fluctuations
If you noticed odd movements in your rankings around mid-September, you weren’t imagining things. Between September 13th and 16th, Ahrefs reported fluctuations that specifically affected visibility, rankings, and impressions.
4. What is Safe and Stable?
Good news: Crucially, the Top 10 and Top 20 results remain fully intact. If your site is ranking on page 1 or page 2, the data should be reliable.
Ahrefs is working on ways to track the top 100 results for its enterprise customers, suggesting they have a solution for deep data if you’re willing to pay for the extra crawling effort.
Luckily, if you’re doing SEO with Online Marketing Gurus, your keyword reporting hasn’t changed at all. We use custom, Enterprise level tools to manually track your keywords daily. This has not changed, even after the num=100 update
5. The Impressions Mystery
You might see a noticeable decline in impressions within Google Search Console (GSC). This is because tools that calculate impressions had to hit Page 2, Page 3, and so on (up to Page 10) to collect the data they used to get all at once. This expected decline in impressions is focused on those “deeper page” rankings, while stable clicks and high rankings remain accurate. Some argue that this shift might actually be giving us more accurate data by forcing tools to focus on results that users actually click on.
So where does this leave your reporting and what should you do differently from here?
The Gurus’ Take: How to Handle the num=100 Update in Your Reporting & SEO Strategy
Treat visibility drops as a data correction, not a performance loss.
Impressions from deeper search pages (positions 20–100) were previously inflated. Now that Google only loads 10 results per page, your data is simply cleaner — not worse.
Focus on metrics that actually matter.
Clicks, conversions, and engaged sessions are the new north stars. Visibility below page one will naturally shrink in reports, so double down on ranking and click-through improvements for your top-10 queries.
Recalibrate your baselines.
When comparing performance, start your new baseline from mid-September onwards. Avoid using pre-update data as a benchmark.
Annotate your dashboards.
Add an “&num=100 removal” note in Google Looker Studio or Data Studio dashboards to flag why impressions may look lower in September–October reports.
Communicate the context.
Use this as an opportunity to educate stakeholders: it’s not a drop in SEO performance, it’s a measurement correction that better reflects real user behaviour.
Strengthen SEO pillars to push for Page 1.
With tools now seeing fewer deep-page results, the case for ranking in the top 10 is stronger than ever. Focus on technical audits, on-page content and off-page signals to compete for Page 1.
The Main Takeaway for Your SEO Strategy
This change strongly reinforces one simple rule for SEO: Page 1 matters more than ever.
Visibility beyond the top 10 results will be less important (and much harder to track), leading us back to the old SEO philosophy of “Page 1 or bust”.
About the Author
Andrew Raso
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