SEO · · 1 min read
Your Search Console Impressions Dropped? Blame Google’s num=100 Change
In mid-September 2025, Google stopped supporting the &num=100 parameter. Search Console impressions fell for most sites and rank trackers broke. Here's why your real traffic is probably fine.
In short:
- Around 10–14 September 2025, Google stopped supporting the “&num=100” parameter that showed 100 results on one page.
- Rank trackers and scrapers used it, and their page loads were counted as impressions. Without it, reported impressions fell sharply.
- Clicks and real traffic are mostly unaffected. Average position may look better. Update your reports, not your strategy.
If you opened Google Search Console this month and saw impressions fall off a cliff, you’re not alone. In mid-September 2025, Google quietly disabled the &num=100 URL parameter, which let tools load 100 search results on a single page. Google hasn’t officially explained the change.
Why impressions fell
Rank-tracking tools and scrapers used num=100 to check positions 1–100 in one request. Each time they did, Search Console counted an impression for every site on that page, even at position 90. Without the parameter, those bot-generated impressions for positions 11–100 largely disappeared.
One analysis of 319 sites found 87.7% lost impressions. Another, across 100 campaigns, found an average drop of about 50%. Both describe this as a data change, not a real traffic loss.
What to check
- Clicks: if clicks are stable, your real traffic is fine.
- Average position: it may have improved suddenly, because fewer low-position impressions are being counted.
- Analytics: compare organic sessions in GA4. They shouldn’t show the same drop.
What to change
- Add a note to your reports marking mid-September 2025, so nobody panics comparing months later.
- Use clicks and conversions as main SEO KPIs, not impressions.
- Expect rank trackers to change. Many tools now track only the top 10 or 20 results, or charge more for deeper tracking.
- Re-baseline. Treat September 2025 onwards as a new baseline for impressions and average position.
PeachTag Team
Led by Zain Ismail, 11+ years in performance marketing. Need help with this? Talk to us.
