The SEO tracking community was taken by surprise this week as Google quietly removed support for the &num=100 parameter a long-standing feature that enabled users and rank tracking tools to display 100 search results on a single page.
The change was initially spotted by SEOwner on X and was soon confirmed by SEO professionals through hands-on testing and live replication. It’s now evident that search results typically default to showing only 10 listings per page. The &num=100 parameter either fails entirely or behaves inconsistently, with its functionality seemingly dependent on factors like whether the user is signed in and the specific browser being used.
Immediate Challenges for SEO Professionals
This change brings immediate complications for SEO professionals. Rank tracking tools that rely on bulk scraping have been disrupted, with many now forced to make 10 individual queries per keyword just to retrieve the same amount of data previously accessible through a single request.
The impact is directly visible in SEO reporting: only top-10 positions are reliably captured, while rankings beyond the first page are often labeled as “not found.” As a result, operational costs and resource usage are spiking — a trend echoed by experts at DemandSphere and AccuRanker.
What’s Happening Behind the Scenes?
Google’s update appears to be a combination of experimentation and increased anti-bot enforcement. Random captchas are now more common, and detection systems are clearly being tightened.
The rollout remains inconsistent. Some users still see the old results format depending on variables like browser type, login status, or seemingly random factors.
SEO forums and social media platforms are full of discussion, with professionals and tool providers racing to adjust strategies.
Why This Change Matters Now
For agencies and marketing managers, one short-term advantage is greater focus — top-10 rankings are what influence user behavior and click-through rates most.
However, for those measuring broader visibility, it’s critical to inform clients of these evolving limitations and the fact that this is an industry-wide shift. Going forward, success will rely on adapting to paginated tracking methods or leveraging data from platforms like Google Search Console.
Rising Costs for Rank Tracking
As SEOwner pointed out on X, checking 100 keywords via providers like Data For SEO previously cost around $0.20. With the new approach requiring up to 10 separate requests, that same task could now cost as much as $2 — a tenfold increase in tracking expenses.
For full-scale rank tracking platforms such as Ahrefs and Agency Analytics, these rising operational costs are likely to be passed on to users, either through increased subscription fees or higher usage-based charges.
How to Measure SEO Results
The most effective way to evaluate SEO performance is by focusing on meaningful outcomes: organic traffic in Google Analytics, impressions and clicks from Google Search Console, and core business metrics such as sales, leads, or bookings.
Monitoring trends across these areas provides a more accurate and valuable picture of success than relying solely on keyword rankings.
Get in touch with us today to discover how DigiTotal can help grow your business through data-driven SEO strategies that prioritise real results not just rankings.
