On Friday, September 12th, Google made a significant, industry-wide change that has affected how all SEO tools—including the ones we use to track website performance—collect ranking data.
While this is a technical update, the core idea is simple: Google is now limiting the amount of search result information that automated tools can access at one time.
What Actually Changed?
Historically, many SEO tools could ask Google for up to 100 search results for a single keyword query in one go. This allowed SEO and Keyword trackers to efficiently track website ranking positions deep into pages 2, 3, and beyond.
Google has now restricted this. All tools must now request results in smaller batches—typically 10 results at a time. This forces systems to work up to ten times harder and slower to gather the exact same amount of comprehensive data.
An Industry-Wide Adaptation
It is worth noting that Google did not make a formal announcement regarding this change, but the shift was immediately observed across the entire SEO industry. Major data providers and software companies quickly adapted and issued statements confirming the operational impact.
You can read more about this industry adjustment from other leading SEO platforms:
The Impact on SEO Reporting
This change is purely about data collection and measurement; it does not mean your website will drop in rankings or that SEO performance has suddenly changed. Website traffic and conversions are unaffected.
However, during this transition period, if you are on one of our SEO packages, you may notice the following in your reports:
- Temporary Delays: Since tools must make multiple requests to gather data (instead of one), there may be slight delays in daily ranking updates.
- Inconsistencies for Deep Rankings: Tracking keywords that rank outside the Top 50 (Page 5+) has become less consistent. While we can still reliably track Page 1 rankings (the most important spots for clicks and visibility), positions further down the search results may occasionally be delayed or temporarily missing.
Our Solution and Next Steps
This is an industry-wide challenge, and every major SEO platform is adapting. Our technical partner is already performing a rapid infrastructure upgrade, which includes adding necessary resources and capacity to handle the increased load.
We are committed to providing you with the most accurate and timely data possible, and we expect these temporary delays to be fully resolved in the very near term.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
