Google’s Update to Rank Tracking: What Changed and Why Reports Look Different 

If you’ve noticed a big change in your keyword rankings, you’re not alone. The entire digital marketing world has been dealing with major disruptions to organic rank tracking. For years, SEOs could simply append “&num=100” to a Google results URL to load 100 organic results on one page. That parameter let rank tracking tools pull the top 100 results in a single request, dramatically speeding up data collection. In mid-September 2025, Google disabled this behavior and has since confirmed the 100 results per page parameter isn’t supported anymore (Search Engine Land), instantly making it harder for third-party tools to see positions past the first 10 results. 

Immediate Impact on Reporting 

Rank Trackers 

Many trackers can’t reliably crawl beyond page one in a single pass now, so keywords in position 11-100 may temporarily “disappear” from daily logs even when the true rank hasn’t changed. For example, if a keyword was consistently in position 23, the tracker might not show it on a given day now because it can’t fetch page 3 (ranks 21–30) the way it used to.  

This is a collection limitation, not necessarily a performance drop. Your site can still receive traffic and conversions from that query, the rank tracker tool just isn’t surfacing it daily in the same way as before. 

Google Search Console 

In conjunction with the rank tracking change, we’ve also been observing Google Search Console (GSC) anomalies. Many properties are seeing decreases in impressions and an improvement in average position. The timing and the mechanics suggest the two are linked — and industry consensus agrees. When third-party tools can’t reliably crawl deep pages, you’ll often see fewer recorded impressions and an inflated average position in GSC charts.  

One positive from this change is that GSC impression data should actually be a closer representation of actual user search behavior. The belief is that GSC data was inflated because scrapers using the &num=100 feature caused junk/vanity impressions. 

Long Term Reporting Impact 

Going forward, data should track closer to real user behavior, but it’s important to note  that year-over-year comparisons won’t be apples-to-apples anymore. Expect cleaner, more behavior-true data from here on out, but read it through the lens of a new baseline. 

Changes to Socius Client Reporting 

To keep reporting useful while Google’s changes shake out, some adjustments have been made to the rank tracking feature on reporting dashboards. Starting September 18, 2025, keyword rankings are being updated weekly instead of daily. This lets us restore and maintain full-depth (up to 100 positions) data collection reliably while Google’s behavior evolves. When you add a keyword, its initial ranking will be fetched the same day. The next update will occur 7 days later, and weekly thereafter. 

There will be no change to core SEO strategies, targeting, or content plans. The only change is to how often the deeper ranking data is refreshed. 

Our POV: Evolving Beyond “Vanity Metrics” 

We see this change as a nudge to modernize SEO reporting and de-emphasize lower keyword positions that real users rarely see. Rankings still matter, but as supporting evidence — not the scoreboard.  

Rather than relying on keyword rankings alone, focus on some broader indicators of success: 

• Visibility in AI Overviews / Large Language Models (LLMs) 

• Engagement signals like GBP interactions, calls, leads, and retargeting audiences. 

• Category benchmarks & share of voice vs. competitors 

These align better to business value than tracking thousands of positions that may or may not reflect real user behavior. 

Next Steps for Stable Keyword Reporting 

The current rank tracking turbulence is the byproduct of how data is collected, not a sudden collapse in your SEO performance. Across most sites, organic traffic patterns remain normal relative to seasonality and active campaigns, and lead generation is not mirroring the volatility seen in keyword rankings. When measurement changes but outcomes don’t, the data collection method is usually the culprit. In the meantime, judge success by what really matters: traffic quality, calls, forms, and bookings.