The Impact of Google's &num=100 Parameter Removal on SEO Reporting

As of September 2025, Google has limited its search results to 10 per page and disabled the long-used &num=100 parameter. This parameter allowed SEO tools to get 100 results in a single query, enabling deeper SERP tracking. Now that this parameter no longer works, tools must crawl more pages to retrieve the same data.

While this change may seem like a technical detail at first glance, SEO specialists noticed sudden data fluctuations in their dashboards: impression counts in Google Search Console data dropped dramatically, while average ranking positions unexpectedly improved. An analysis shows that 87.7% of sites saw a decrease in total impressions, and 77.6% saw a decrease in the number of unique keywords.

Why is the &num=100 Parameter Not Working?

Google did not announce the removal of the &num=100 parameter in an official blog post, but in response to inquiries, it stated that this was "not an officially supported feature." In fact, Google had removed the "results per page" option from search settings back in 2018, but the use of num=100 as a URL parameter had continued. In September 2025, however, this parameter suddenly became completely non-functional. According to Google official Danny Sullivan, the company intentionally disabled this function to simplify the search experience and prevent automated tools from abusing the system.

From a technical standpoint, there could be several logical reasons behind this change:

- Reducing the scraping load: Queries for 100 results placed an extra load on Google's servers.

- Aligning with the Mobile and Continuous Scroll Experience: Google adopted the infinite scroll model on mobile some time ago and is moving toward a similar experience on desktop. Users now see consecutive results by scrolling down the list instead of clicking on page numbers (although, in the background, results are still loaded in groups of 10). In this context, manually requesting 100 results via a URL is no longer consistent with the new search experience.

- Improving data quality: Crawls made through this parameter were generating artificial impressions in Google Search Console (GSC). With the parameter's deactivation, the data has become more aligned with real user behavior.

Impacts on SEO Tools and Rank Tracking

The discontinuation of the &num=100 parameter has directly affected SEO tools that collect data by crawling search engine results pages (SERPs).

- Less data: Tracking rankings beyond the first page has become more difficult. Tools can now offer more limited data, especially for results beyond the 2nd and 3rd pages.

- Crawl depth: Since it's no longer possible to get 100 results on a single page, manual or automated crawling of up to 10 pages is required. This means more resource consumption.

- Keyword scope: The number of keywords that tools can track has decreased, providing a narrower visibility, especially for "long-tail" searches.

Impacts on Google Search Console and Reporting

The removal of &num=100 also had obvious repercussions on the data in Google's own tool, Google Search Console (GSC). In fact, the initial wave of panic in the SEO community stemmed from the dramatic changes many saw in their Search Console charts.

- Drop in impressions: With the removal of bot-generated impressions, impression counts dropped dramatically for many sites. However, this drop does not mean that real users are seeing your site less. The main reason for this was the filtering of bot-generated impressions. In other words, previously, even a page of yours on the 5th page of search results would still earn an "impression" thanks to SEO tools fetching pages with 100 results. Now, since Google only loads the first page of 10 results (and the second 10 if a user actually clicks to the second page), your results beyond the 2nd page have mostly started receiving no impressions at all.

- Increase in average ranking: As impressions on pages 2–10 are reported less frequently, average rankings began to look mathematically better. However, this is not a real ranking improvement. Average position is the average of the ranking positions for all queries where your site appears. Previously, even if your site appeared in the 80th position, it was counted as an impression, and a large number like 80 was added to the average position calculation. Now, since the result at the 80th position often receives no impression at all, it is not included in the calculation; what remains are mostly high-ranking (low-numbered) positions like 5th or 12th. This arithmetically pulls the average up.

- Decrease in the number of keywords: Keywords that rank on the 3rd page and beyond are now reported less frequently. In contrast, first-page and Top 20 results are more prominent.

- Difficulty in comparing with the past: Making direct comparisons between the post-September 2025 period and the 2024–2025 period can be misleading. Therefore, it would be beneficial for SEO teams to add a note for this date in their reports, stating that "metrics may be skewed due to a change in Google's data collection method as of September 2025."

To summarize the effects above, it is normal to see the following changes in your Google Search Console performance reports after September 2025:

- Impressions: A significant drop in desktop searches starting around September 10-12, 2025. This is an artificial drop caused by bot-generated impressions being removed from the report (the impact on mobile may be more limited since &num=100 was not used due to continuous scroll).

- Average position: A sudden "improvement" (a numerical decrease in the average position value). As less low-ranking (20+ position) data is included, you will see your average position improve—which is a mathematical result of the metric change.

- Organic clicks: No change. Since clicks from human users continue as usual, your total organic traffic graph will not be affected by this period.

- Click-Through Rate (CTR): As impressions decrease while clicks remain the same, an increase in CTR percentages may be observed. This is also a result of the data rebalancing.

How to Create a Reporting Strategy

In short, Google's removal of the &num=100 parameter is pushing SEO teams to update their reporting and performance evaluation methods.

- Metrics: Superficial indicators like impressions and total keywords have become less reliable after the change. Therefore, reports can place more emphasis on metrics that directly reflect results, such as clicks, sessions, conversions, and revenue.

- Historical Comparisons: Since bot-generated impressions altered the data during the 2024–2025 period, direct comparisons with the new period can be misleading. Highlighting the differences in periods rather than conducting trend analysis will yield healthier results.

- Cross-Tool Data Comparison: When the data in Search Console is confusing, it may be logical to supplement it with organic traffic and conversion data from the Analytics side.

Resources:

• https://searchengineland.com/google-num100-impact-data-462231
• https://searchengineland.com/google-search-confirms-it-does-not-support-the-results-per-page-parameter-462244
• https://www.webpronews.com/google-ends-num100-search-parameter-impacting-seo-tools/ 
• https://www.interodigital.com/blog/google-quietly-killed-the-num100-parameter-heres-why-your-rankings-and-impressions-just-got-weird/ 
• https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-drops-100-results-parameter-40097.html
• https://locomotive.agency/blog/google-removes-num100-parameter-what-this-means-for-your-website/ 
• https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-serp-changes-update/