If you’ve been watching your ranking tool chucking out error messages left right and centre this week, you’re not alone. Half the SEO community is scratching their heads wondering why their fancy tracking software has suddenly gone wonky. I use SE Ranking and have seen the issue for some clients, but I’ve spoken to others using different tools and it’s a problem there too.
What happened? Google changed one tiny thing and broke everything. Again.
Google removes 100 search results parameter, “breaks” ranking tools
It seems that Google’s been testing the removal of a simple URL parameter called &num=100. This little bit of code lets you see 100 search results on one page instead of the usual 10. Sounds minor, right? Well, it’s caused absolute chaos for those using SEO tools to track their rankings in the SERPs.
Most ranking tools built their entire data collection efforts around this parameter. Instead of making 10 separate requests to check positions 1-100, they’d make one request and grab everything in one go. Clever, efficient, and now completely broken.
The problem is that it’s not consistently broken – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Which is making it impossible for ranking tools to collect reliable data.
How broken ranking tools affect your SEO data
Your ranking tool can’t see positions 11-100 anymore when this parameter fails. So if your site ranks on page 2 or 3, the tool thinks you’ve disappeared entirely.
As SEO Consultant Edward Bate pointed out on LinkedIn, this also explains why some people are seeing massive drops in Google Search Console impressions too. If a big chunk of Search Console data really is just bots checking rankings (which many of us have suspected for ages), then breaking the bots would explain those cliff-edge drops in impression data. SEO Brodie Clark has an interesting article on this too: What the disabling of &num=100 tells us.
What this means for your SEO strategy
Sadly, this whole mess shows just how dependent we’ve become on ranking tools that can be broken by one small change from Google.
The tools will eventually adapt. They’ll have to make more requests or find different ways to collect data. But it might cost more, be slower, or be less reliable.
More importantly though, it’s a good reminder that rankings are just vanity metrics unless they’re driving actual business results. If your ranking tool’s broken but your traffic and conversions are still growing, you’re probably doing fine.
Google’s history of breaking SEO tools
This isn’t the first time Google’s changed something that’s broken SEO tools, and it probably won’t be the last. Back in the day, Google started encrypting search query data for “privacy reasons.” Before this change, if someone searched for “copywriter for blog posts” and clicked through to your website, you could see exactly what they searched for in your analytics. It was brilliant for understanding how people found your site.
But Google started hiding this information, replacing actual search terms with “(not provided)” in analytics reports. Suddenly, instead of seeing that 50 people found you by searching “website copywriter” you’d just see “(not provided)” for most of your organic traffic.
This was massive for SEO because we lost direct insight into what search terms were driving traffic. It forced everyone to rely more heavily on Google Search Console and third-party tools to understand search behaviour. Sound familiar?
Or when they started limiting how much data third-party tools could access through their APIs? Each time, tools had to adapt or become less useful.
The lesson here is simple – don’t build your entire SEO strategy around what third-party tools tell you. Use them for insights, but focus on what matters – helping your customers find what they need.
Your ranking position means nothing if your website’s rubbish when people get there.
How to track SEO performance when ranking tools fail
If your ranking tool’s playing up, the first thing to remember is it’s not the end of the world. Your rankings haven’t died a death, your way of tracking them is just failing at the moment.
Try to focus on the things you can control:
Check your actual traffic via your analytics – is it still growing? Still converting? Then you’re probably fine.
Monitor your Google Search Console – look at actual clicks and impressions (bearing in mind that LinkedIn post from Edward I mentioned earlier), not what ranking tools are telling you.
Focus on user experience – make sure your site’s fast, helpful, and easy to use.
Keep creating helpful content – this will never be bad advice, regardless of what ranking tools say.
DON’T PANIC!
Your business results matter more than a number in a dashboard.
Ranking tools are useful for spotting trends and tracking progress, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of SEO. When they break (and they will), focus on what you can control – creating a website that genuinely helps your customers.
Google will keep changing things. Tools will keep breaking. But if you focus on making your website useful for real people, you’ll weather these storms just fine.
And next time someone tries to sell you an SEO strategy based entirely on ranking positions, maybe ask them what happens when the ranking tool stops working.
