Why Your SEO Data Looks Different in September 2025

If you’ve opened up Google Search Console lately and thought, “Why do my numbers look so strange?”  you’re not imagining things.

In mid-September, Google quietly disabled the num=100 parameter, a little shortcut that SEO tools have relied on for years to pull the top 100 search results in one go. Without it, tools now have to make multiple smaller requests, and that shift has caused a ripple effect in reporting across the board.

So, if you’ve noticed big drops in impressions, changes in keyword counts, or shifts in ranking positions, this update is likely the reason.

What We’re Seeing Across Sites

When we compare data from just before the change to the weeks after, some patterns emerge:

• Impression drops are widespread. Many sites are reporting big decreases, which makes sense given that inflated impressions from bots and scrapers have largely disappeared.
• Fewer unique keywords are showing up. With less visibility into long lists of keywords, your reports may show fewer ranking terms than before.
• Short-tail and mid-tail keywords are the most affected. These broad search terms tend to be heavily tracked, so their impressions are where we’re seeing the biggest declines.

What Does This Mean for You?

The good news is: nothing about your actual performance has suddenly collapsed. What’s changed is the way the data is collected and displayed.

Your clicks (real users engaging with your site) likely remain steady. What’s shifted is how impressions and keyword data are counted and in many ways, what you’re seeing now is a cleaner, more accurate picture of how your site shows up in search.

Over time, SEO tools may adjust their crawling strategies to account for this change, which could bring impression numbers back up. Or, this could simply be the new normal we all work with going forward.

Bottom Line

If your Search Console reports are looking lighter than usual, it’s not a sign that you’ve suddenly lost ground in SEO. It’s a reflection of Google closing the door on an old data shortcut.

Think of it as a reset: your reporting is now clearer, less inflated, and closer to reality.

For marketers and business owners, the key takeaway is simple: don’t panic, stay focused on meaningful metrics like clicks, conversions, and engagement, and treat these reporting shifts as part of the natural evolution of SEO.

If you’re finding these changes tricky to interpret or just want clearer insights into what your data actually means, working with an experienced SEO agency can make all the difference. We cut through the noise, keep up with Google’s constant shifts, and focus on the metrics that matter most for your growth. Whether it’s making sense of impressions, improving rankings, or driving more qualified traffic, we’ll help you stay ahead with strategies that actually move the needle.

Questions?