Did Google Just Prevent Rank Tracking?

"This week, Google dropped support for the &num=100 parameter. It's a telling move. Many search pros speculate the aim is to restrict AI bots that use the parameter to perform so-called fan-out searches. The collateral damage is on search engine ranking tools, which have long used the parameter to scrape results for keywords. Many of those tools no longer function, at least for now."

"Surprisingly, the move affected Performance data in Search Console. Most website owners now see increases in average positions and declines in the number of impressions. Search Console Google has provided no explanation. Presumably the changes in Performance data are owing to Google's reliance on its own bots, not humans, to track rankings. That is the unexpected takeaway: Search Console data is at least partially dependent on bots."

"In other words, the lost "Impressions" were URLs as shown to bot scrapers, not human searchers. The "Average Position" metric is closely tied to "Impressions," as Search Console records the topmost position of a URL as seen by searchers. Impressions now decline if "searchers" are bots."

Google removed support for the &num=100 search parameter, preventing users and tools from returning 100 organic results on a single page. The change likely aims to limit AI bots performing fan-out searches and broke many third-party rank-tracking tools that relied on the parameter to scrape keyword results. Search Console Performance reports now show higher average positions and lower impressions for many sites because Search Console relies partly on bots to record impressions. Lost impressions represent URLs shown to bot scrapers rather than humans, so Search Console data now reflects more human impressions and fewer bots. Top-ranking URLs remain skewed because page one remains bot-accessible.

Read at Practical Ecommerce