Is Your Rank Tracker Playing Up? Here’s Why

Have you noticed recently that your third-party ranking tracker is no longer displaying accurate results? You’re not alone.

On 12 September, the Search Engine Roundtable reported that Google was ‘testing’ the removal of the &num=100 parameter.

Add this to the end of your search URL, and Google would display 100 search results all on one page. Emphasis on the would. At the time that article was published, the parameter was only working on some searches, with others ignoring the parameter and simply displaying the top 10 results instead.

Well, it wasn’t just a test.

Just three days later, Google disabled the &num=100 parameter completely: proof that this wasn’t just a quick test or a bug, but a deliberate choice that affects each and every search. It doesn’t matter what you try, this parameter simply doesn’t work any more.

For the average user, that’s no big deal – but to SEOs and marketers, it’s quite the opposite. The removal of the &num=100 parameter has broken the majority of third-party rank tracking tools, and has even affected the data that’s shown in Google’s very own Search Console tool.

All this has happened in the midst of the August spam update, which has only just finished rolling out. Combine algorithm tweaks with dodgy data, and you get a real headache for those focusing on organic performance.

Why was &num=100 so important?

Simply put, this parameter allowed rank tracking tools to scan the top 100 search results in an instant, giving you a clear picture of where your pages were ranking for key search terms. Now, keeping tabs on the top 100 rankings requires 10 different requests instead of just one – which means it’s a lot tougher (and more expensive) to track rankings that fall below page one.

Although these lower-ranked keywords don’t usually offer much value to businesses, it is still important to track them; at the very least, they can give you pointers on which content to optimise next to boost your overall search visibility.

What next?

The response from third-party rank tracking tools has varied. Some, like seoClarity, are using it as a way of marketing their service. According to the company, their tool is completely unaffected by the removal of the &num=100 parameter.

Others, like AccuRanker, have updated their tool to only show the top 20 search results as opposed to the top 100. Semrush has issued a statement saying that their top 10 results are still accurate, and that they’ve implemented ‘temporary solutions’ to try and address inaccuracies in the rest of the data. The only downside? Many rankings will now only refresh every two days, rather than every day.

As for Google themselves, they’re yet to issue any statement on the subject – or respond to requests for comment. However, many online are theorising that this is Google’s way of ‘fighting back’ against the AI tools that scrape the SERPs every day. The company wants to keep its search results to itself, rather than allowing rival companies to poach them for their latest LLMs.

That’s the current thinking, anyway. Until Google comments (if they ever do), it’s hard to say with certainty why the &num=100 parameter has been removed – and if it’ll ever return.

In the meantime, make sure you’re up to speed on how your chosen rank tracker has been affected. And if you’ve seen any discrepancies in the data, this could well be the reason why.

Our advice?

“With Google deciding to change the way the SERPs work, I think there will be a lot of panic around dropped impressions and confusion around increases in average position.

“For now, it’s best to monitor the situation and how rank tracker tools are adjusting to this change.

“So long as you are still doing good SEO you shouldn’t panic, and a drop in impressions isn’t the end of the world – page two and beyond never generated a lot of clicks anyways.”

Lewis McCarthy, SEO Lead at Brave Agency