Google deactivates &num=100: What the change means for SEO, rank tracking & tools

Google has quietly made a profound change to its search function that is having major consequences for SEO tools and ranking monitoring. The previously usable URL parameter &num=100—which allowed the top 100 search results to be displayed on a single page—no longer works as expected.The entire internet SEO community is buzzing, as this now has significant implications for gathering data on keywords and rankings on Google.

What has changed?

For years, SEO tools like Ahrefs and similar providers could retrieve all 100 organic Google results at once using the &num=100 parameter. This saved time and costs, and allowed for more efficient analysis.However, Google recently started displaying only 100 results when using this parameter in exceptional cases—most of the time, it defaults to the standard view with 10 results per page. Third-party providers like Ahrefs have confirmed that this change is being felt across the board.

What are the consequences?

The consequences are far-reaching:

• Rank tracking becomes more expensive and complex: Instead of one query per keyword, up to ten are now necessary to capture the entire Top 100.

• Less data for analysis: Impressions in the Google Search Console appear to be decreasing, while the average position is rising—a side effect of the missing data beyond position 10.

• Data gaps in tools: Providers who relied on &num=100 are forced to adapt their infrastructure—often with delays or limitations in scope.

• The worst impact, however, is for those who haven't yet implemented any search engine optimization.

Why is Google doing this?

Officially, Google has not yet commented on this change. However, the following plausible reasons are circulating within the SEO community:

• Protection against automated scraping: The collection of mass data by bots—especially in the wake of the AI tool wave—is hindered by the limitation.

• Cost savings: Less data per query means lower server load for Google.

• Guiding user behavior: By requiring classic search navigation with page numbers again, Google could be actively working against "data mining".

What does this mean for SEO professionals and website operators?

Although the majority of traffic is typically concentrated on the first page of search results, positions beyond the Top 10 still hold significant strategic importance:

• Identifying content potential: Pages ranking between positions 11 and 100 are often close to jumping to the first page—making them ideal candidates for optimization.

• Competitor analysis: New, rising content in deeper rankings could previously be spotted early—which is now more difficult.

• Assessing realistic visibility: An overview of the complete Top 100 is central to gaining a comprehensive picture of one's own SEO performance.

How are tool providers reacting?

Providers like Ahrefs and others are looking for technical solutions to deliver as complete ranking data as possible even without &num=100. Possible measures include:

• Distributed queries with higher costs

• Alternative collection methods via APIs or browser emulation

• Limitations in data availability for individual subscriptions

Important: The update frequency usually remains, but individual keywords or keyword depth may no longer be fully analyzable in the future.The challenge here is that Google will simply block many tool requests coming from a single IP address.

Conclusion: The SERPs are changing—and SEO must react

The discontinuation of the &num=100 parameter marks a noticeable cut in the day-to-day technical SEO work.

At the same time, it shows once again how dynamic and unpredictable the search engine ecosystem is.

Even if Google has not issued an official explanation, it is up to the industry to react quickly and adjust workflows.

The most important page remains the first one—but to holistically understand, optimize, and monitor rankings, access to the complete results landscape is still necessary.

Tool providers will have to find creative solutions—and SEO teams should prepare for new methods of data collection.

Any agency that has previously collected a large amount of data has a clear advantage.

If you want to rank on Google and generate revenue, book a potential analysis with us.