If you logged into Google Search Console (GSC) after 13th September 2025 and saw a dramatic drop in impressions, you’re not alone. Across the many websites we host and manage, we’ve seen impressions fall off a cliff – in some cases losing 75% of their impressions.
The first reaction from many site owners is panic: ‘Has my site been penalised? Have I lost my rankings?’ The good news is: no, probably not. Clicks have stayed steady, and user traffic hasn’t collapsed. What you’re seeing is the result of a reporting change – not necessarily a ranking change.
What Changed: Google Retires &num=100
For years, SEO tools and rank trackers used a URL parameter called &num=100 to request 100 search results from Google in one page load. This gave a fuller view of keyword rankings, including those buried deep in positions 50–100.
In mid-September, Google quietly retired support for &num=100. Now, results are limited/paginated differently, and those deep listings are no longer retrieved the same way.
How This Impacts Search Console Data
Because GSC reports on impressions across all positions where your site appeared, the loss of these ‘deep’ impressions has caused:
- Sharp drops in total impressions – especially for desktop searches.
- Fewer unique ranking keywords being recorded.
- An apparent boost in average position – because all those low-ranking entries have been stripped out of the dataset.
But here’s the crucial part: clicks have remained largely unaffected. That means real searchers are still finding and visiting your site at the same rate. The change is in measurement, not visibility.
What This Doesn’t Mean
- It doesn’t mean your website has been hit with a penalty.
- It doesn’t mean your rankings have disappeared overnight.
- It doesn’t mean your SEO efforts have been wasted.
What it does mean is that comparisons with previous months or years now need context. A reporting reset has occurred.
What You Should Do Next
- Annotate your reports. Mark mid-September 2025 as the date impressions dropped due to Google’s parameter change.
- Focus on outcomes that matter. Track clicks, conversions, and engagement rather than relying too heavily on impressions.
- Check by device. Early analysis shows desktop results were more affected than mobile.
- Talk to your SEO tool providers. Many are adjusting their tracking methods now that &num=100 is gone.
Turning This Into a Positive
This change strips out a lot of ‘noise’ – those low-ranking impressions that never really reflected meaningful visibility. It’s an opportunity to shift focus onto metrics that matter for business growth: traffic, leads, and conversions.
So while the graph looks alarming, rest assured: in most cases, nothing fundamental has changed about how your website performs in search. It’s the data lens that’s changed.
Conclusion
If your GSC impressions plunged in mid-September, don’t panic. The cause is Google’s removal of the &num=100 parameter, not a sudden collapse in your search presence.
Clicks — and therefore actual user visits — remain stable. Take this as a cue to re-baseline your reporting, explain the shift to stakeholders, and put more weight on the metrics that truly matter.
