Google has once again created a hive of chatter within the SEO community after its latest change, the removal of the num=100 parameter, saw over 87.7% of websites within Google Search Console decline in organic impressions.
This information was from a new analysis of 319 properties by SEO Tyler Gargula, director of technical SEO at LOCOMOTIVE Agency. This recent change by Google isn’t just affecting organic impressions. The performance declines for some also span across query count and ranking position. The declines for these metrics are mainly from short and mid-tail keywords.
Google Search Console Impressions declining
Why this change is grabbing SEOs’ attention
The main reason this is the hottest talking point between SEOs at the moment is reporting. This downturn in impressions and keywords could make those all-important performance reports look weaker, even if rankings are holding strong.
People will often see a sharp downturn in any metric as bad without digging deeper into the cause. However, it’s possible some of the Google Search Console data wasn’t real, because scrapers using the &num=100 parameter feature were causing an influx of impressions, so now the data is more accurate. This means that over a period of time, the data in Google Search Console will be more accurate.
An increase in average keyword position rank
Due to the decline in desktop impressions, the average keyword position data in Search Console has had a sharp increase. This is down to the removal of the parameter, meaning fewer queries now show on page 3+.
Google hasn’t said whether the change is permanent or accidental. Although it’s not something that should be causing SEOs too much concern. If this is a permanent fixture, then the data will eventually be more accurate and as long as SEOs educate their clients and address this, any potential issues should be minimised.
Google Search Console Average Position spiking
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