Since the end of last week, Google no longer supports the parameter “num=100”, which was used to request the first 100 organic hits of a search. Now, Google only offers 10 hits per request. This change was implemented without warning and impacts all providers that evaluate search results.
As a consequence, both the complexity and cost of search result pages will increase: While a singular request sufficed so far, now 10 requests are needed – and additional expenses. We at SISTRIX are also affected and are currently adjusting our strategies for the measurement of SERP data.
Immediately after the change, the daily values for the Visibility Index could no longer be published and individual project keywords couldn’t be compiled. We are expecting both of these functions to be available again within the next two days, but, initially, with a longer updating cycle. At the same time we are evaluating with which depth and frequency search results will be compiled in the future to find the best possible compromise between usage and cost. You can find updates about this on our status page.
Web search, and with it the entire SEO industry, has been in a constant state of change for the past two years: after a longer period of comparably little reform, the success of ChatGPT fundamentally shifted the scene. Google is under pressure and introduces changes that would have probably not been launched this quickly without this pressure. The political environment changed as well: in the US competition procedures against Google, it has recently been discovered that the company has to catch up in the field of AI search as well. It’s probably no coincidence that the gathering of search results shortly after this verdict has been made more complicated, especially considering that ChatGPT, being Google’s biggest competitor, also uses their data for their own purposes.
I suspect that we will see many more updates in the coming months and years: some might be of a more technical nature, like the current restructuring of data compilation, others could be more fundamental and extensive. Google is already showing in which direction internet search is developing with the AI Overviews. The AI Mode that is not yet available in Europe is the next stage of progression. Google has announced on many channels that they assume the internet search will look like this in the future and have little resemblance to the familiar “10 blue links”.
What remains to be seen, in my opinion, is whether Google can maintain its predominant market position or if it has to share the market with OpenAI from now on. Despite the rapid pace of these changes being taxing for many, even I am sometimes hoping for a break, I view the chances and opportunities as mostly positive. Chatbots open up many new ways to the usage of search and will make the entire market considerably larger.
We are already working on using these possibilities: our AI Prompt Tracking in the AI Beta has made great advances and can be accessed for free for existing customers. Additionally, we have been compiling data for the AI Modes during the past few weeks (first impressions are available next week on the OMT Keynote) and our analyses of the responses from ChatGPT are progressing substantially as well.
