The Shifting Sands of SEO: Navigating Google's Latest Changes

A Wild Ride in the SEO World

Last week, Barry Schwartz wrote an article about Google possibly testing dropping the 100 search results parameter. I noticed this last Thursday and Friday in Google Search Console, but Brodie Clark spotted it over the weekend and penned a fantastic piece about witnessing HUGE declines in GSC Impression data across sites.

The SEO content goblins indeed confirm this. Impressions across sites have plummeted, and I mean plummeted, since last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Impressions are way down, while clicks remain stable. This situation is causing Average Position ranks and Click-Through Rates to surge. It's like a rollercoaster ride where the highs are thrilling, but the lows make your stomach drop!

No official word from Google yet on this change—whether it's a test, a bug, or something else entirely. But whatever it is, it’s causing Third-Party SEO Tools MAJOR issues. We’re seeing wild fluctuations, missing data, and all sorts of chaos.

The SEMRush sensor is stuck on September 10th, which is highly unusual for them. Other tools are showing HUGE spikes in volatility, like SISTRIX.

The Ongoing Spam Update

This is all happening while Google is still rolling out the August 2025 SPAM Update.

This begs the question: is this the death of reliable third-party rank tracking tools?

The SEO Dilemma

Now, SEOs have the daunting task of explaining this mess to non-technical CMOs during their QBRs, monthly reports, and weekly updates. Sigh! Google continues to work against us, making it harder for SEOs to help improve the web. Some third-party tools, like seoClarity, claim their data is unaffected, while others, like RankTracker, are singing a different tune on social media.

Google will likely post something vague or, worse, not respond at all. Meanwhile, they announce some shiny new 'achievements' section this morning, while GSC data is, for lack of a better word, totally unusable and unreliable now.

Google likes to tell people that their case studies on AVG. CTR for AI Overviews are not accurate. But then they make a change with no communication. Maybe the unreliability of case studies comes from the fact that the data used for analysis—FROM GOOGLE—is unreliable.

The Reliability Crisis

The reliability of both third-party tools and Google’s own tools is slipping. SEOs rely on a variety of tools and data sources to make strategic decisions. We have to deal with data that involves Last-Touch analysis and Zero-Click SERPs. It's a wild world out there!

Stay tuned—there's more to come on this.

What Lies Ahead?

I suspect that this week we might see the Spam update wrap up. Right after that, I think we might witness another Core Update. Historically, this is the time of year when Google gears up for the holiday season by making changes to the SERP. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another two Core Updates before the year ends, along with potentially another Spam update.

Buckle up, SEOs! Google just made SEO harder, and we’re all feeling the heat. It’s becoming increasingly challenging to measure SEO and organic performance accurately.

So, what do you think? Are we in for a bumpy ride, or is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Let’s keep our eyes peeled and our strategies sharp!