Around September 12, Google removed an option when searching, and that led to significant changes in the number of impressions for a high majority of sites on Google Search Console (GSC). I don’t think it’s anything to worry about; in fact, it could be an improvement.
Most Site’s See Drop in Impressions
Until September 2025, searchers on Google had the option to view up to 100 search results on one page. Many search optimization tracking services and others used this option with automated bot searches to get the first 100 results for many different keywords. Apparently that led to lots of extra impressions in the GSC reports. If you ever wondered why your site had lots of impressions at position 50 and higher, maybe it’s because many of those impressions were bot searches, not people.
When Google began limiting results to 10 per page, the Impressions count in the GSC Performance report dropped drastically.
Specialized Niche Site Impressions Remain Stable
One site I monitor is a very niche business; the Impressions graph shows no drop. I think this is consistent with bots. I speculate that since virtually no other site is trying to improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the same keywords, SEO services are not monitoring those keywords, so they never inflated the numbers before September.
The Improvement: More Accurate Stats
I think this could lead to more accurate impressions and keyword statistics in GSC because bots are not inflating the numbers as much now. The improvement might be temporary. As SEO monitoring companies reprogram their bots to scroll through pages of search results, bots might show up in results more. But for now, I think the Impressions count is more accurate.
What to Do: Don’t Worry, Review Recent Keyword Stats
Don’t worry about it. It seems to affect bot searches, not real searches by people, and those are the searches that count. The up side: more realistic stats. Do the following.
Expect a New Baseline for Impressions
If you monitor your GSC reports, expect a new baseline for impressions starting on September 12. Then track your trends from there.
Monitor Clicks
Keep an eye on the number of clicks. Bot searches generally don’t click, so clicks should be stable. The number of clicks is a more important GSC statistic, so track clicks more than impressions.
Maybe a Slight Drop in Clicks
Some sites might have a small decrease. This is most obvious in sites with 2 to 5 clicks a day. If they lose one click per day, the total changes by 20% to 50%. Don’t rely on my observations here because these statistics are not significant: the historic number of clicks and the number of days in the sample are too small.
Most sites seem stable, even most with a low number of clicks.
Some sites have an increase in clicks. I suspect this is caused by other factors like improved SEO.
So my advice is the same for everybody interested in SEO: monitor the clicks on your site.
Then you’ll know.
Monitor Queries
In GSC, the Top queries column shows the search phrases (keywords) used when your site appeared in search results. With fewer bots confounding search results, your queries list might change.
Conclusion
A change in Google search options reduced the Impressions count in the Google Search Console Performance report. This might lead to more accurate statistics there. Monitor your results.
