Earlier this month, we documented that the average position sharply increased for many sites when Google made that num 100 change blocking a lot of automated queries. Well, for some sites, that number is dropping again, which may mean that there is a workaround for the blocking of those bots and automated queries.
Mike Sullivan on Bluesky and Glenn Gabe on X asked about this. Mike wrote, "something is happening... GSC has been extra slow at loading data since Thursday last, really long 'prompts' are appearing in the data, and impressions are up/positions down again (for me at least)."
Glenn Gabe explained this theory:
Remember the num=100 situation where Google removed support for the parameter based on AI scrapers and bots scraping the Google SERPs? When they did that, average position surged heavily and impressions dropped (since those scrapers were being excluded). Well, @AnalyticsEdge pinged me about a recent change for some sites. And I'm seeing it too for *some* sites (not all).Right around 12/3 or 12/4, some sites are seeing a big drop in average position while impressions skyrocket again. That leads me to believe some scrapers are now getting through. Check your stats. You might be one of them. Now lets see if Google fights back as part of the cat and mouse game...
Glenn Gabe also posted this on LinkedIn and many in the comments are seeing this as well.
I see it to on many but not all sites I have access to in Search Console - here are some examples:
Are any of you seeing this?
Hey @glenngabe.bsky.social , something is happening... GSC has been extra slow at loading data since Thursday last, really long 'prompts' are appearing in the data, and impressions are up/positions down again (for me at least).
— Mike Sullivan (@analyticsedge.com) December 11, 2025 at 10:25 AM
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Remember the num=100 situation where Google removed support for the parameter based on AI scrapers and bots scraping the Google SERPs? When they did that, average position surged heavily and impressions dropped (since those scrapers were being excluded). Well, @AnalyticsEdge… pic.twitter.com/hqWPjJjCY1
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 15, 2025
Is it reversing again this morning:
After I shared about this yesterday, many have seen the same thing. But, I think Google started addressing this already. The latest GSC data shows avg position increasing again and impressions dropping. It's a cat and mouse game with AI scrapers and bots and Google just countered… https://t.co/S6RgbLIf8T pic.twitter.com/Vm1sOkbAdl
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 16, 2025
All three charts I posted above do show reversals of this pattern...
