Google &num= Parameter Removal: SERP Scraping & Moz Pro Impact
Google has officially retired the long-standing `&num=` parameter from its search engine results pages (SERPs), a move that significantly impacts the SEO industry, particularly in how search data is collected and analyzed. Previously, this parameter allowed users and tools to specify the number of organic results displayed per page, commonly used to retrieve up to 100 results (`&num=100`) with a single query. Its removal means that, by default, Google now consistently returns only 10 organic results per page, regardless of any parameter attempts.
The primary impact of this change is on SERP scraping costs and data comprehensiveness. SEO tools and analytics platforms, which previously leveraged `&num=` to efficiently gather extensive SERP data beyond the top 10, now face increased operational expenses. To obtain deeper ranking data, these tools must execute multiple queries, effectively paginating through results (e.g., querying for page 1, then page 2, and so on) instead of a single, broad request. This multi-query approach demands more resources, including increased proxy usage and processing power, leading to higher costs for data providers.
For Moz Pro, this change translates into specific adjustments. The platform will now default to scraping 10 results per SERP, aligning with Google’s new standard. Consequently, users will observe a shift in tracked rankings, with fewer keywords displaying results beyond the traditional top 10. While Moz is adapting its data collection methodologies to mitigate the impact and explore alternative ways to gather deeper insights, the immediate effect is a reduction in the depth of automatically collected SERP data. This necessitates a re-evaluation of how SEO professionals monitor and analyze keyword performance, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the most critical top-tier rankings and adapting strategies for deeper competitive analysis.
(Source: https://moz.com/blog/num-100-and-changing-serp-lengths-in-moz-pro)
