Google Just Killed Search

Last week, Google confirmed it no longer supports the num=100 parameter.

This is the setting that lets you pull up to 100 search results per page.

Now, results are capped at 10 per page.

At first glance, it seems small, but this change has massive ripple effects for rank-tracking, discovery, and visibility: SEO tools that rely on deep SERP (Search Engine Results Page) data can no longer fetch positions 11–100 in one go. Instead they need to paginate, which skews tracking.

Search Console data is showing big drops in impressions and artificial “improvements” in average position. Sites that lived in the long tail (startups, niche content, community threads) are the most impacted as that visibility is now harder to measure and report.

When you remove 90% of search results, you distort how brands perceive performance, even if users haven’t changed how they search.

This isn’t an algorithm update, it’s a visibility update. It's also a reminder: the rules of search are being rewritten for the AI era.

The winners will be the ones who build content that AI systems can easily interpret (structured data, clear entities, concise answers).

Optimize for answer engines, not just search engines. Measure what really matters: user engagement, not just rank reports.

Say hello to the future of search.