num parameter — which allowed more search results per page — is causing sharp changes in Google Search Console data.Tyler Gargula reviewed 320 profiles and found that 87.7% of sites saw impression drops and 77.6% lost unique ranking keywords. Similarly, Serge Bezborodov tracked ~25% impression declines across 1,000 sites.
Short- and mid-tail keywords are most impacted, and ranking distributions look different as inflated impressions are stripped out.
In short, what we’re seeing is not necessarily a traffic crash but a correction of inflated data, especially from scraper tools.
Takeaway: SEOs should expect Search Console to look “cleaner” going forward — but reporting to clients may require careful explanations about these sudden drops.