Is Google pushing back against AI?
Many people who run a search through Google see a standard of 10 search results on the first page. This has become more complex in recent years, as people may see shopping links at the top of the page, quick answers or even AI-generated insights. But as a general rule, Google still generates the top 10 organic search results on the first page, and users need to move to subsequent pages to see more results.
However, there was once a parameter that could be used to generate 100 results on the first page. This was the num=100 parameter, but it has recently been dropped by Google. The company has stated that it no longer supports the use of this feature, and it has now been removed. Naturally, this change has had an impact on search engine optimization (SEO), and some believe Google made this decision specifically to combat data harvesting by large language models (LLMs) like Perplexity or ChatGPT.
Why does AI use this parameter?
This parameter was useful for AI platforms in several ways. For one thing, AI models had to be trained on large datasets from the internet, and this was one method of exposing them to more information.
Part of the issue is that LLMs can analyze and summarize all of the search results in a way that often bypasses Google entirely. Some have suggested that Google felt threatened by this and that limiting results to just 10 per page is a way to reduce the effectiveness of AI platforms and automated systems. Google wants to remain relevant to users, who it believes should access information by visiting the search results page and clicking through to sources, rather than receiving regenerated summaries from an AI.
Changes to the SEO landscape
Changes like this can significantly impact SEO and the user experience. For example, someone would now have to submit 10 separate page requests to see 100 results, instead of just one. This makes ranking in the top 10 more important than ever for websites and businesses.
That said, there are other theories for why Google made this change beyond limiting AI use. Some believe Google is trying to reduce automated scraping of search results pages. Others think the company wants to push users toward its own analytic tools or protect its infrastructure by improving speed and stability.
Regardless of the reasoning, it is important for companies and website owners to understand how these changes affect the future of SEO and AI, and what steps they should take to adapt. That is where our experienced team can help here at Content Customs, so give us a call today to learn more.
