Why Google Search Console Impressions Plummeted in September 2025

02 Oct

learnseo Oct 02, 2025 SEO Updates 0

Why Google Search Console Impressions Plummeted in September 2025 — What Changed & How to Adapt

In mid-September 2025, website owners and SEO professionals across the world opened their Google Search Console (GSC) dashboards to a shock: impressions had suddenly fallen off a cliff. Some saw 20%, 40%, even 60% drops in their graphs overnight. Was it an algorithm update? A penalty? Had something gone terribly wrong with their websites?

The answer, as it turns out, is both simpler and more revealing. Google quietly changed how search results are displayed and counted. As a result, impressions now reflect a much narrower slice of user behavior. The drop you’re seeing may not actually be a loss of visibility — but it does change how you should interpret your data and plan your SEO strategy going forward.

This article breaks down why GSC impressions plummeted in September 2025, what really changed behind the scenes, and how you can adapt without panicking.

A Sudden “Impression Cliff” That Shook SEOs

Between September 10 and September 15, threads popped up on SEO forums, Reddit, LinkedIn groups, and Slack communities. Site owners compared graphs showing huge impression drops, often with little or no change in clicks.

This pattern repeated across industries and countries. For most, the loss seemed to hit long-tail keywords and deeper-ranking pages the hardest. That observation would later prove to be the key to understanding the change.

The Real Culprit: Google Shut Off the “100 Results Per Page” Loophole

For years, SEOs and rank-tracking tools have used a URL parameter &num=100 to force Google to show up to 100 results per page instead of the default 10. This was never officially supported for public use, but it worked — and it let Google Search Console record impressions for pages ranking far beyond the first page of results.

In September 2025, Google quietly disabled that parameter. All searchers, including bots and tools, were sent back to the standard 10 results per page (or infinite scroll on mobile).

That small switch had an enormous reporting effect:

Pages ranking 11th–100th for a query no longer get counted as “seen” impressions in GSC.
Long-tail queries that used to generate impressions from extended result pages now show zero or near zero impressions.
CTRs can appear to rise simply because impressions are only being counted for page-one visibility.

In other words, your ranking didn’t necessarily change — Google just stopped counting a lot of “ghost” impressions from pages users rarely reached.

Understanding the Gap Between Impressions, Clicks, and Traffic

Because the change was about reporting rather than ranking, most sites did not see a corresponding loss of traffic. Organic sessions in Analytics stayed steady. Revenue from organic traffic stayed steady.

What did change:

Impressions dropped.
CTR went up.
Average position sometimes looked better.

These are illusions caused by a new counting method. If you’re only being counted for page-one impressions now, your CTR looks great because you’re comparing to a smaller denominator. Your average position may improve because the data set is smaller.

To be sure you’re not facing a real ranking problem, check your organic sessions in Google Analytics or server logs. If both impressions and clicks are down, you may have been hit by a separate quality update as well.

Other Changes Adding to the Confusion

1. Google’s Late-August Spam & Helpful Content Updates

Just a couple of weeks before this impressions change, Google rolled out a spam/“helpful content” update targeting low-value or auto-generated content. If your decline started before September 10 or if clicks dropped in tandem with impressions, you might be dealing with both issues.

2. Changing SERP Layouts

Google has been testing new search layouts, including AI-generated summaries, larger People Also Ask boxes, and more shopping widgets. These features push traditional blue links further down, which can also reduce impressions for some queries.

3. Infinite Scroll on Mobile

On mobile, infinite scroll is replacing the old paginated results. As Google refines how impressions are logged for these feeds, fluctuations are inevitable.

Common Patterns SEOs Have Noticed

Desktop vs. Mobile: Desktop impressions often fell harder than mobile because mobile already had infinite scroll.
Long-Tail Content Suffers Most: Pages ranking beyond the first page lost their “phantom” impressions.
CTR “Improves” Without Real Change: Because only page-one impressions count, CTR seems higher.
Average Position Appears to Rise: Same reason as above — a different data set.

Knowing these patterns can help you separate signal from noise.

How to Respond: Practical Steps

1. Recalibrate Your Baselines

Treat September 2025 as a hard break in your reporting. Pre- and post-September data aren’t directly comparable. When you present performance to stakeholders, add a note explaining the change in impression counting.

2. Focus on Traffic and Conversions

Impressions are a vanity metric. What really matters is organic sessions, engaged users, and conversions. Use Analytics or your CRM to track those. If they’re stable, you’re doing fine.

3. Push Key Pages Into the Top 10

Since impressions now only count where users actually see results, the incentive to rank in the top 10 (or even the top 5) has never been greater. Refresh old content, improve on-page signals, and build topical authority to move your priority pages upward.

4. Audit Your Content Quality

If clicks are down too, audit your content against Google’s E-E-A-T standards (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Prune thin or duplicate pages, add original research, and strengthen internal linking.

5. Stay Plugged Into the SEO Community

This change caught many by surprise because it wasn’t clearly announced. Join SEO forums, follow reputable newsletters, and watch for Google Search Central updates so you’re not blindsided next time.

Turning a Disruption Into an Opportunity

This impression drop is actually good news for serious marketers. By cutting out noise from deep-ranking pages that almost no one saw, GSC now gives a clearer picture of what real users see.

With cleaner data, you can:

Identify which queries truly drive visibility.
Allocate resources to high-impact pages.
Stop chasing metrics that don’t translate into traffic or revenue.

Think of September 2025 as the moment when impressions got real. Instead of worrying about inflated numbers, focus on the subset of impressions that matter — those with a chance of generating clicks and conversions.

Preparing for the Future of Search Metrics

Google’s move signals a broader shift. As AI-generated answers, personalized results, and richer SERPs continue to evolve, traditional metrics like “average position” and “impressions” will mean less. Engagement, loyalty, and brand visibility will mean more.

Here’s how to future-proof your reporting:

Track organic sessions and branded search growth.
Measure engagement metrics like time on page and scroll depth.
Correlate organic traffic with leads or sales, not just clicks.
Use GSC impressions as a directional, not absolute, measure.

By adopting this mindset now, you’ll stay ahead while competitors are still clinging to outdated benchmarks.

Key Takeaways

The September 2025 GSC impression drop is mostly a reporting change, not a ranking collapse.
Google disabled the &num=100 parameter, so impressions beyond page one disappeared from reports.
CTRs and average positions may look “better,” but traffic is likely unchanged.
If clicks and traffic are also down, you may also be affected by a quality update.
The new data makes it even more important to rank on the first page and focus on user-centric metrics.

Final Thoughts

The September 2025 impression drop isn’t a reason to panic — it’s a wake-up call. Google’s metrics are evolving to reflect real user behavior. That means your reporting and your strategy should evolve too.

Rather than chasing raw impression counts, focus on clicks, engagement, and conversions. Double down on quality content and meaningful rankings. And keep educating clients and stakeholders about why the numbers changed, so they understand the context.

If you adapt now, you’ll be ahead of the curve while others are still scratching their heads at their dashboards.