Over the last week, SEO experts and practitioners observed major data fluctuations in ranking tools. Reportedly, third-party SEO tools have shown a disbalance in their ranking stats and reports, raising great concerns about Google banning such tools. The incident took place on January 15, after Google made certain transformations within its systems. Semrush, SE Ranking, AlsoAsked, and ZipTie.dev are among the top SEO platforms that have disclosed their concern on the issue.
Tomek Rudzki, Co-Founder of ZipTie.dev, shared on X. “We’ve observed a decrease (approximately 2 percentage points) in AIO detection rates through Ziptie’s tracking system. It seems Google is blocking AIO checkers in a smart way, far beyond traditional captchas. We are looking for ways to improve the AIO detection rate.”
Individuals around the world shared the issue through social media platforms, highlighting data unpredictability. Google has recently declared that it is using JavaScript for search results while keeping spammy content away.
Google has stated, “Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam, and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information”. Following this announcement, SEO data tracking platforms stopped updating data.
SEO consultant, Natalia Witczyk addressed the situation and wrote on LinkedIn,
“Fresh in: Google starts intensifying its anti-scraping measures, introducing stricter protections such as IP blocking and CAPTCHAs. Popular SEO tools like Semrush, SE Ranking are being impacted.
This move from Google is making data extraction more challenging and costly. As a result, users may face higher subscription fees.
Any of you seeing data issues in your SEO tools?
EDIT: Ahrefs claims no outages, so I have removed their name from the first paragraph, however some users reported data lags. Sistrix seem unaffected.”
How Tool Restrictions Impact SEO?
Every SEO practitioner uses certain tools to track the performance and progress of their web pages. They largely depend on these platforms to assess the success of their campaigns, evaluating ROI, and track overall outcome of their SEO endeavors. Therefore, if such tools show no results, they will surely create hurdles for digital marketers worldwide.
It is crucial to mention that specific tools such as Ahrefs and Sistrix observed no changes in their performance.
Looking Ahead: Google Blocks SEO Tools
Though Google has not released any statement on tool restrictions yet, since January 20, many tools have been back on track. The use of JavaScript will surely bring significant changes in search ranking and reporting factors. However, the core motive is to offer value to the users and keep abusive as well as spammy content away from the search.
Read More: Google Search Console Gets Bugged: Triggers Tension Around Regions