Google Results Issue Affects SEO Tool Makers
SEO tool makers are addressing issues with Google search results, affecting data accuracy. This impacts SEO reports and user trust.
Original reporting · searchenginejournal.com
Original: “How Rank Trackers Say They Handle Suspect Google Results via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern”
Read “How Rank Trackers Say They Handle Suspect Google Results via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern” at Search Engine Journal →
How this was written. Content Catalyst wrote this article with a language model from Search Engine Journal’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Search Engine Journal’s report
- SEO tool makers are addressing issues with Google search results accuracy.
- Ahrefs and SEOmonitor are taking steps to clean up affected results.
- Other companies, such as AccuRanker and BrightLocal, have described their methods for handling these results.
SEO tool makers, including Ahrefs and SEOmonitor, are taking steps to address issues with Google search results, which may have been affected by what Ahrefs calls the 'poisoning' of search results.
Between Oct. 9 and 13, some incorrect results were recorded in SEOmonitor's platform, and the affected keywords were reprocessed on Oct. 13. Ahrefs is 'cleaning up any past results that may have been affected' but does not specify which dates or metrics are covered.
Other companies, such as AccuRanker, BrightLocal, and SerpApi, have also described their methods for handling these results. AccuRanker eliminates shortened Google results pages and compares new page results to previous days' results.
SEOmonitor estimates that around 8 percent of results returned by Google each day will be either incomplete or incorrect and will be pulled again prior to being recorded. Ahrefs says it has filters that detect and reject abnormal results.
Customers may see different data based on the validation and display rules used by their SEO tool. SEOmonitor may keep showing the previously recorded rank for up to two daily updates until it determines if the lower rank continues to appear in the results.
Vendors are also addressing rankings already recorded, with SEOmonitor re-processing affected keywords and AccuRanker using a 'sandwich check' to monitor stored data for a given keyword. This article is based on reporting by Search Engine Journal.
Questions and answers
What is happening with Google search results?
Google search results may have been affected by what Ahrefs calls the 'poisoning' of search results, leading to incorrect or incomplete data.
How are SEO tool makers addressing the issue?
SEO tool makers, such as Ahrefs and SEOmonitor, are taking steps to clean up affected results and implement new checks to ensure data accuracy.
What does this mean for customers?
Customers may see different data based on the validation and display rules used by their SEO tool, and vendors are working to ensure the accuracy of recorded rankings.
