The End of Page Two: How Google’s Quiet Update Just Changed SEO Forever
Google just pulled off one of its most quietly disruptive moves in years. In September 2025, the company removed the &num=100 search parameter – a small piece of code that once allowed users and SEO tools to see up to 100 search results at once. On the surface, that sounds like a routine maintenance update. In reality, it’s a structural shift that’s already shaking up how the internet measures visibility, ranks content, and distributes information.
What Just Happened – and Why It Matters
The &num=100 parameter was how SEO platforms like Ahrefs, Semrush, and countless smaller tools captured the full top 100 results for any given keyword. By killing it, Google effectively collapsed the publicly visible search index to the top 10–20 results.
That means everything on page two and beyond has basically fallen into a black hole. It’s not that the content doesn’t exist – it’s just no longer easily tracked, measured, or even counted in Google Search Console impressions.
For SEO pros, that’s devastating. For startups, it’s existential. The long tail – those hundreds of low-volume, high-intent keywords that once drove incremental growth – just got fenced off.
Why This Isn’t Just About SEO
This isn’t just a search story. It’s a data control story.
By making it harder (and far more expensive) for third parties to collect full SERP data, Google has tightened its grip on the index that feeds both traditional search and generative AI systems. LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude rely on broad, structured web data to generate answers. When Google locks down access to the long tail, it also starves those systems of niche, specialized content.
That means visibility isn’t just about “ranking” anymore – it’s about being cited. If an LLM can’t see your data, it can’t cite you, and if it can’t cite you, your brand disappears from the AI-driven discovery layer that’s replacing traditional search.
The Shift from SEO to AEO and GEO
The collapse of the long tail will accelerate the shift from SEO to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).
- AEO is about structuring your content to be the answer in voice and AI-generated summaries — think schema markup, concise definitions, and question-driven content.
- GEO goes further – it’s about influencing how your brand, products, or content are represented inside generative AI systems themselves.
Visibility used to depend on backlinks and rank tracking. Now it depends on AI citations, structured data, and machine-readable authority.
Organic discovery still exists – but it’s fenced, filtered, and centralized. The next era of visibility will be fought inside the walls of AI systems, not just Google’s blue links.
How Businesses Can Adapt
This change is both good and bad news. The bad: the passive, long-tail growth model is gone. The good: the next phase rewards brands that take control of their distribution.
To compete in the post-&num=100 world, companies will need to:
- Reengineer content for AI consumption – clear headings, structured data, and machine-readable summaries.
- Measure visibility beyond Google – track how brands appear in ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI environments.
- Build controlled distribution channels – own communities, niche platforms, and referral loops that can’t be wiped out by a search update.
Where Seshes.ai Fits In
This is where Seshes.ai comes in.
Seshes is built for this exact shift – helping businesses see where they stand across the new discovery landscape. It shows where your brand is visible (and where it’s missing) inside AI-generated answers, citations, and models.
Instead of optimizing blindly for rankings that may no longer matter, Seshes gives companies the data to optimize for AI discovery, citations, and visibility – the new signals that will define who wins the next wave of organic reach.
The &num=100 deprecation is the wake-up call. Page two is gone. The fence is up. Now it’s time to learn how to play inside the new walls – or better yet, start building your own.
Seshes.ai – Track your AI visibility. Understand where you show up in generative engines. Stay visible in the age of AI discovery.
