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If your rank-tracking dashboard suddenly looked strange this week, you’re not imagining it, and it’s probably not your rankings. Search Engine Roundtable reported on September 18, 2026 that Google has significantly tightened its blocking of scrapers and third-party tracking tools, with new measures rolling out around September 13, 2026. The result: several major SEO data platforms are reporting sharp, sudden drops in how much rank-tracking data they can retrieve from Google Search, with one vendor putting the loss at roughly 80%.
What changed, and who’s reporting the impact
According to Search Engine Roundtable’s reporting, Google implemented new blocking methods aimed at scrapers, search scrapers specifically, and third-party tracking tools around September 13, 2026. That timing isn’t isolated. It lands just days after two separate, unannounced ranking shifts that respected SEO analysts Glenn Gabe and Marie Haynes independently flagged around September 3 and 4, and again around September 12, neither of which Google has confirmed through its Search Status Dashboard. Taken together, the sequence points to Google making deliberate, largely unannounced changes to how its search results are served and how much of that data can be automatically collected, within the same two-week window.
The clearest reported number comes from Nozzle. Founder Derek Perkins told Search Engine Roundtable that his platform experienced roughly an 80% reduction in data retrieval from Google Search after the new measures took effect. DataForSEO reported experiencing similar issues with its own data pipelines, suggesting the disruption isn’t limited to one vendor’s technical setup.
Sistrix confirmed the pattern from its own side. The company said “Google has made further changes to the way search results are delivered,” and Sistrix’s Steve Paine put it plainly: “Our data collection is running at a reduced rate as a result, but data is flowing.” That distinction matters for anyone relying on these tools day to day: this isn’t a total outage, it’s a bandwidth squeeze, and the size of that squeeze isn’t the same for every vendor.
That unevenness is the most useful part of the story for SEOs trying to figure out what to trust right now. SEO analyst Glenn Gabe cross-checked the situation across multiple platforms and found real inconsistencies: Ahrefs continued scraping effectively through the change, Semrush’s data collection slowed, and Sistrix lagged furthest behind the other tools. In practice, that means the same keyword set can produce three different-looking ranking pictures right now, depending purely on which tool pulled the data and when, with no actual change in where a site ranks.
Google has not issued a public statement specifically addressing this round of blocking changes, which is consistent with how the company has generally handled anti-scraping efforts: as an operational security matter rather than something it announces or confirms on the record. For SEOs, that means there’s no official timeline for when data collection rates might stabilize, or whether Google intends to tighten further.
ARC Marketing’s Take
“If your rank tracker’s numbers moved 80% overnight, that’s not your content losing rankings, that’s your telescope losing focus,” said ARC Marketing. “We’d rather tell a client ‘our tool has a blind spot this week’ than hand them a report that quietly bakes a measurement error into what looks like market reality.”
Starting this month, we’re cross-checking any rank-tracking swing larger than 15% against Google Search Console’s own position data before we report it to a client as an actual ranking change, since Search Console is queried directly by Google rather than scraped around it. We’re also no longer letting any single client account depend on one rank-tracking vendor, specifically because Glenn Gabe’s tool-by-tool comparison shows the scraping gap between Ahrefs, Semrush, and Sistrix is now wide enough to tell three different stories from the exact same set of keywords.
Sources
- Search Engine Roundtable, “Google More Successful In Blocking Scrapers & Tracking Tools,” September 18, 2026 (Derek Perkins/Nozzle, DataForSEO, Steve Paine/Sistrix, Glenn Gabe)
- Single Grain, reporting on the unconfirmed early-September 2026 Google update flagged by Glenn Gabe and Marie Haynes, published September 15, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Google actually change?
Google tightened its blocking of scrapers, including search scrapers and third-party tracking tools, with new measures rolling out around September 13, 2026. Google has not publicly detailed the technical changes, but multiple SEO data vendors reported sharply reduced ability to collect ranking data immediately afterward.
How much data collection did tools lose?
Nozzle reported roughly an 80% reduction in data retrieval. DataForSEO reported similar disruption. Sistrix confirmed reduced, though not stopped, data collection. The impact varied by platform: Ahrefs was reported to be least affected, while Semrush and Sistrix saw more significant slowdowns.
Does this mean my rankings actually changed?
Not necessarily. This is a data collection issue on the tool side, not confirmation of an actual ranking shift. A sudden, dramatic swing in your rank-tracking dashboard right now is more likely to reflect which tool you’re using and how hard the blocking hit that tool, rather than a real change in where your pages rank.
Is this connected to a Google algorithm update?
The timing is close: the blocking changes rolled out around September 13, 2026, just days after unconfirmed ranking shifts that SEO analysts Glenn Gabe and Marie Haynes independently flagged around September 3 to 4, and again around September 12. Google hasn’t confirmed a direct link between the blocking measures and those ranking shifts.
Which rank-tracking tools are most reliable right now?
Based on Glenn Gabe’s comparison, Ahrefs was reported to be continuing to scrape effectively, while Semrush showed slower data collection and Sistrix lagged furthest behind. That said, this is a fast-moving situation, and relative performance between tools could shift again as Google’s blocking measures evolve.
What should I do if my rank-tracking data looks off?
Cross-check any large, sudden swing against Google Search Console’s own position data before treating it as a real ranking change, and avoid relying on a single rank-tracking vendor until data collection rates stabilize across the industry.