How two technical changes at Google and ChatGPT are fundamentally changing the current search landscape

How Google and OpenAI changed the internet in September – The surprising connection between Google's new search and ChatGPT's silence

The digital search landscape experienced two notable changes in September 2024, which initially seemed inconspicuous but would have profound implications for website operators, SEO experts, and AI applications. On September 14, 2024, Google removed the num=100 parameter, while at the same time, ChatGPT drastically reduced its citation display. These two seemingly unrelated events reveal a larger transformation in the way information is discovered, processed, and presented online.

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The silent shutdown of the num=100 parameter

Google made one of the most significant changes to its search infrastructure in years, without much public announcement. The URL parameter num=100, which for many years had enabled the simultaneous display of 100 search results, was completely deactivated on September 14, 2024. This technical innovation had far-reaching consequences for the entire SEO industry.

How the num=100 parameter works

For decades, users, and especially SEO tools, could display up to 100 search results on a single page by appending "&num=100" to a Google search URL, instead of the standard 10. While this feature was a convenience for regular users, it was of vital importance to the SEO industry.

Virtually all major SEO providers such as Ahrefs, Sistrix, SEMrush, and specialized ranking tools used this parameter for efficient data collection. They could capture the complete top 100 rankings with a single call, which was both more cost-effective and faster than retrieving results page by page.

Massive impact on the SEO industry

The deactivation of this parameter led to a cost explosion in the SEO industry. Ranking tools now have to perform ten separate queries to obtain the same amount of data that was previously possible with a single query. This represents a tenfold increase in query costs and has already posed serious technical and financial challenges for several tool providers.

The effects were immediately apparent in Google Search Console: 87.7 percent of all websites examined experienced a drastic decline in measured impressions. At the same time, paradoxically, the average position of the websites improved, as fewer "low-ranking impressions" were recorded from positions 11 to 100.

Google's motivation behind the change

The reasons for Google's decision are complex. On the one hand, the change significantly reduces server load, as less data needs to be processed per request. On the other hand, it makes it more difficult for bots and scraping services to collect data on a massive scale, which is particularly relevant given the increased interest of AI companies in Google's data.

Another aspect is user guidance: Google wants to encourage users to return to traditional search, where they click through multiple pages and spend more time in the Google environment. This strengthens Google's position as a central source of information.

ChatGPT's drastic reduction of citations

Parallel to Google's change, OpenAI made an equally significant change to ChatGPT. Since September 11, 2024, the AI ​​chatbot has displayed significantly fewer citations and links to external websites. This reduction affected all industries and content types equally, regardless of the quality of the content or the domain authority of the sources.

The extent of citation reduction

The numbers are dramatic: According to analyses, citations in ChatGPT have dropped by up to 90 percent. Free ChatGPT accounts are particularly affected, while users of the paid versions experience significantly fewer restrictions. This development exacerbates the already existing discrepancy between the traffic websites receive from Google and the significantly lower traffic from ChatGPT.

Cost savings as a driving force

OpenAI is under enormous financial pressure. The company expects losses of around $5 billion by 2024, while operating ChatGPT costs up to $700,000 daily. Reducing web searches and citations is an obvious cost-cutting measure, as each web search requires additional computing resources and API calls.

The cost of OpenAI's web search feature has increased significantly. While earlier models offered free access to web searches, newer models charge full price for search tokens. An example illustrates the cost dilemma: A query with GPT-4o cost $0.13, while the same query with GPT-5, with the more extensive web search tokens, cost $74.

The surprising connection

The temporal proximity of both events is more than a coincidence. ChatGPT frequently relies on current web information for its responses, accessing Google results directly or indirectly via scraping services. Disabling the num=100 parameter also significantly complicates the efficient collection of web data for ChatGPT and other AI systems.

Technical challenges for AI systems

AI applications like ChatGPT rely on extensive, up-to-date web data to generate relevant and accurate answers. The num=100 parameter enabled these systems to quickly and cost-effectively capture large volumes of search results and select the best sources for their answers.

By disabling this parameter, AI systems now have to perform significantly more individual queries, which increases costs exponentially. This explains why OpenAI simultaneously reduced the citation frequency—the costs of providing up-to-date web information were simply no longer economically viable.

Impact on website economics

The combined effects of both changes have permanently altered the digital landscape. Website operators are experiencing a double blow: On the one hand, their pages are less visible in Google Search Console, and on the other, they are receiving fewer referrals from AI applications like ChatGPT.

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The traffic decline in numbers

Studies reveal alarming trends for website operators. Many independent websites report traffic declines of 70 percent or more. Publishers and content creators who rely on search engine traffic are particularly affected. News sites like derwesten.de lost 51 percent of their search traffic, express.de 35 percent, and focus.de 33 percent.

The reasons are complex: In addition to technical changes at Google, AI reviews also play a role, causing users to click less on external websites. Studies show that the click-through rate on the first organic search result drops by up to 30 percent when AI-generated answers are presented.

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New challenges for SEO tools

The SEO industry needs to fundamentally reorient itself. Many established tools currently display incomplete or incorrect data because their crawling logic was based on the old num=100 parameter. Tool providers like Semrush and Accuranker are working feverishly to adapt their systems, but the higher costs are inevitably passed on to their customers.

The democratization of the search landscape

Paradoxically, these changes could lead to a democratization of the search landscape. Since massive data collection has become significantly more expensive, smaller websites and specialized niche providers may have a better chance of gaining visibility. Focusing on the top 20 positions instead of the entire top 100 better reflects real user behavior, since most clicks go to the first search results anyway.

New strategies for content creators

Website operators need to adapt their strategies. Instead of focusing on quantity, quality is becoming more important. Content creators should focus on creating helpful, unique content that offers real added value. The days when pure SEO optimization was enough to achieve top 100 rankings are over.

At the same time, new opportunities are opening up: AI reviews and other AI systems often cite websites that don't necessarily rank first to third on Google. Knowledgeable, well-structured content has a better chance of being mentioned in AI-generated answers.

The cost explosion in AI applications

OpenAI exemplifies the challenges facing the AI ​​industry. The company is planning drastic price increases: ChatGPT Plus is set to rise from $20 to $22 per month by the end of 2024, and even $44 per month by 2029. This development reflects the real costs of AI deployment, which have long been subsidized by investor money.

Alternative business models

Rising costs are forcing AI providers to develop new business models. OpenAI is testing usage-based pricing, where customers only pay for the computing power they actually use. Batch APIs already offer cost savings of up to 50 percent for non-time-critical requests.

At the same time, more cost-effective alternatives are emerging: Open-source models like DeepSeek offer similar performance at a fraction of the cost. This development could lead to a fragmentation of the AI ​​market, with different use cases requiring different pricing structures.

Google's strategic repositioning

Google is using current developments to strengthen its market position. The introduction of AI Overviews and the simultaneous hampering of data scraping are aimed at keeping users in Google's ecosystem longer. The search engine is transforming from a middleman to an answering machine.

The future of web search

The current changes mark a turning point in the history of web search. The symbiotic relationship between Google and website operators, in which high-quality content was rewarded with search engine traffic, is rapidly eroding. AI systems consume content without returning proportional traffic.

This leads to a paradox: AI systems rely on high-quality, human-created content, but their use undermines the economics of content creation. In the long run, this could lead to a depletion of available content if website operators are forced to cease their activities due to lack of profitability.

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Technical adjustments and their consequences

The technical changes triggered a chain reaction that went far beyond the original goals. Google likely wanted to reduce server load and make scraping more difficult, but inadvertently drastically increased costs for the entire SEO industry.

New measurement standards required

These changes are forcing the industry to develop new measurement standards. Traditional metrics like impressions and rankings in Google Search Console are losing their relevance if they were primarily influenced by automated tools. "Real impressions" from human users are coming into focus, allowing for a more realistic assessment of website performance.

SEO experts need to adjust their evaluation criteria and focus more on metrics that reflect actual user interactions. This could lead to more precise, but also more complex, analysis methods.

The role of smaller AI providers

While OpenAI is struggling with high costs, smaller AI providers may benefit from the changed situation. Vendors like Perplexity or Claude can gain competitive advantages through more efficient architectures or alternative data sources.

Specialization as a survival strategy

The rising costs of general-purpose AI systems could lead to the development of specialized solutions. Instead of attempting to answer all queries with up-to-date web data, AI systems could be more selective and only resort to costly web searches for specific query types.

This would promote a diversification of the AI ​​market, with different providers developing different specializations. Some could focus on current information, others on deep expertise without internet connectivity.

Long-term market developments

The current changes are likely just the beginning of a larger transformation. Google continues to experiment with AI features and their integration into search. The full impact on website traffic and the content industry will only become apparent over months and years.

New cooperation models

New collaboration models are already emerging between AI providers and content creators. Some publishers are negotiating direct licensing agreements with AI companies to receive a fair share of the use of their content. This development could lead to a new ecosystem in which content creators are directly compensated for the use of their content in AI systems.

Recommendations for stakeholders

Website owners should diversify their strategies and not rely solely on search engine traffic. Building direct relationships with users through newsletters, social media, and other channels will become more important. At the same time, they should improve the quality of their content to be mentioned in AI-generated answers.

SEO agencies need to adapt their services and focus more on the top 20 positions, as these generate the majority of real traffic. The era of comprehensive top 100 analyses is coming to an end, which could free up resources for more in-depth optimization.

AI companies face the challenge of developing sustainable business models that work for both them and content creators. Current practices of free content usage are unsustainable in the long term if they undermine the foundation of their data sources.

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A turning point in the digital information landscape

The seemingly small technical changes at Google and ChatGPT mark a fundamental turning point in the digital information landscape. They demonstrate how dependent the entire internet ecosystem is on the decisions of a few large technology companies.

The combined effect of both changes is accelerating the transformation from a link-based to an AI-mediated internet. This development brings with it both opportunities and risks: Users get answers to their questions faster, but the economic foundations of content creation are fundamentally questioned.

The industry is in a phase of reorientation in which new balances must be established between technology providers, content creators, and users. The coming years will show which players can successfully adapt to the changing conditions and which new business models will emerge.

The silent revolution is already in full swing – its effects will shape the digital landscape for years to come.

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