Your rank tracking tool may be showing old numbers
Two well known SEOs say Google is blocking the bots that rank tracking tools rely on, and the three big tools now disagree.
Google looks to be getting better at blocking the bots that read its search results. Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) posted that Google "may be more successful in blocking AI scrapers, search scrapers and third-party tracking tools". Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) said Google is blocking scrapers in new ways again.
That matters because those bots are how rank tracking tools know where you rank. If the bot cannot read the results page, the tool has to guess or fall behind.
The test
Gabe took a site he knows well. It dropped by nearly 100% and then fully recovered with the unconfirmed September 4 update, which is the ranking shake-up we covered earlier. He then checked what the three big SEO tools showed for that same site.
Ahrefs picked up the recovery. Semrush picked it up too, but lagged a bit. Sistrix did not show the recovery at all. Gabe's read is that Ahrefs is still scraping fine, Semrush is scraping but slower, and Sistrix is way behind. He said to stay tuned, so this may change.
That is one site checked by one SEO, not a broad study. But it is a real example of three paid tools telling three different stories about the same website on the same days.
Bing is doing something similar
Separately, Bing is asking some searchers to verify they are human before it shows search results, according to Schwartz. Nobody has said the two things are connected. Both point the same way, which is that search engines are tightening up on automated access to their results.
What this means for you
If you pay for a tool that tracks your keyword positions, treat its numbers as an estimate right now rather than a fact. A flat line in your tool does not prove your rankings are flat. A drop in your tool does not prove you lost rankings.
The one place that is not scraped is Google Search Console, because Google hands you that data directly. Open Search Console, click Performance, set the date range to the last 3 months, and look at clicks and impressions. That is your own site's real data from Google, and no scraper sits in the middle of it.
If your tool and Search Console disagree over the next few weeks, believe Search Console. And if you are about to make a decision based on a rank tracker chart, wait until you can confirm it in Search Console first.
ahrefs picks up the recovery. Sistrix does NOT pick up the recovery. Semrush shows recovery, but it lagged a bit.
Google may be more successful in blocking AI scrapers, search scrapers and third-party tracking tools