Google blocked SEO scrapers again from mid-September, and Nozzle saw an 80 percent drop

Google's search results have become harder to scrape since about 13 September, and the third-party SEO tools that depend on that data are seeing gaps in what they can collect. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable published the report on 18 September after speaking to two named tool vendors and cross-checking with a public status page and independent testing by Glenn Gabe.

The numbers

Derek Perkins from Nozzle told Schwartz that "the majority" of his tools' attempts to scrape data from Google Search have been blocked, and put the drop at about 80 percent. He said he saw the same effect with data from DataForSEO, the API that many other SEO tools resell.

The Sistrix status page carries a dated entry that reads: "2026-09-16: Google has made further changes to the way search results are delivered. As a result, our data collection is currently running at a reduced rate. We are adapting our processes accordingly and will provide further updates here." Steve Paine from Sistrix confirmed that to Schwartz: "Google has been continuously changing how search results are delivered for about a year now, currently at a very high pace. Our data collection is running at a reduced rate as a result, but data is flowing, the Toolbox is updating and we are adapting our processes."

Which tools are still returning data

Glenn Gabe posted a comparison on X of a site he could confirm dropped and then recovered around the 4 September update. Against verified traffic data, Ahrefs picked up the recovery. Semrush also showed the recovery, though with a lag. Sistrix did not pick it up. Gabe's reading: Ahrefs is still scraping cleanly, Semrush is scraping but slower, and Sistrix is behind on the recovery. Schwartz reports he has asked "the dozen or so other tools" for comment and had not heard back at publication time.

Why this changed on that date

Schwartz ties the block to the same run of Google search behaviour changes seen through early September: a 4 September unconfirmed update, a 12 September reversal, and a 15 September update, each of which reordered rankings and each of which the community tracked. Google has also spent the past year testing several ways to verify that a request to Search is a human, including sign-in and challenge prompts on the results page.

The goto URL redirects, another mechanism used to fingerprint scrapers earlier this year, have quieted down. The current block appears to be a different technique: Schwartz does not name the mechanism, and neither Sistrix nor Nozzle describes it publicly.

What this changes for a team using an SEO tool

For any team that reads ranking, share of voice or keyword data from a dashboard, the number on the screen through the second half of September may not be a reliable picture of what a real user sees on Google. That includes Sistrix's own reporting, which the vendor has said runs at a reduced rate, and any tool that resells DataForSEO. If the tool has not said anything, the honest answer is that nobody has confirmed yet whether its own scraping still works.

Two practical checks are worth running. First, pick a page whose traffic in Google Search Console moved on the 4 September update, and see whether the tool tracks that move; that is the test Gabe ran. Second, treat a rank change seen only in one tool as unconfirmed until either the same change shows up in a second tool or the underlying traffic in Search Console reflects it. The end of this depends on the vendors adapting, which Sistrix has said publicly it is working on. Until then, treat the tool dashboards as approximate and read Search Console for what is real.

Source

• Google May Be More Successful In Blocking Scrapers & Tracking Tools, by Barry Schwartz in Search Engine Roundtable, 18 September 2026.
• Sistrix status page: status.sistrix.com, entry dated 16 September 2026.
• Independent testing by Glenn Gabe: X post.