Everything You Need to Know About Google’s 2025 Anti-Scraping Update

SEO can sometimes feel like a toxic relationship: just when you think you’ve got it all under control, Google decides to “spice things up”. 

On January 15, 2025, Google made a significant move that left many popular SEO tools struggling to keep up. Here’s a breakdown of what happened and what it means for the SEO world.

What Happened?

Google tightened its anti-scraping protections, effectively disrupting tools that rely on automated interactions to gather data.

What tools need this? You guessed it, our SEO favorites. Tools like Semrush, SimilarWeb, Rank Ranger, SE Ranking, and ZipTie.dev were among those affected. The change introduced stricter requirements for interaction protocols, rendering previously reliable methods ineffective.

So Why Do Rankings Seem to Be Dropping?

Adding to the confusion, many SEO professionals have noticed sharp declines in keyword rankings across their tools, leading to concerns that their strategies might not be working. 

A screenshot from Semrush

But here’s the catch: this isn’t necessarily a reflection of your actual performance. Instead, they’re likely mapping errors caused by the scraping disruptions. 

This incident is a reminder of how much we depend on automated tools, and why it’s essential to diversify our data sources and double-check rankings manually during disruptive periods like this.

Why This Matters

The short answer? These are the tools we, as SEO specialists, use to work. 

Many SEO professionals rely on these tools for tracking rankings, analyzing SERPs, and measuring the success of their strategies. This disruption has forced us to reconsider how we gather and use data. The key takeaways:

• Increased costs: Tools adapting to these changes may pass on higher costs to users as they invest in new infrastructure.
• Shift in strategies: Over-reliance on Google scraping might push SEOs to explore alternative data sources or search engines.
• Adaptability: Tools that managed to avoid disruption underline the importance of resilience in a volatile ecosystem. Ans also of diversifying your data tools. 

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t the first time Google has shifted the playing field, and it won’t be the last. As SEOs, our job is to adapt and innovate. This challenge highlights the importance of technical agility and the need to stay ahead of industry changes.

For more context on the Spanish perspective of this event, check out Eric Mercier’s detailed analysis. Eric was one of the first ones to report the incident. 

How are you adapting to this disruption? We recommend turning to Google Search Console (GSC) to monitor your site health. Reach out if you’re feeling lost.