In this article

01 Corrected results can change keyword estimates too

02 Compare suspicious drops with search traffic

Ahrefs says Google is returning altered search results to suspected search-data collectors, with 5% to 20% of results affected depending on the provider.

In an October 22 update , the company said it is filtering out abnormal results, requesting replacements and cleaning up previously collected data.

Ahrefs calls the behavior “poisoning” and says it has increased over recent weeks. The announcement gives no sample size, provider names or detection methodology, so the percentage has to be read as the company’s reported experience.

Ahrefs does not say how much affected data reached customer reports before its filters caught it.

The statement follows earlier reports from Semrush and other rank trackers about misleading Google results reaching automated collectors.…