Poisoned Google SERPs disrupt rank tracking tools
A new analysis by SEO tool Nozzle reveals that Google has been 'poisoning' search engine results pages (SERPs) since September 2026, serving rank trackers altered versions of SERPs that differ from what normal users see. Nozzle found that since September 13, over 8% of the 27 million SERPs analyzed were 'poisoned', meaning more than half of the usual top-10 results were swapped out with content from platforms like Facebook and Reddit. This impacts SEO tracking tools such as Semrush, which have acknowledged the issue and implemented additional checks. The problem peaked on September 29 at 28.6% and has since declined to around 7% as of mid-October. Nozzle CEO Derek Perkins warns that the poisoned SERPs look normal, making detection difficult. SEOs are advised to cross-reference data with Google Search Console.
