Imagine waking up one day and finding out that your go-to SEO tools like SEMrush, Moz and Ahrefs no longer provide you with the insight data which you have relied on for many years. Well, this might become a reality because an update has come from Google’s end that they are blocking unauthorised scraping that shakes the whole SEO community. This news raises a question in people’s minds are we going to see the end of the era of powerful SEO tools? What will be the consequences of the battle between the advanced anti-bot defence of Google and data scraping technologies?
What is data scraping in SEO?
Before we understand Google’s motive behind this decision and its consequences, let’s understand the basics of data scraping in SEO. Data scrapping can be highlighted as the process in which one imports data from a website into a spreadsheet or local files on a personal computer. It is also called web scraping that mostly utilised by SEO professionals to make informed decisions about rank tracking, keyword analysis and so on.
Now let’s explore its technical site. The SEO tools mainly deploy some bots, which are automated programs that are used to mimic the browsing behaviour of humans to crawl search engines and collect data. Different techniques have been used for this including HTML parsing, DOM parsing, XPath, Google Sheets and so on.
The data imported from direct websites has been used to find sales leads, compare sites for travel booking, send data of a product from the eCommerce sites and so on enabling marketers to gain the power to refine their strategies and stay competitive. However, it also has a negative side. Different cyberattacks like phishing attacks, password cracking attacks and so on have been done by unauthorised web scrapers.
The story behind Google blocking web scraping
In mid-January 2025, Google has taken a step that shook the whole SEO industry. However, on January 15, Google implemented some changes in its search systems that affected the automated interactions of SEO tools with its search systems. This decision of Google directly impacted the SERP data and rank tracking solutions.
Google explained that they have forced users to enable JavaScript for searching because they want to protect their services from spam. Google stated, “Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam, and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information.”
With the activation of JavaScript Google will be able to effectively monitor and track automated scraping and ensure that only the authentic scraping can be interacted with its platforms. Google has mentioned that users who do not enable JavaScript might encounter this message: “Turn on JavaScript to keep searching. The browser you’re using has JavaScript turned off. To continue your search, turn it on.”
They developed an advanced detection mechanism to actively recognise and block the tools that are suspicious and do not obey Google terms and services. This step of Google has enabled an extra layer in their search system. Google can measure rate limiting, behaviour monitoring and so on to enhance the ecosystem security.
Reaction of the SEO community
The news of Google’s decision to block the scrappers and APIs has shaken the whole SEO industry. Many concerns have been raised because the SEO service might be disrupted and it might become difficult for the data tracking tools to report data. The senior director of SimilarWeb, Shay Harel, shares an opinion through a statement, “The changes introduced new requirements for interaction protocols, invalidating previously reliable methods and causing widespread service interruptions. At Similarweb, we rapidly adapted by identifying the root cause and deploying updates within 18 hours to restore full functionality.”
The co-founder of ZipTie.dev., Tomek Rudzki also confirmed the issue on his X account. He shared, “We’ve observed a decrease (approximately 2 percentage points) in AIO detection rates through Ziptie’s tracking system. It seems Google is blocking AIO checkers in a smart way, far beyond traditional captchas. We are looking for ways to improve the AIO detection rate.”
SEMrush is the most effective tool because of the blocking of scrapers. In this platform, keyword tracking, competitor analysis and different SEO activities have been done based on the accurate data of SERP. This has helped several marketers to maintain a competitive position in the market.
However, the evolving policies of Google and technical adjustment might disrupt the SEO tools for data collection. SEMrush gets temporary data blackout for many of its users because of this activity of Google. This has made the data extraction process more challenging and costly for SEMrush where they might charge higher subscription fees from the users and their profitability might be affected.
Google’s right to block web scraping
To protect user privacy and the integrity of the platform of Google, the terms and conditions of Google have explicitly prohibited the scraping of its service. If anyone like an entity or an individual violates the terms and conditions, Google has the right to block their IP address to prevent further unauthorised activities.
However, Google also acknowledges some of the web scrapings as acceptable which align with the Terms of Services (ToS) and also comply with the terms and conditions of Google. Google allow responsible web scraping that is done in a responsible manner that does not violate Google services.
You might notice that when you were opening your Google account for the first time, Google asked you to consent to their terms and conditions. This means that you are abiding by the scraping rules and you are allowing Google to terminate your account if you harm their services. Google terminated those accounts where activities like hacking, phishing and spamming have been recorded.
Now, the question is, does the SEO tools have been violating those rules of Google? Well, the challenge lies in the thin line that appears between ethical web scrapping and actions to block IP addresses. Ethical scraping refers to limiting the frequency of requests and ensure that sensitive data are not scrapped. Responsible scraping refers to all the SEO tools being bound to maintain a boundary and obey the rules so that it does not negatively impact the performance of the website.
Henceforth, it can be said that Google has the ethical right to block unauthorised scraping. Many SEO tools have been bound to perform under the limits of these ethical and responsible scraping to extract data. However, as Google is strengthening its scraping system, then the normal working process of these tools might get disrupted even for those tools that are adhering to the rules.
However, the SEO providers might innovate different alternate methods for data collection and can bring solutions to paid APIs. Moreover, although it is a great source for marketers, it is a burden for Google. Henceforth, this can also impact the competitiveness of Google in future and other competitors might enhance the search system and Google’s traffic base might be disrupted.
FAQ
1.What is data scraping in SEO?
Data scrapping can be highlighted as the process in which one imports data from a website into a spreadsheet or local files on a personal computer. It is also called web scraping that mostly utilized by SEO professionals to make informed decisions about rank tracking, keyword analysis and so on.
2. What changes did Google make to block scraping?
Google explained that they have forced users to enable JavaScript for searching because they want to protect their services from spam. Google stated, “Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam, and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information.”
3. How does Google’s JavaScript requirement affect SEO tools?
Google explained that they have forced users to enable JavaScript for searching because they want to protect their services from spam. Google stated, “Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam, and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information.”
4. What specific method has Google used to block scraping?
With the activation of JavaScript Google will be able to effectively monitor and track automated scraping and ensure that only the authentic scraping can be interacted with its platforms.
5. How is Google blocking unauthorized scraping while allowing ethical scraping?
Google has mentioned that users who do not enable JavaScript might encounter this message: “Turn on JavaScript to keep searching. The browser you’re using has JavaScript turned off. To continue your search, turn it on.”
6. What is Google’s stance on violating its scraping rules?
To protect user privacy and the integrity of the platform of Google, the terms and conditions of Google have explicitly prohibited the scraping of its service. If anyone like an entity or an individual violates the terms and conditions, Google has the right to block their IP address to prevent further unauthorised activities.
