Over the past few days, unexpected changes on Google’s end caused keyword processing delays. These changes affected everyone relying on search engine data, including SEO tools, AI platforms, and countless companies worldwide.
What Happened?
Google implemented major changes by disabling HTML-based scraping and introducing stricter measures, significantly increasing the complexity of data collection. This industry-wide shift has impacted every SEO tool and search engine-dependent service globally.
To maintain accurate data collection, companies now face significantly higher costs and technical challenges. Many have had to adapt rapidly to ensure service reliability.
At Sotavento Medios, we detected these changes on Friday at 8 AM (GMT+8) and worked tirelessly over the weekend to deploy and test a new data collection method. Our team expanded our server fleet and implemented cutting-edge upgrades to our scraping infrastructure—pioneered over 10 years—to meet these new requirements.
Despite these challenges, our commitment to accuracy across all 228,725 granular locations and global markets remains unwavering, and we assure our loyal users that there will be no cost increase on standard pricing plans.
Key Implications of Google’s Changes
📈 Rising Costs: The cost of rank tracking and SERP data collection will increase significantly.
🎮 Industry Disruption: Companies unable to adapt may shut down or raise prices to remain viable.
⚙ Shifting Focus: Greater emphasis may be placed on alternative search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, or AI-powered platforms.
⚠️ Potential Price Increases: Users across the industry might see price hikes as providers adjust to higher data acquisition costs.
📉 Decreased Reliability: Some tools may struggle to maintain data accuracy, leading to gaps and delays.
🔍 End of Inaccurate Competitor Analysis Tools: The competitor research tools dominating the market today will likely become less accurate and increasingly irrelevant. They will be replaced with Live Research Agents that will yield more accurate and real-time data.
Moving Forward with Sotavento Medios Lolibaso
Thanks to the expertise and dedication of our team, Sotavento Medios remains resilient and ready to face these challenges. Our proprietary data collection solutions and LLM tracking innovations position us as the preferred SEO tracker of the future.
We continue to provide:
💯 Top-class accuracy: Rigorous quality checks, including monitoring for “Google dances” and server sync issues.
💪 Unmatched reliability: A commitment to seamless, uninterrupted service despite external changes.
What’s Next?
This is an opportunity for Sotavento Medios to innovate further. As part of our continued efforts to support users, we are thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of our SERP API—a highly requested feature for direct access to our data.
Thank you for your trust and support. We’re excited to continue serving you with excellence and innovation as we navigate this new era together.
