Some sites saw clicks in Google Search Console jump between 31 October and 2 November while impressions stayed flat. The extra clicks look like bots, not people.
Dominic Coutts
If your clicks spiked in early November, don't read it as growth. Check it against real visits first.
What happened
From 31 October, a number of sites saw clicks in the Search Console performance report rise sharply while impressions barely moved. One site owner reported 5 times their normal clicks over the weekend. Google hasn't commented.
Marie Haynes worked through her own data and concluded the clicks aren't people. The likely causes are scrapers, automated agents and click manipulation networks that Google's filters have missed.
What it means for you
Search Console is where most businesses see how search is performing, so a sudden rise looks like good news. But clicks with no matching visits in your analytics aren't traffic, and they'll never turn into enquiries.
What to do
- If your clicks jumped around the start of November, compare them with visits in GA4 or your server logs for the same dates.
- In Search Console, filter to pages ranking below position 10 and sort by clicks. That's usually where the odd numbers sit.
- Leave the pages alone and don't disavow anything. Just note early November in your reports so nobody reads it as growth.
Search Engine Journal
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