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Impressions.
An impression is a single display: a search result, an ad or a post was shown to someone. In Google Search Console, an impression is counted as soon as a link to the website appears on a results page that someone has loaded, regardless of whether it is clicked.
Impressions — Explained in Detail
Impressions are the basic unit of almost every visibility measurement. They tell you how often something was shown, not how often it was seen or clicked. Impressions and clicks together give the click-through rate: 1,000 impressions and 30 clicks equal a click-through rate of 3 per cent.
How impressions are counted depends on the platform. In Google Search Console, an impression is counted when one of the website's results is on a results page that has been loaded; whether the user would have had to scroll far down to see it generally makes no difference. Results on page two only count once someone actually opens page two. In Google Ads, every delivery of an ad counts; on social networks, every display of a post in the feed. Figures from different platforms are therefore not directly comparable.
An example: a page on 'fiduciary services Winterthur' collects many impressions over three months but hardly any clicks, and its average position is 14. That means Google considers the page relevant but mostly shows it on page two. Here it pays to improve the content, the title tag and internal links. If, on the other hand, the position is 3 and the click-through rate is still low, the snippet is more likely unappealing, or an AI summary already answers the question.
Reading impressions correctly
Rising impressions with flat clicks are not automatically a bad sign. Often the website has started ranking for additional, rather broad terms in lower positions. The figure only becomes meaningful together with position and query, ideally filtered to Switzerland and split by mobile and desktop.
Since AI Overviews arrived, the click-through rate for many informational searches has been falling, even when position and impressions stay the same. Pages with many impressions and few clicks are therefore the first place to look when reviewing performance in Search Console.
Impressions in SEO and Google Ads
In search engine optimisation, impressions are an early indicator: they usually rise before clicks do when a page gains relevance. Analysing them by query and position band is part of our SEO analysis and of ongoing SEO.
In Google Ads, impressions together with impression share determine how often an ad actually appears compared with the possible displays. A low share due to budget or ad rank is a typical finding in the free Ads check on the Google Ads Agency Zurich page.
Related Page
SEO AnalysisFrequently Asked Questions About Impressions
Impressions are displays: a search result, an ad or a post was shown to someone. The figure says nothing about whether the person clicked on it or even consciously noticed the element.
Impressions count how often a result was shown, clicks how often it was clicked. The ratio between the two is the click-through rate (CTR). Many impressions with few clicks point to a low position, a weak snippet or a search that Google already answers directly.
Usually the page ranks far down for these terms, for instance on page two, or it appears for queries that do not quite match its content. Looking at the query and the average position in Search Console shows which case applies.
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