Why it matters to a buyer
Rising impressions alongside flat or falling clicks is one of the most common patterns a buyer will see in a Search Console report, and it can mean genuinely different things: a page ranking for more queries but at a lower average position, a new SERP feature like an AI Overview absorbing clicks that used to go to organic results, or simply seasonal demand rising for a query the page already ranked on. Reading impressions alone, without position and click-through rate alongside it, risks the wrong conclusion.
How it is measured or applied
Impressions are counted by Search Console for every appearance of a URL in search results, at any position, and are reported in the Performance report alongside clicks, click-through rate and average position, filterable by query, page, country and device. Rising impressions with falling click-through rate is investigated by checking whether average position dropped, whether a new SERP feature now sits above the result, or whether the query mix shifted toward less commercially relevant terms, each of which points to a different fix.
Sources
- Search Performance report (Search Console), Google Search Console Help
