An impression is counted each time your site appears on a search results page a searcher views, for most result types even if they never scroll down to it. Google Search Console reports impressions per query and per page, and they are the raw measure of how much search demand currently sees you.
Why Impressions matters for SEO
Impressions are the leading indicator in search data: Google shows you at position 15 before it ever shows you at position 5, so impressions rise before clicks do. Rising impressions on a query mean Google is testing you for it; a large impression count with few clicks marks the exact place where one improvement pays real traffic.
Pro tip on Impressions
Sort queries by impressions, not clicks, when deciding what to work on. High impressions at positions 4 to 15 are striking distance keywords; high impressions with low CTR at a good position point at the title and description. Impressions falling across a whole section usually means rankings slid, not demand.
Impressions vs Clicks
An impression is your result appearing on a results page someone viewed; a click is that person choosing it. Impressions measure demand and visibility, clicks measure won traffic, and the gap between them is where CTR work lives.
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