You just launched your new website, and you are excited to see the organic traffic and customers start coming in.
You open your SEO dashboard to view your website’s metrics for the first month. There’s only one problem: you didn’t get a single click. Not one.
After looking at Google Search Console, you notice your website did earn total impressions, but wait…what are total impressions?
What Are Total Impressions in Google Search Console?
Total Impressions, more commonly referred to as simply “impressions,” occur when someone conducts a Google search and gets within view of your website’s page within the search results but doesn’t click. Impressions are a way to measure visibility or exposure in search engine results pages (SERP) without necessarily capturing engagement.
Of course, the idea here is to engage the audience to conversion action. A conversion action may involve a purchase or commitment of some sort (e.g., completing a form or signing up for a service).
What Can Total Impressions in Google Search Console Tell Me About My Site And My Audience?
Impressions from SERPs that show in Google Search Console are the equivalent of walking down the street to find a restaurant. As you walk, the restaurants you pass receive ‘views’ (impressions)—you were in the vicinity but didn’t go in.
You eventually decide on a restaurant and walk in. This is the equivalent of a searcher clicking on a search result to be taken to the website hosting the page they selected.
Now imagine being one of the restaurants that was passed but still ending up with some data about that lost prospect. In other words, what if information about why they didn’t choose your restaurant was revealed?
For example, what if you could find out what cuisine type they were looking for? Or maybe discover what restaurant style they were looking for (Quick Service, Sit-Down, Buffet, To-Go Only).
The idea is, with enough of this data, you can use it to make adjustments to start capturing some of that impressions traffic and diverting it to your site as clicks or adjusting your approach to how the searcher has adjusted theirs.
This is essentially how you are leveraging the Google Search Console report – Using it to gather information about the “almost visitors” with the goal of converting them to “next-time visitors” to your site.
How to Use Impressions to Improve Your Content
Convert those impressions into clicks by following the steps below.
- In Google Search Console, click on ‘Performance,’ then look at the Queries list to identify which keywords searchers use that result in website impressions.
- Determine which Queries are most closely related to your target seed keywords.
- View your website’s page that you are using to rank for that specific keyword.
- Search the same keyword on Google to get an idea of what your competitors are doing. One way to do this is by plugging in their website’s domain into SEMrush then viewing what keywords are bringing searchers to that specific page.
- Use that information to look for gaps in your existing content. Optimizing content can be something as simple as tweaking one letter, word, or including the name of the city or town your business is in. For example, we have our digital marketing agency in Boynton Beach, FL, and we use that city designation to narrow down our target audience and increase the likelihood that we rank at a local level. Granted, this is not going to be a miracle cure, but with many consistent efforts of optimizing your site like this and deploying proper internal linking practices, your web pages should move up in the rankings, assuming you are meeting the other SEO guidelines set in place by Google.
How to Create Value From Impressions – The Why, The How, The Now
Why Do I Need to Know About Impressions?
Impressions help gauge reach and engagement, informing decisions on content effectiveness, audience targeting, and overall campaign performance.
How Do I Create Value From Impressions?
By maximizing the impact of impressions and using them to enhance your existing content, you can enhance brand visibility, drive conversions, and achieve your marketing objectives more efficiently.
What Can I Do Now?
- Analyze Your Impressions Data: Dive into your Google Search Console or other analytics tools to understand where your impressions are coming from and which keywords or pages are driving them.
- Optimize Meta Tags and Titles: Review and optimize meta tags, titles, and descriptions of high-impression pages to improve click-through rates and enhance visibility in search results.
- Create Compelling Content: Develop new content or optimize existing ones based on the insights gained from impression data. Tailor your content to better resonate with your audience and align with their search intent.
- Monitor Trends and Adjust Strategies: Continuously monitor impression trends and adjust your content and SEO strategies accordingly. Stay agile and responsive to changes in search algorithms, user behavior, and market dynamics.
- Experiment and Iterate: Test different approaches to see what works best for maximizing the value of impressions. Experiment with keywords, content formats, and promotion channels, and iterate based on the results to refine your tactics over time.
FAQ
I also notice other categories on Google Search Console’s ‘Performance’ tab, including Total Clicks, Average CTR, and Average Position – What do each of these mean?
- Total Clicks: The total number of times users clicked on your website’s search results in Google Search.
- Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of users who clicked on your website’s search results out of the total number of times they were shown (impressions).
- Average Position: The average position of your website’s search results in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) based on the keyword queries.
How long does it take to see an improvement in my impressions?
- The time it takes to see an improvement in your total impressions in Google Search Console after optimizing content can vary widely based on factors such as the competitiveness of your keywords, the frequency of Google’s crawls, and the extent of the changes made. Generally, you may start to see changes within a few days to weeks, but significant improvements might take several weeks to months to become noticeable. Regular monitoring and ongoing optimization are key to sustained growth.
Optimizing Impressions in Google Search Console for SEO Success
You created a website to be the online storefront of your business, whether it be for e-commerce, blogging, service-oriented, or philanthropic endeavors. In no instance is it returning value if it’s not working for you. It takes consistent time and effort to have a search engine optimized website and if you are interested in having an agency take over that burden, call us today, or complete our contact form. We will contact you within 24 hours to schedule a free discovery call. We exist to to leave lasting impressions that result in clicks.
