What is the difference between clicks and impressions?

An impression is counted every time your ad is shown to a user. A click is counted when the user actually clicks on the ad. Impressions measure visibility; clicks measure engagement. The ratio between the two is your click-through rate (CTR), which is usually expressed as a percentage.

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In practice, the two metrics answer different questions. Impressions tell you whether people are seeing your ad at all, which depends on your budget, bidding, targeting, and auction competitiveness.

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Clicks tell you whether the ad is compelling enough to act on, which depends on the ad copy, the offer, and how well the ad matches what the searcher is looking for.

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A campaign with high impressions but low clicks means people are seeing the ad and ignoring it, which is usually a creative or targeting problem. A campaign with low impressions regardless of click rate usually has a budget or bidding problem.

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