Recently, I’ve been delving into the nuances of Google Search Console and its impression counts.
I learned from John Mueller of Google that when a URL shows up in both an AI Overview and the traditional blue links on SERPs, it is counted as just one impression, not two.
This clarification came to light through John Mueller, after a lively discussion among SEO experts, sparked by Jamie Indigo and publicly shared by Mark Williams-Cook from Candour on LinkedIn.
The background. Initially, Mark Williams-Cook had assumed that because of historical practices with SERP features like tweet boxes, the URL might be counted twice.
Testing this theory was challenging, but ultimately, Mueller confirmed that the Search Console treats these appearances as a single impression.
What’s happening. Google’s policy treats an AI Overview as a singular position in search results. Each link within the Overview shares that position, governed by standard impression rules.
So, when a URL appears more than once in the same search experience, the Search Console doesn’t double count these for the same query.
Why this happens. Google defines an impression based on a user’s visibility of a link within the current set of results. Multiple instances of the same URL on one results page are aggregated, not counted separately.
This approach aligns with other SERP features like knowledge panels, where scrolling past and returning, or seeing the URL in different elements, won’t create additional impressions.
Why we care. In this AI-centric era, interpreting performance metrics can be a challenge. Knowing that both AI Overviews and blue links count as a single impression clarifies how these listings influence visibility. Although the impression count doesn’t rise, appearing in both strengthens brand visibility and boosts credibility among Google users.
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
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