# What Is an Impression in Online Advertising, How to Count Them

![SEO Website Traffic](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/7WPH6tHRrFYhbDMa4zLXTp__DBs=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-165844684-f910438b300d4a9fad76ca87a71dd445.jpg)

*— Bill Oxford / Getty Images*

## What Is an Impression?

An impression is a metric used to quantify the number of digital views or engagements of a piece of content, usually an advertisement, digital post, or web page. Impressions are also referred to as an "ad view."

They are used in [online advertising](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/digital-marketing.asp), which often pays on a per-impression basis. Counting impressions is essential to how web advertising is accounted for and paid for in search engine marketing, as well as measuring the performance of social media campaigns.

Impressions are not a measure of whether an advertisement has been clicked on, but how many times it was displayed or [had potential "eyeballs" on it](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/advertorial.asp), which leads to some debate as to how accurate the metric is.

### Key Takeaways

*   Impressions are used to quantify the number of digital views or engagements of a piece of content, usually an advertisement, digital post, or a web page.
*   Counting impressions can often fall in a gray area, such as whether this includes duplicate views, interactions from bots, or whether impressions are even an effective way to measure the success of a digital marketing campaign.
*   Technically speaking, ad servers provide a barely visible image (or "pixel") that can be found on each publisher page. When a page with that pixel image loads, that is when an impression is made.

## How Impressions Work

Broadly, one impression is equal to each occurrence of a web page, ad, or piece of content being found and loaded. Because it is accessible to both measure and understand, it has become the most convenient and economical way to determine whether an advertisement is being seen or not.

But exactly how that figure is interpreted is up for debate. Some online advertising experts believe that there is no exact way to count impressions since a count can be skewed by a single person registering the same ad in several page views, for example.

There are several more ways for total impression numbers to be skewed, which leads advertisers to view any impression figure with a bit of skepticism. In general, most advertisers and publishers decide beforehand how impressions are counted and accounted for.

Advertisers may decide on whether a campaign is successful or not based on another form of reporting, such as engagement (broadly, how an ad viewer interacts with an ad).

## Impression Accounting

Frequently, impressions are measured by [cost per mille (CPM)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cpm.asp), where mille refers to 1,000 impressions (or cost per thousand). A banner ad might have a CPM of $5, meaning that the website owner receives $5 every time an ad on their website is displayed 1,000 times.

The owner of a website may be paid for each ad impression. Other advertising arrangements may only pay the website owner when a visitor clicks on the ad or clicks on the ad and makes a purchase.

Typically, advertisers pay less for an [ad campaign](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketing-campaign.asp) based solely on impressions and more for campaigns based on [click-throughs](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/clickthroughrates.asp) and [conversions](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/conversion-rate.asp).

The reason for this difference in pay rates is that an ad that causes its viewer to take action resulting in a sale is more valuable to the advertiser than one that does not. Still, impressions are useful when running public relations campaigns that are designed to build an image or create awareness about a company or product.

The exact way impressions are counted is somewhat technical. Ad servers provide a barely visible image (or "pixel") that can be found on each publisher page. When a page with that pixel image loads, an impression is made.

## Impression Fraud

Several things can skew impression counts. For one, estimates have that around 49.6% of all web traffic is from bots. Impression counts make no distinction between a human ad viewer and a bot .

Ads can also fail to load, or the incorrect ad may load. Such errors may or may not be accounted for. There is also outright fraud, with unscrupulous website developers using several methods to game the system (one estimate is that about a third of online activity is fraudulent).

Nonetheless, impressions remain a popular way to measure engagement, whether in advertising, social media, or analyzing web traffic.

## What Is an Example of an Ad Impression?

An example of an ad impression would be someone opening a webpage or app and seeing an advertisement. This happens when any Internet platform is opened or accessed and the ad is visible, however, it does not mean the same as engagement. A viewer may see the ad but choose to ignore it.

## What Is the Average Cost Per Impression for Online Advertising?

The average cost per impression for social media platforms ranges between $2 and $5. For Google Ads, it ranges between $3 and $6. Display networks are lower, at around $2.

## What Is the Difference Between Clicks and Impressions?

An impression is when an individual sees a link to your advertisement while online, such as reading through a webpage. This may be scrolled through or need to be expanded to see. A click is when an individual clicks a link online that goes to your site.

## The Bottom Line

With so much advertising online now, businesses need a way to measure the success of their marketing. One way they do this is through impressions, which measure how often digital content is displayed. Though impressions are easy to utilize, the accuracy is questioned due to bots and duplicate views.

Despite impressions being widely used, companies tend to pay more for campaigns with clicks or conversions, which have proven to be more impactful in growing sales.

> **Article Sources**
>
> 1.  Imperva Community. "[Imperva’s 11th Annual Bad Bot Report 2024](https://community.imperva.com/blogs/percy-smith/2024/05/16/impervas-11th-annual-bad-bot-report-2024)."
>     
> 2.  Imperva. "[Five Key Takeaways from the 2024 Imperva Bad Bot Report](https://www.imperva.com/blog/five-key-takeaways-from-the-2024-imperva-bad-bot-report/)."
>     
> 3.  Spider AF. "[What Is the Average Cost Per Impression?](https://spideraf.com/learning-hub/what-is-the-average-cost-per-impression?saf_score=1)"