If you keep an eye on your website’s performance in Google Search Console, you may have noticed something strange over the last couple of weeks. Since around 10th September 2025, there has been a big dip in search impressions across almost all websites. Including our own here at Chell Web & Design.
Some sites that were previously seeing 3,000+ daily impressions are now showing only a few hundred. But here’s the important part: clicks and engagement haven’t dropped. That means your website traffic hasn’t been affected, it’s just the number of times your website appears in Google’s “impressions” data.
So, what’s going on? Let’s break it down.
What Are Impressions?
Impressions simply mean how often your website shows up in Google search results, not how many people actually click on your site. For example, if someone searches for “web design in Hampshire” and your site shows up on page 1 (whether or not they click), that counts as one impression.
So while impressions are a useful indicator of how visible your site is, they don’t always equal real customers or website visitors.
Why Have Impressions Suddenly Dropped?
Right now, there’s no official word from Google explaining this dip. But here are some of the theories floating around the SEO world:
- Google changes in progress – Google often makes updates to how search works. Recently, they dropped the “100 results per page” feature, which broke some third-party SEO tools. This tells us they’re making behind-the-scenes changes, and impressions could be affected.
- Filtering out bot traffic – Some believe that in the past, search impressions included “false” data from AI bots and scraper tools (programmes that copy information from Google). If Google has changed the way it counts impressions, what we’re seeing now could actually be a more accurate reflection of real people searching.
- Possible algorithm update – Sometimes dips like this happen just before (or during) a Google algorithm update. If that’s the case, we’ll likely see an announcement soon.
According to a recent Search Engine Roundtable article, John Mueller from Google has acknowledged that many sites are seeing big drops in Search Console impressions. He alluded to the fact that these impressions may not have been legitimate to begin with?
What Does This Mean for You?
The good news is: your website hasn’t lost visibility with real people. We know this because clicks (the times people actually visit your site) and engagement (what they do once they’re there) remain steady.
That tells us the dip in impressions is a reporting issue or a shift in how Google measures things, not a drop in genuine interest.
What We’re Doing
At Chell Web & Design, we’re keeping a close eye on this trend across all our clients’ websites. For now, there’s no need to panic. It’s happening across the board, not just to you, and it’s not a reflection of your SEO strategy or website performance.
As soon as Google provides more information, we’ll update you. In the meantime, know that your website is still working hard for you, and your audience can still find you online.
In Summary
- Since 10th September 2025, impressions in Google Search Console have dropped significantly across most websites.
- Clicks and engagement have not dropped – so your real visitors aren’t affected.
- We believe this is related to changes in how Google measures or filters impressions.
We’ll continue to monitor the situation and share updates as they come.
If you’d like us to talk you through your own Search Console data and explain what’s happening with your site, book a quick call with us here.
