There is no correlation between the amount of views your site receives (Impressions) for a specific keyword and the search volume ( Search Volume ) for that keyword. John Mueller from Google says that the impressions your site receives for a keyword is not an indication of the search volume for that keyword.

This was stated on Twitter in response to a question about whether impression data in Google Search Console can be used to estimate search volume. For example, if you have a page that ranks #1 for a particular keyword, and it gets 1,000 impressions per month, does that mean the keyword’s search volume is 1,000 monthly queries?

“No, it doesn’t work that way,” says Mueller .

Impressions do not equal search volume

First, Mueller explains how impression data differs from search volume data:

“Impressions are the impressions your site received in search.” These are not necessarily all impressions shown to all users. That’s not the scope of the search. Also, all tools are guessing and simplifying search volume, so the numbers you see in search volume tools will always be wrong.”

The Twitter user who asked the initial question continues.

It has a page that ranks first for a specific keyword. So he asks if the impressions a page is getting are indicative of the amount of searches being made for that keyword.

He says:

“Thanks for the clarification, but I’m still confused!

For example:

I have a keyword/query (Let’s say ‘Buy Shoes’) in Search Console that ranks #1 and gets 1000 impressions in one month, so the search volume should also be 1000?”

He assumes that since the page is in the first place of the search, that his page is shown to everyone who enters this keyword in Google .

Therefore, according to his reasoning, the number of impressions displayed in Search Console could be used as a way to determine the monthly search volume of a keyword.

Mueller is quick to dismiss that theory:

“Not necessarily. Just because you’re in first place in some cases, doesn’t mean the page always shows.”

Although rank trackers show that a page is ranking first for a particular keyword, it is not accurate to assume that it is showing for 100% of searches.

So, the view data for the page ranked no. 1 are not the same as the search volume of the keyword it is ranking for, since the page is not shown to all searchers. There are many reasons why a page might not be shown to all searchers, despite ranking number one for a keyword.

The layout of the search results page can affect the number of impressions organic links receive. For example, if a bunch of Google Ads results are displayed, the user will probably have to scroll down a bit before seeing the organic links. In such a case, the impression would not be recorded for the page in the first position if the user did not scroll down far enough to see the organic results.

Another reason may be personalization and the fact that search results are not identical for all users. The key takeaway is that impressions do not equal search volume.

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Sources: Searchenginejournal