If your Search Console impressions have looked high since last spring, you were not imagining it. On 3 April 2026, Google confirmed that a Search Console impressions bug (a logging error) has been overcounting impressions since 13 May 2025. Clicks were not affected. The fix is rolling out over the next few weeks, so expect your impressions to fall.
That means almost a year of impression data is not reliable. In this article, I explain what Google said, which numbers you can still trust, what to check in your own account, and how to explain the drop to your boss or clients.
What Google Confirmed About the Search Console Impressions Bug
Google added a note to its Data anomalies in Search Console page, dated 3 April 2026. This is the page where Google lists known reporting problems, so it is the first place I look when the numbers do something strange.
The note says a logging error is stopping Search Console from accurately reporting impressions from 13 May 2025 onward. Google added three more points:
- Clicks and other metrics were not affected. Google says the problem was with impressions only.
- It was a data logging issue only. Your actual visibility in Google Search did not change because of it.
- The fix will take a few weeks. Google says the issue will be resolved over the next few weeks.
A Google spokesperson also described it as a reporting error that led to over-reporting of impressions. In plain words: Search Console showed more impressions than really happened.
Google has not said how big the overcount was, why it happened, or whether every site was affected by the same amount. I would not guess at any of those. Your own data, read carefully, will tell you more than any average figure would.
What an Impression Is, in Simple Terms
An impression is counted when a link to your site appears in a Google search result that someone sees or could see. Clicks are counted when someone actually clicks through to your site.
Impressions are the top of the funnel. Many SEO reports use them to show reach and growth. So when impressions are inflated, the whole story of “visibility is growing” can be wrong, even when nothing is wrong with your site.
What This Means for Your Search Console Data
The bug touches almost every report that uses impressions. Here is how I would think about each number in the Performance report.
| Metric | Can you trust it for 13 May 2025 onward? | What I’d do |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | Yes. Google says clicks were not affected. | Make clicks your main Search Console number for this period. |
| Impressions | No. They were overcounted. | Use them only for rough direction, never for exact growth claims. |
| CTR | Treat with care. | CTR is clicks divided by impressions, so I’d avoid reading too much into it. |
| Average position | Google lists other metrics as unaffected. | Use it as normal, but remember other changes in this period also moved it. |
A short note on CTR. Google says other metrics were not affected by the error. But the CTR you see in the report is worked out from clicks and impressions. If the impression count in a report was too high, a CTR built from that count would look lower than real. Until Google says more, I treat CTR from this period as “for direction only”.
Year-Over-Year Comparisons Are the Biggest Problem
The bug started on 13 May 2025. That means it now covers almost a full year. Any comparison of impressions between “before 13 May 2025” and “after 13 May 2025” is comparing two different ways of counting.
This hits a few common reports hard:
- Year-over-year impression growth. If you reported strong growth in impressions over the last year, part of it may have been the bug.
- Before-and-after checks of SEO work. If you launched content or fixed technical issues after 13 May 2025, a lift in impressions may not have been all yours.
- Core update analysis. If you judged the effect of an update by impressions alone, it is worth looking again with clicks.
The coming weeks bring a second problem. As the fix rolls out, impressions will drop. Compare April 2026 with March 2026 and it may look like you lost visibility. In most cases you did not. The counting is simply going back to normal.
Other Changes in the Same Period
This is not the only thing that has moved impression numbers since May 2025. In September 2025, Google stopped supporting the num=100 parameter, which many rank tracking tools used. Many sites saw desktop impressions fall and average position improve at that time. I covered that in detail in why Search Console impressions fell after the num=100 change.
So for many sites, the last year has two impression shifts stacked on top of each other: an overcount from May 2025, and a drop in September 2025. That is why I would stop using impressions as a headline growth number for this whole period.
How to Check Your Own Search Console Impressions
You can’t remove the bug from your history. But you can work out how much it changed the story for your site. This is the process I follow.
- Read the anomalies note first. Open the Data anomalies page and confirm the dates. Make a note of 13 May 2025 (start) and 3 April 2026 (when Google confirmed it).
- Open the Performance report with a long date range. Use “Last 16 months” so you can see data from before 13 May 2025. Turn on clicks, impressions, CTR and average position.
- Look for a step change around 13 May 2025. Check if impressions jumped while clicks stayed flat or grew slowly. The gap between the two lines is a useful clue.
- Switch to clicks as your main line. Compare clicks year over year and month over month. Clicks are the cleaner signal for this period.
- Check by search type and device. Filter by Web, Image, Video and News, and by device. See where the impression jump is biggest. This tells you which parts of your reports need the most care.
- Cross-check with analytics. Compare Search Console clicks with organic sessions in GA4. They will never match exactly, but the trend should look similar.
- Watch the next few weeks closely. As the fix rolls out, look for impressions falling while clicks hold steady. That pattern points to the fix, not a ranking loss.
When I do this check, I mostly care about the shape of the lines, not the exact numbers. If clicks are steady and only impressions move, I am fairly relaxed. If clicks drop too, I start looking for a real cause.
A Practical Example
Say a local bakery’s site shows impressions going up sharply from mid-May 2025, while clicks rise only a little. CTR seems to slide down over the same months. The owner might think “Google shows us more, but people click less, so our titles must be bad”.
With the bug in mind, the better reading is different. Clicks grew a little, which is real. The big jump in impressions, and the CTR slide that came with it, may be partly or fully caused by the overcount. Rewriting every title tag based on that CTR drop would be a waste of time.
This is the kind of wrong decision I want you to avoid. The data was not lying about clicks, only about impressions and the numbers built from them.
If You Use the BigQuery Export or the API
Many teams pull Search Console data into BigQuery, Looker Studio or other tools. If you set up the Search Console bulk data export to BigQuery, your stored tables hold the same impression counts that Search Console reported.
Google’s note talks about Search Console reporting in general and does not list each export method. My working rule is simple: assume any impression figure from Search Console for 13 May 2025 onward has the same problem, whatever tool shows it. That includes dashboards, spreadsheets and third-party SEO tools that read Search Console data.
Google has not said whether old data will be corrected later. So I would keep a note in your data warehouse or dashboard that marks the affected date range. Then anyone who queries it later will know.
What to Fix in Your SEO Reports Now
Most of the work here is in reporting, not on your website. Your site did not do anything wrong. But your reports may have told a story that was too positive, and the next few weeks may tell one that is too negative.
Add Annotations at the Key Dates
Mark 13 May 2025 and 3 April 2026 on every chart that shows impressions. Search Console now lets you add your own notes to the Performance chart, which I covered in Search Console’s custom annotations and branded queries filter. Add the same notes in GA4 and in any Looker Studio dashboards.
I like short, plain notes, such as “Google confirmed impressions overcounted from this date” and “Impressions fix rolling out”. Anyone reading the chart in six months will understand it without asking you.
Lead With Clicks and Business Results
For this period, put clicks, organic sessions, leads and sales at the top of your reports. Move impressions lower and label them clearly. In my experience, business owners care much more about calls and sales than impressions anyway, so this change often makes reports better.
Tell Clients and Managers Before the Drop Shows Up
The worst time to explain this is after someone sees a falling impressions chart and panics. I recommend sending a short message now. Keep it simple:
- Google confirmed impressions were overcounted from 13 May 2025.
- Clicks were not affected, and our clicks trend is [steady / growing / falling].
- Impressions will fall over the next few weeks as Google fixes the count.
- This is a reporting change, not a change in how Google ranks our site.
- We’ll use clicks and conversions as our main numbers for this period.
If you reported impression growth in the past year, it is honest to say that part of it may have come from the bug. I’d rather say that now than have someone find the anomalies page on their own.
Reset Targets Built on Impressions
Some teams set goals like “grow impressions by X% this year”. If the starting point or the progress came from inflated numbers, those goals no longer make sense.
I would pause any impression-based target until the fix has fully rolled out. Then set a new baseline from clean data. Until then, use click-based goals.
How to Tell the Fix From a Real Traffic Drop
Over the next few weeks, many site owners will see impressions fall and worry about rankings. Here is how I tell the difference between “the fix is working” and “something is really wrong”.
Signs it is probably the fix:
- Impressions fall, but clicks stay about the same.
- Organic sessions and conversions in analytics stay steady.
- The drop is spread across many pages and queries, not focused on one section.
- The timing lines up with Google’s fix rollout, not with a site change.
Signs something else is going on:
- Clicks fall along with impressions.
- Specific pages or a whole folder lose clicks while others don’t.
- The drop started right after a site change, such as a redesign, migration or new robots.txt rules.
- The Page indexing report shows more pages not indexed than before.
If you see the second set of signs, treat it as a real problem and look into it. Check for technical issues first, then look at any Google updates around the same dates.
Why Search Console Numbers Never Match Other Tools Exactly
This bug is a good reminder that no SEO data source is perfect. Search Console, GA4 and third-party tools all count things in their own ways. They also have their own bugs and gaps.
Search Console clicks and GA4 sessions differ for normal reasons, such as consent banners, ad blockers and how each tool defines a visit. I explain those reasons in why Search Console and GA4 numbers don’t match. Those normal gaps are different from this bug, which was a counting error on Google’s side.
My habit is to check the Data anomalies page every time I see a sudden jump or drop that I can’t explain. It takes a minute, and it has saved me from chasing problems that were never on the site.
What I’d Do This Week
If you only have an hour, this is where I would spend it:
- Read Google’s note and record the start date, 13 May 2025.
- Pull 16 months of clicks and impressions and look at how far apart the two lines moved after that date.
- Add annotations at 13 May 2025 and 3 April 2026 in Search Console, GA4 and your dashboards.
- Send a short note to clients or managers explaining the coming impressions drop.
- Switch your main Search Console metric to clicks until the fix is fully done.
Then check back once Google says the fix has finished rolling out. That is when you can set a fresh impressions baseline.
Conclusion
The Search Console impressions bug is a reporting problem, not a ranking problem. Google says impressions were overcounted from 13 May 2025, while clicks were not affected. As the fix rolls out over the next few weeks, impressions will fall back toward real levels.
Lean on clicks, sessions and conversions for this period, annotate your charts, and warn the people who read your reports before the drop shows up. If you want a refresher on which reports are worth your time, start with my beginner’s guide to Google Search Console.
