Google Adwords. Impressions verus Clicks

What's the difference between the two?

[JoeHouse]

I was wondering if someone can answer this question for me. I just signed up for Google adwords and I would like to know what is the difference between impressions and clicks.

It shows 174 impressions with just 2 clicks throughs on my personal account. Does that mean there was 174 visits to my chosen keyword and only 2 clicks throughs to my website?

Would appreciate someone's help with the answer to my question. Thanks!

[David_M]

Your ad was shown 174 times, and was clicked on 2x. CTR=1.15%
Google Glossary [adwords.google.com]
Now you need to track how many of the clicks turn into sales/subscriptions etc..

Good luck!

[mack]

An impression means your advert was displayed
A click is when a user clicks on your displayed advert.

CTR is "click through rate" This means how many clicks you get, as a percentage of the total number of impressions.

Hope this helps.

Mack.

[jneill]

And note that not everyone who clicks on your ad will actually arrive at your site. For example, they might be on a slow connection and not wait long enough for your site to appear.

You should expect an approx 10% drop-off between click and landing. e.g. if you have 20 clicks that'll probably generate 18 visitors.

James