Impressions dropped by 25% in webmasters (GWT), but traffic increased

[seoenthusiast]

Hi all,

I have 2 issues:

1. In Google webmasters, I found the impressions and clicks values drop by 25% for last week. However, the search traffic shown in Analytics has shown an increase.

Wanted to check with you guys if anyone else has faced the same and what it actually means. Is something wrong with my site or is the data wrong.

2. I also found that the sum of clicks of mobile and web (mobile clicks+web clicks) from GWT is greater than the total search traffic shown in Analytics for weeks earlier than last week.

That is,
mobile clicks+ web clicks> total search traffic (Google analytics) for data older than 2 weeks
mobile clicks + web clicks ~= search traffic only for last week

Does this mean that GWT has become accurate compared to before? or does is there some issue with my site.

Really confused as to what these mean. I appreciate any help/suggestions in this regard.

[timster]

I'm not a GWT expert but as you haven't gotten an answer yet I'll give it a go...

The data are not "wrong" (the data is the data) but both these systems (especially GWT) may be estimates in some situations. I think for newer, smaller sites, this estimating can result in 25% swings like you describe.

But more than than, GWT and GA measure different things, so if they ever match exactly that's sheer coincidence.

GWT gets its data directly from Google's servers. GA gets data from users' browsers, later, when your site's page loads.

Reasons a "click" in GWT may not show up in GA include:
1. The page on your site did not load in the user's browser.
2. JavaScript or GA was blocked on the users' browser.
3. The user already had a tab open with your site.
(The list goes on.)

This GWT tool is meant for optimizing your search presence, not tracking traffic, so use your Google Analytics for that. But no technology to date can track each individual person hitting your site. All these analytic reports must be taken with a grain of salt.

Hope that helps.