Whan An Impression Really Is?

are all impressions "seen"?

[alexisbellido]

Hi, I was wondering about impressions and if they mean an ad is seen, for example:

I have one keyword that is showing a number of impressions in position # 20.

This position, considering 8 ads per search results page, should be in the third page. Am I right?

Ok, if I can see a number of impressions for this keyword in my account, does this mean somebody got to that third page of results?

Or does that mean the somebody searched for my keyword, maybe just got to the first page and if he would have gone to the third page he would have seen my ad?

Let's put it another way:

Hypothesis # 1: Visitor searches for "keyword", my ad should appear at position # 20. Visitor just browses first page of results. Google counts as one impression for my ad, even if visitor never went to third page (where my ad should appear).

Hypothesis # 2: Visitor searches "keyword" and just visits first page of results. Google doesn't count one impression for my ad because visiting didn't make it to third page of results.

Hypoteshis # 3: Visitor searches "keyword", browses to to third page and see my ad. Google counts one impression of my add.

Thanks for your help!

[jim2003]

Google only counts an impression if your ad is displayed. In your hypotheses #2, and #3 are accurate. Also remember if search preferences are set by the search for more than 10 then more than 8 ads appear on the first page. Personally I suspect more ads that are #20 are shown with the search preferences set to 50 to 100, than are shown by people browsing to page 3.

Also note, I am pretty sure that Google would show an impression for a #20 ad on a page 1 with search preferences set to 100, even if the searcher does not scroll down far enough to actually see the ad.