Google's John Mueller said a spike/increase in impressions within Google Search Console does not cause any specific problems within Google Search. There are a number of posts where some users are seeing a surge in impressions within Google Search Console but clicks and traffic have not changed.
The comment is in a thread on Reddit where John replied:
There's not a lot of information to go on here, but perhaps it helps to know - as others have mentioned - that just having more impressions doesn't cause problems for search.
Here is a screenshot of the Search Console chart from the person who posted it:
Ravi Ranjan asked John, "any bug or what might caused this reward with huge skyrocket impression?" John replied, "just having more impressions doesn't cause problems for search."
The impression change can be for a lot of reasons, even that your site shows up in an AI Overview for a high volume query but no one really clicks over from the AI Overview.
Others are seeing the spike as well:
Hey Barry... anyone else reporting increases in Impressions last ~10 days? Seeing some strange numbers that may imply they are counting Impressions even if the hover is not activated. Unless lots of folks are hovering. https://t.co/O3sBLfQqww @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/Py3BgKNS6u
— Cory 🤦♂️ (@chowell18) February 20, 2026
Forum discussion at Reddit.
