An impression is counted each time an ad is displayed on your site. Impressions are not to be confused with ad slots which is all the spaces that an ad CAN appear on your site.
Impressions are an important building block of your ad revenue
Your revenue from display and video ads are derived from this basic equation --
CPM * Impressions / 1000 = Ad Revenue
Important things to note about Impressions
Many ad slots refresh every 30 seconds, so if you have readers that are engaged and / or stay on a page for a longer period of time, impressions will be higher.
Ad slots that refresh are ...
- Adhesion units (the ad at the bottom of the screen)
- In-Content ads
- Sticky Sidebar Ads
- Recipe Card Ads
- Universal Player
You can understand more about Impressions in your Dashboard Analytics.
You can see Total Impressions, Impressions per Session, and Impressions per Page.
Impressions per Page are a great way to understand how well-optimized a page is, and can even offer insights into how readers are using your content.