I’ve put this in the Off-Topic section as I’m don’t think it’s Ghost related.
Anyway, I’ve been averaging 1K+ google impressions daily from my site. A few days ago I changed my theme a lot as I was playing with API stuff, I probably changed my theme 10+ times within the day (I didn’t have a local site setup, but do now) - every since doing this, I’ve gone from 1K+ google impressions daily to 50 or so, I’m posting the same, if not more, and posting about the same topics (gaming news) - but this is obviously an extreme change.
I’ve re-indexed my homepage but presume it could just take time go back up to my average?
Google’s “impressions” are mainly driven by how well you rank for different keywords. The higher up, the more impressions.
The action of changing the theme (e.g. pressing the upload button and activating something) shouldn’t have an effect on it – but what’s happening underneath can very well influence it.
If you’re changing your theme, you will most likely change its HTML structure. We don’t know what specifically you have changed, but here’s an example:
Let’s say, you have a theme that is highly optimised for mobile viewports. Then you change some of the layout and in Google’s eyes this optimisation gets worse. This can ultimately influence the ranking – and therefore the impressions you see in GSC.
So, depending on what specifically you changed, I would say yes. It can have an impact.
I would have a look at the “average position” property in GSC to see if your search rankings decreased – and whether that correlates with the timeframe in which you changed the theme.
Normally, changing a website’s theme, especially if the previous one had strong core web vitals, is generally ill-advised and can lead to short-term consequences. Many themes modify the link structure, which Google tends to disfavor.
In terms of metrics, it’s advisable to place more emphasis on clicks and your position in search results rather than impressions in GSC. Impressions can fluctuate due to keyword seasonality and your search ranking.