YouTube impressions and views are both important metrics that help to measure the performance of your videos on YouTube, but they represent different things.

Impressions refer to the number of times your video thumbnail was shown to viewers on YouTube. This means that your video thumbnail appeared on a user's screen in the YouTube feed, search results, or suggested videos, but the viewer did not necessarily click on the video to watch it.

Views, on the other hand, refer to the number of times your video was actually watched by viewers. A view is counted when a viewer watches your video for at least 30 seconds or when they watch the entire video if it's shorter than 30 seconds.

In general, impressions can give you an idea of how many people saw your video on YouTube, while views give you an idea of how many people actually watched your video. Impressions are important because they indicate that your video is being shown to potential viewers, but views are a more accurate measure of how many people engaged with your content and found it interesting enough to watch.

To improve your video's performance on YouTube, it's important to focus on both impressions and views. You can improve impressions by optimizing your video's metadata, such as the title, description, and tags, and by using engaging thumbnails that encourage viewers to click on your video. To increase views, you should focus on creating high-quality and engaging content that keeps viewers interested and encourages them to watch your videos all the way through.