When you add an Article (a URL deliverable, such as a press mention or earned-media coverage), InfluenceKit can pre-fill an Impressions value for you, so you don’t have to look it up by hand. The value is always editable.
When you’ll see it
When you add an article from a URL and open Preview & edit, the Impressions field may already contain a value, with a small note beneath it:
Estimated — edit to override
That note means the number was filled in for you. It’s a starting point, not a fixed figure — change it whenever you have a more accurate number.
Where the pre-filled number comes from
InfluenceKit fills the field using the best information it has, in this order:
A value you entered before for the same publication. If you previously recorded impressions for an article on the same site (for example, a prior Forbes article), the most recent value you saved is reused. This is your own data, not an estimate.
An estimate based on the publication’s reach. If you’ve never recorded impressions for that publication, InfluenceKit estimates a figure from how popular the publication’s website is. This is an approximate, order-of-magnitude figure — treat it as a starting point and adjust it if you have real numbers.
Editing and overriding
Type your own value at any time. As soon as you edit the field, it becomes your value and is no longer treated as an estimate, and the “Estimated” note disappears.
A value you save becomes the suggestion next time. The most recent value you save for a publication is what gets reused for the next article from that same publication.
If you clear a suggested value, it won’t come back. Removing a guess tells InfluenceKit not to suggest one again for that deliverable.
Estimate impressions automatically (account setting)
If your account has this enabled, you’ll find a setting under Settings → Report Settings called “Estimate impressions for earned-media coverage without analytics.” Turn it on and InfluenceKit will automatically fill in an estimated impressions figure for every Article (URL) deliverable that isn’t connected to your Google Analytics — so you don’t have to enter them one by one. This is useful if you track a lot of press coverage on sites you don’t own.
Automatic estimates follow the same rules as above: they’re clearly labeled “Estimated,” they never replace a real measured value, and you can edit any of them. If you don’t see this setting, it isn’t enabled for your account yet — contact support.
Estimates never replace your real analytics
If a deliverable is connected to Google Analytics, the real measured value always takes precedence in your reports. An estimate is only ever shown when there’s no real measured value for that publication — a guess will never override or inflate a number that came from analytics.
Google Analytics timeframe
The Google Analytics Timeframe option only appears on an article when that article’s website is connected to a Google Analytics property in your account. For coverage on sites you don’t have analytics access to, the option is hidden, because there are no analytics to filter by.