is traffic a signal to Google?

Hi Friends,

I've been experimenting with SEO lately for keywords related to my consulting niche. So forgive me if this question is a bit basic.

In the Google Search Console I noticed every time my website gets traffic from other sources (HN, twitter, reddit) the search impressions on that page increase as well. (along with other pages)

I can't tell if Google ranks things higher from traffic (which it would know from Google Analytics) or if it's just people Googling the very same content in social posts. I don't understand the search intent behind the latter if that's the case.

thanks in advance