Unique visitors and visits

Dana Chinn

September 2009

2

visit websites,

Unique visitors

generate page views.

3

A “unique visitor” is actually a “unique computer”

4

Work

Home

Hotel

= 3 unique visitors

Unique visitors may be over- or undercounted

= 3 unique visitors

Work

= 1 unique visitor

5

The no. of unique visitors is based on the time period you specify.S M T W Th F S

31

July 6-12

1

...on July 1 is six; July 31, two.

...for the week of July 13 is five.

...for the month of July is seven.

July 13-19

July 20-26

The number of unique visitors...“Daily unique visitors”

“Weekly unique visitors”

“Monthly unique visitors”

6

The math of visits

A visit is a period of activity separated by at least 30 minutes of inactivity.

A visitor clicks into your site at 1 p.m., surfs for 20 minutes, then clicks into CNN.com.

One visit

A visitor clicks into your site at 1 p.m., surfs for 45 minutes, talks on the phone for 30 minutes without touching the keyboard, then hangs up and goes back to your site for 20 minutes before clicking into CNN.com. Two visits

A visitor clicks into your site at 1 p.m., surfs for an hour, leaves his computer for 29 minutes, and then comes back and surfs for another hour before clicking into CNN.com.

One visit