Traffic Analysis and Growth Measurement Guide

Traffic Analysis and Growth Measurement Guide

By Michael Thompson

February 22, 2025 at 03:19 AM

Site traffic analysis helps measure your website's performance through three key metrics:

Key Traffic Metrics

  • Unique Visitors: Estimated total number of individual users visiting your site, tracked via 2-year browser cookies
  • Visits: Individual browsing sessions within a 30-minute window
  • Pageviews: Total number of page requests, including unlinked, collection, and password-protected pages

Web traffic line graph

Web traffic line graph

Understanding Visits

  • One visit = single browsing session (may include multiple pageviews)
  • Sessions expire after 30 minutes of inactivity
  • Sessions reset at midnight
  • Multiple daily visits possible from same user

Pageview Specifics

  • Counts fully loaded pages
  • Includes unlinked and password-protected content
  • Excludes direct image URLs, scripts, and 404 pages
  • Index Page views (v7.0) count differently:
    • Secondary pages viewed from main Index count toward Index
    • Direct URL access counts for individual pages

Website traffic chart

Website traffic chart

Traffic Analysis Tools

  • Interactive line graph showing trends over time
  • Detailed breakdowns for visits by:
    • Device type (mobile, desktop, tablet)
    • Traffic source
    • Browser
    • Operating system

Note on Chrome's "Do Not Track"

  • When enabled, each page view counts as new visitor
  • May inflate unique visitor and direct traffic numbers
  • Total pageview count remains accurate

Access historical data from January 2014 onwards, with customizable date ranges and comparison metrics for comprehensive traffic analysis.

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