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Ok, so you’ve installed a web analytics program and you’re looking at your first report. How do you make sense of all that data? The first step is understanding the jargon. Browse the list below for key web analytics terms and a plain language explanation of what they mean.
Agents: Also called Browsers. The Internet browser installed on your visitor’s computer.
Country: The country where the visitor connects to the Internet.
Day of the Week: A breakdown of hits, page views and visitors by day of the week.
Entry Page: The first page on your website that an individual visits.
Errors: A breakdown of the error messages received by visitors to your site. Usually includes a link to the offending URL, allowing you to correct the problem.
Exit Page: The last page on your website that a visitor sees before leaving your site.
Hits: Every file downloaded from your server is considered a hit. A single web page can result in hundreds of hits, which makes this information of very limited use.
Hour of the day: A breakdown of hits, page views and visitors by hour of the day.
Keywords Searched: A breakdown of the number of times each word appearing in any of the search phrases is used across all searches.
Operating System: The operating system installed on your visitor’s computer.
Page Duration: The average length of time that a visitor views a page.
Page Views: How many times someone has viewed a page on your website. Sometimes referred to as Impressions, this is a useful metric if you’re selling advertising on your website because it will help you to determine your inventory - how much advertising space you have available.
Pages per Visit: The average number of pages viewed by each visitor to your website.
Paths: The order in which pages on your website are visited, showing a detailed breakdown of web traffic paths from each of your entry pages.
Referring Search Engines: The number of visits originating from a search engine.
Referrer: Visits originating when an individual clicks on a link from another website. Shows the number of visits for each referrer.
Search Terms: Also referred to as search phrases. The phrases that a visitor uses to find your site in a search engine.
Unique Visitors: Sometimes referred to simply as Visitors, the number of individuals who visit your site over a give period of time. Each visitor is counted only once for the time period, regardless of how many times he visits or how many pages he views.
Visits: A visit is a collection of pages viewed by an individual over the course of a single session on your website. A session is defined as a collection of hits from the same IP address with fewer than “x” minutes between each hit. If a visitor leaves your site then returns more than “x” minutes later, he will be counted as a new visits. Also, if your home page is set to your website, then you will be counted as a new visit each time you open your Internet browser.
Visits per Visitor: The average number of times a unique visitor comes to your site over a given time period.
The next step is understanding what numbers matter, and which ones don’t. Of course, that means knowing your key performance indicators (KPI’s). And that’s a subject for another tutorial.
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