Visitor

A visitor (or user) refers to an individual who accesses a website or web application. This concept is fundamental to understanding user behaviour, traffic patterns, and the overall performance of a digital property. However, the definition of a visitor can be nuanced and multifaceted, depending on the specific metrics and time frames being considered.

There are typically two main categories of visitors:

• Unique Visitors: This metric represents the number of distinct individuals who have visited a website within a given time period. Each unique visitor is counted only once, regardless of how many times they return to the site. Unique visitors are often identified through cookies, IP addresses, or user authentication.
• Return Visitors: These are individuals who have visited the website more than once within the specified time frame. Return visitors are valuable as they often indicate a level of engagement or interest in the site’s content or offerings.

The concept of a visitor is closely tied to sessions or visits. A session typically begins when a user lands on a page and ends after a period of inactivity (usually 30 minutes) or at midnight. One visitor can have multiple sessions, which is why session count and visitor count often differ in analytics reports.

It’s important to note that the accuracy of visitor counts can be affected by various factors:

• Cookie deletion or blocking by users
• The use of multiple devices by a single user
• Shared devices or public computers
• VPNs or dynamic IP addresses