Understanding Web Site Traffic Numbers
Figure 7-1 shows the results of a typical statistic-gathering tool. These statistics are taken from Gawker (www.gawker.com), a popular New York gossip blog. They include a handy chart summarizing a month of traffic and separate subreports for things such as operating systems, browser versions, and search keywords. You can find Gawker's traffic stats at www.gawker.com/stats/ awstats.pl.
Figure 7-1:
During November 2004, Gawker served 3,981,801 pages to 833,288 unique visitors.
Statistics of:
www, gawker.com
When:
Summary Days of month Days of week Hours Who: Countries 3 Full list Hosts 3 Full list 3 Last visit
3 Unresolved IP Address Robots/Spiders visitors 3 Full list >! Last visit Navigation: Visits duration Files type Viewed 3 Full list 3 Entry 3 Exit Operating Systems 3 Versions 3 Unknown Browsers 3 Versions 3 Unknown Referers: Origin
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Last Update: |
05 DEC 2004 |
-02:45 | |||||||||
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Fie ported period: |
Dec |
2004 v] |
OK |
II -= = | |||||||
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Summary Month Dec 2004 01 Dec 2004 -00:00 Unique visitors 131968 Summary Summary Month Dec 2004 04 Dec 2004 -23:59 Number of visits 219828 Hits 585654 (1.66 visits/visitor) (2.63 pages/visit) (2.66 hits/visit) (44.66 KB/visit) Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 Month Jan 2004 Unique visitors Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 Unique visitors
As you look at the output of any Web traffic tool, you need to fully understand the terms being used to slice and dice the statistics. Three measurements are commonly associated with Web site traffic: hits, pages, and visits. Each has its own hidden pitfalls and uses, and none is a sure-fire way to compare your site with another. Most, but not all, statistic-measuring tools give you all three figures. |
Continue reading here: Webbased tools
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