Definition:
A visit occurs each time a browser requests one or more pieces of content from a website. This can include downloading an entire web page or several pieces of content. A visit is commonly defined as a series of page requests made by a user with no more than 30 minutes of inactivity in between. During this period, all actions the user performs on the site are recorded.
Applications of the visits metric
Apart from being a very useful metric for web analysis, in many cases visits are also used for the analysis of operations and to provide personalized functions, such as user-specific recommendations for other pages or articles that the user should see.
In general, a visit can be understood as a sequence of requests made by a single user during a visit to a specific website, within a certain period of time, even if he enters and leaves the site.
What is the purpose of measuring visits?
Measuring visits to a website is critical to understanding how users interact with content and to assessing overall site performance. Here are some key reasons why it is important to measure visits:
- Site traffic evaluation: Measuring visits provides insight into the volume of traffic a web page receives, which is essential for assessing site popularity and identifying trends over time.
- User behavior analysis: By measuring visits, insights can be gained about how users navigate the site, which pages they visit most frequently and how long they spend on each page, helping to improve the browsing experience.
- Content optimization: Knowing what content attracts the most visitors helps to optimize content to better meet the needs and interests of the audience.
- Measuring the performance of marketing campaigns: Visits are a key metric for evaluating the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns, allowing you to determine which strategies work and which need to be adjusted.
- Audience segmentation: Measuring visits allows segmenting traffic by various categories, such as traffic source, geographic location and device used, helping to personalize marketing strategies.
- Identification of technical problems: An abrupt change in the number of visits may indicate technical problems on the site, such as slow loading times or server errors, which should be detected in time.
- Informed decision making: Visitation measurement provides hard data to support strategic decisions about advertising investments, changes in site design or the introduction of new features.
The visit in Google Analytics
At Google Analytics visits are referred to as sessions, and can extend up to a maximum of 30 minutes in the default configuration. After this time, any additional activity is recorded as a new session. Without a time limit between requests, a user could return to the same website after a week and still count as the same visit. Google Analytics allows you to adjust the duration of sessions using its advanced settings, which is useful for types of sites where a user may be idle for more than 30 minutes, such as long videos.