What is website traffic?

By definition, website traffic refers to the people that go to a website. This traffic is measured in “visits” and tallies how many times a page on your website is loaded. Yes, this counts refreshed pages as well.

How is the traffic determined?

When you go to a website, your device connects to the website’s server. Each website has multiple pages, and those pages have different elements, which are made up by files. Each time you load a page online, all the files saved in that layout have to be sent from the server to your device and are counted as “hits”. So, while you’re getting one view for the page, you could be getting 10+ hits depending on how much your page displays. Text boxes, images, your fonts and color themes, all count towards the individual files saved on your server; which are all monitored constantly to give you the totals you can find on your website maintenance page.

The server also saves the numbers for web page requests known as “visits” or “sessions”, which lets you know how each of your pages or posts are performing. You as the website owner can then determine the key factors that are getting your site the most attention.

Is web traffic the only thing that is measured?

To put it simply, no. There are many things that measure the pieces of your site. It’s always great to see those high numbers next to visitors or views, but the things that happen after that are far more important to measure.

• How long did the user stay? Can you really claim to be successful because you have high numbers next to your visitors and views if they didn’t stay long enough to read anything? One of the things measured on your website is called “bounce rate”. This is when a user clicks on your site or a page but leaves again after only a few seconds.
• Do you have a store on your website? How many of your visitors actually made a purchase? Ecommerce sites need a large audience, as you can’t expect every single visitor to make a purchase, but the number of completed purchases is what you need to monitor. This metric is called “conversation rate”.
• One of the other most important things to keep track of is your social media metrics. These vary in title and purpose depending on your website. Likes, shares, and comments are all counted in this section. The interaction is very flattering to anyone creating their own content, but it’s also very needed to anyone running a business online. This type of interaction affects the visibility of your website.

So, take a look at your stats. What is doing well? What is doing poorly? If there’s anything that needs to be cut or updated, make the necessary changes. Repurpose anything that you can, update anything that is older, and delete anything that is performing poorly to make room for new content.

If you have questions, leave a comment. I can help you out. More detailed questions? Check out the form on the Contact page.