Glossary
B
- Bounce rate
- The percentage of web site visitors who visit your web site and leave (bounce away) without getting any deeper into your site.
Official WAA definition: Single page view visits divided by entry pages. - Browser
A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a software application for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web.
The major web browsers are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari.
C
- Click depth
- Click depth (aka page views per visit, average page depth, depth of visit) is the number of pages on your Web site that a visitor views during a single session
Official WAA Deffinition: The number of page views in a reporting period divided by number of visits in the same reporting period. - Click through
- The process of a visitor clicking on a web page/app and going to the next page/sceen.
Official WAA definition: Number of times a link was clicked by a visitor.Comments:
Click-throughs are typically associated with advertising activities, whether external or internal to the site. Note that click-throughs measured on the sending side (as reported by your ad server, for example) and on the receiving side (as reported by your web analytics tool) often do not match. Minor discrepancies are normal, but large discrepancies may require investigation. - Click through rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign for a particular website as well as the effectiveness of an email campaign by the number of users that clicked on a specific link.
Official WAA definition: The number of click-throughs for a specific link divided by the number of times that link was viewed.
Comments:
Both the click-throughs and the views of the link are measured for the same designated reporting time period.- Clickstream
- A clickstream, or click path, is a list of all the pages viewed by a visitor, presented in the order the pages were viewed, also defined as the’succession of mouse clicks’that each visitor makes through a website.
- Clickstream analysis
The examination of clickstream data to learn about visit behavior. An interactive clickstream is a graphic representation of a clickpath which allows you to retrace visitor click paths and click on the pages that visitors themselves clicked, hence the label’interactive’. This interactivity includes the referring”page before”when available.
- Company name
We identify the company or organization name for some larger corporate and educational networks using the IP address.
A list of the companies and organizations from which visitors accessed your site. These are mostly large organisations which service their own networks. A lot of educational networks fall into this category.
This data is entered at some point by an administrator, meaning that not all companies / organizations are known. The databases from which this information comes are continually being updated.- Continent
- Continents are the largest landmasses on earth. There are 7:
Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. - Conversion
- A conversion happens when a visitor or user from a specific Source completes a Goal.
Conversions: The total number of visitors who “converted”: reached a defined goal.Official WAA Definition: A visitor completing a target action. - Country / Region / City
We determine an Internet visitor’s location based on their IP address.
And show a drill-down list of countries, regions, and cities which your visitors come from.
- Current page (exit page)
The page most recently visited by an online visitor, or the last page viewed (exit page), if the visitor is no longer online. A clickstream is a series of signals that Opentracker measures. We receive and display a signal whenever a click is made. Therefore the last click (signal) is the current page, until a new page is clicked on.
- Current visit duration
The amount of time an online visitor has spent on the site (real-time) since the most recent visit began with an entry click. The time spent on site is cumulative: we measure the time between clicks.
D
- Days between visits (avg)
- Average calculated from the total number of days between the first&last (most recent) visits, divided by the total number of visits.
- Directory path
- A directory is a part of the filing system containing the data that makes up your site. Directories are made up of files and sub-directories.
File: smallest component of a filing system (used to store all the pages that make up your site).We show a list of your most frequently accessed files and directories. The list allows you to drill down into the pages of your site.
The point is that you can drill into the different parts of your site and see how many visitors they received.The report is based on the directory structure in which the files & directories that make up your site are stored. You can drill further down into that directory or sub-directories. - Display Colors
Display color depth. Higher display color numbers result in better image quality
Color bit or depth is either the number of bits used to indicate the color of a single pixel, in a bitmapped image, or the number of bits used for each color component of a single pixel.
- DMA
Designated Market Area.
There are 210 official DMAs in the U.S.
Each DMA is rated 1-210 in size, based on total number of TV households and the percentage of the entire U.S. market place. So, for example, Baltimore represents 1,083,030 TV households and 1%, of the entire U.S. market.
- Domain
(in this case of router / DNS lookup) The last component / suffix of a router address is the top-level domain e.g. ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.gov’, ‘.uk’, etc.
- Duration (of visit)
Time difference between first recorded event (click) and last recorded event (click).
Official WAA Definition: The length of time in a session. Calculation is typically the timestamp of the last activity in the session minus the timestamp of the first activity of the session.
Comments: When there is only one piece of activity in a session (a single-page visit or single- event visit), no visit duration is typically reported.
E
- Entry page
An entry page is a page located on your site (domain). It is the first page of your site which a visitor sees, also known as a landing page. The page the visitor came from is the referring page or referrer.
WAA Definition: The first page of a visit.
- Event
Event; pageview, click, launch.
Any activity that takes place on an Internet-connected device can be defined as an event. This web-service securely tracks, monitors, and generate real-time analytical reports for any device connected to the Internet.
Opentracker defines an event as A decade ago we started measuring page-views generated by mouse-clicks. The definition of what we track has now expanded. We track a broader range of signals which we call events. Examples are a page-view, playing a movie, making a tweet, getting a download, or an ajax call. Other examples include the temperature measured by a sensor, a purchase at a grocery store or my heart rate while jogging.
WAA Definition: Any logged or recorded action that has a specific date and time assigned to it by either the browser or server.
- Exit links
- An exit link is a link from your site (domain) to another site (technically a 3rd party domain). An exit link is a link leaving your site to third-party site. Imagine a bridge from your site to another site. Exit links begin on your site and lead to the other side of the bridge.
- Exit page
The last page a visitor views before leaving your site. If the visitor follows a link from your site Opentracker will record the exit link followed. If they close their browser or use their own bookmarks there is no further information available on their activity.
WAA Definition: The last page on a site accessed during a visit, signifying the end of a visit/session.
F
- files
The mallest component of a filing system (used to store all the pages that make up your site).
- First measurement
- The first recorded visit of a (unique) visitor. Every visitor receives an initial timestamp in milliseconds and is tracked indefinitely for recurring visits.
- First time visitor
- A first-time visitor is a visitor who has not been identified as having already been on the site.
WAA Definition: The number of Unique Visitors with activity including a first-ever Visit to a site during a reporting period. - Forecast
- A calculation (forecast) which predicts Visitor and Pageview numbers based on historical data.
G
- Geo-location
Geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a mobile phone or an Internet-connected computer.
We determine an Internet visitor’s location based on their IP address and /or GPS coordinates.
- Goal
- A goal is a page on your website that you want your visitors to reach.
Examples are: sign-up, purchase, pricing, contact pages, etc.
I
- ISP
Internet Service Provider. An ISP can be located in multiple countries.
We provide a list of the ISPs used by the visitors of your site. Organizations which service their own networks are also included. Example organizations are private companies, universities, and governmental bodies.
Use this data to determine the popularity of ISPs and/or organizations through which visitors access your site.
L
- Landing page
The first page on which a visitor to your site lands. Technically, this is a page in your domain. Any page can be a landing page. See also glossary definition for Entry Page. Please note: the Opentracker javascript must be in the source code of the (landing) page in order for Opentracker to record activity. Otherwise the first page including the javascript will be recognized as the landing page.
WAA Definition: A page intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort.
- Last event
- Last recorded event or click made by a visitor on a site. Either a click on an exit link, or the last page visited if no exit activity measured.
- Last visit duration
- The amount of time spent by a visitor on a site during their last (most recent) visit. The visit duration is calculated from the time of the first click through to the last page viewed (clicked).
N
- New Visitor
A new visitor is a visitor who has not been identified as having already been on the site.
WAA Definition: The number of Unique Visitors with activity including a first-ever Visit to a site during a reporting period.
- Number of visits
- The total number of distinct visits made to a site over a given period of time. A visit starts with an entry click and ends with an exit event or a 10 minute period of inactivity. Every visitor can make an unlimited number of visits.
- Number of visits per unique visitor (avg)
- Total number of visits recorded divided by the total number of unique visitors to visit site during the same period.
O
- Online status
- Real-time visitor status. The current status of a visitor is indicated by the color of their puppet: active/online (green puppet), inactive for 3-10 minutes (yellow puppet), or offline (red puppet).
- Operating system / Platform
- The platform is the system on which operating systems and programs operate. The platform is the computer and the operating system together. Examples of platforms/ operating systems are Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, etc.
P
- Pageview
- A single web page viewed by a human through a browser is a pageview. Technically: a file, or a combination of files, sent to a visitor as a result of that visitor’s request being received by a server.
WAA Definition of pageviews: The number of times a page (an analyst-definable unit of content) was viewed. - Pageviews per visit (avg) [pv/v]
The total number of pageviews divided by the total number of visits over any given period of time.
WAA Definition: The number of page views in a reporting period divided by number of visits in the same reporting period.
- Pageviews per visitor (avg)
- The total number of pageviews divided by the total number of unique visitors for the same period.
R
- Referred visitors
- A list of the most recent visitors referred to your site through a third party. Technically,”referred”means that the person followed a link to your site. The report also shows which search engine referred each visitor, and which search terms were used, where available. The report can be generated with or without search engines. Also where available, you can click to see the”page before”which led referred visitors to your site.
- Referrer
Third party website or source (i.e. search engine, link, banner, email) through which a visitor reaches your site. Search engines are the primary example, but other sites with links leading to your site are also referrers. Some examples are forums, banners, links, directories, portals, shops, homepages, etc. See Opentracker User Forum for’recognized search engine list’. Email can also be a referrer. If a person clicks on a link from an email to your site this is captured if they are using an online mail client.
WAA Definitions:
The referrer is the page URL that originally generated the request for the current page view or object.
The internal referrer is a page URL that is internal to the website or a web-property within the website as defined by the user.
The external referrer is a page URL where the traffic is external or outside of the website or a web-property defined by the user.
The search referrer is an internal or external referrer for which the URL has been generated by a search function.
The visit referrer is the first referrer in a session, whether internal, external or null.
The original referrer is the first referrer in a visitor’s first session, whether internal, external or null.- Referring links
- Links leading from 3rd party sites. Examples are: search engines, tweets, forums, banners, directories, portals, shops, homepages, etc.
- Returning visitors
A list of all visitors who have returned to your site after initial 24 hr. period. Note: Returning visitors are counted only once in Unique Visitors total.
(% of total number of visitors)
WAA Definition: The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of a Visit to a site during a reporting period and where the Unique Visitor also Visited the site prior to the reporting period.
- ROI
- Return on Investment
- Router
A device in a network that handles message transfer between computers.
How do routers differ from ISPs?
An ISP (internet service provider) is a large organisation providing internet services to your site’s visitors. A router is a device that an ISP uses to provide access to the internet. ISPs may own numerous routers. Every visitor is directed through a router, but not all routers provide their identity.Reverse dns lookup: Reverse DNS turns an IP address into a hostname. The process involves identifying a host name that corresponds to an IP address using the Domain Name System. To do this, IP addresses are entered into a DNS database and thus resolved to domains, if possible.
S
- same origin
Websites that have the combination of the same scheme, hostname, and port are considered “same-origin”. Everything else is considered “cross-origin”. Read reference here.
- same site
Websites that have the combination of the same scheme, hostname, and port are considered “same-origin”. Everything else is considered “cross-origin”. Read reference here.
- s.e. = single event (visit)
A “single event” or “Single page view” visit is defined when a visitor clicks on a single page of your site, and no second click or exit event recorded.
WAA Definition: Visits that consist of one page-view.
Single-Page Visits: Visits that consist of one page regardless of the number of times the page was viewed. - Search engine
- A third party website, through which visitors can submit queries and obtain clickable results. We maintain a Recognized Search Engine list in order to classify reporting into”search engine results”.
- Search term
- Search word(s) or search phrase entered into a search engine and used to find your site. Also called’key words’or’search phrases’.
- Session
Session, visit.
A visit or session by a visitor or user. A visit or session to a website, or a session on a mobile application. Visits and sessions end when a) there are no further clicks on the website or b) the app is paused or closed.
- source
- The source of traffic is the place where the traffic originates from.
The “source” answers the question: how did a visitor find my site?In the Opentracker reporting system, sources are also called “referrers”, because incoming traffic is referred from a 3rd party source. Technically a referred visitor clicks from a 3rd-party domain / URL into your domain. Sources are other websites sending you traffic through PPC campaigns, banners, ads, affiliates, blogs, etc.Most likely, search engines will form the majority of your traffic sources.
T
- Time viewing per page (avg)
- The total amount of time spent on a site by all visitors, divided by the total number of pages viewed. Note: single event (s.e.) visits are excluded from this statistic.
- Total duration all visits
- The total cumulative time of all visits of two or more pageviews. This measurement is displayed per individual visitor in the Visitor Profile.
U
- Unique visitor
A visitor is technically defined as a unique computer’s browser viewing your site. Unique visitors are tracked over long periods of time. The tracking is accomplished with an aggregate of the following unique variables: Timestamp (millisecond), IP address (reverse DNS lookup), User Agent, Cookie and/or Registration ID. Each visitor is a unique person, counted once.
WAA Definition: The number of inferred individual people (filtered for spiders and robots), within a designated reporting timeframe, with activity consisting of one or more visits to a site. Each individual is counted only once in the unique visitor measure for the reporting period.
- User
An user is defined as a person or device that has had at least one session with your app during a given time period.
If a user launches more than one session during a given period, they will only be counted once.
For example a user of an application (app) on a mobile device. A user is first counted when launching an app. Launching an app is the first event of a session.
When the user returns (launches again), she/ he becomes a returning user.
Every user is counted only once, based on a unique combination of measurements.A user is the same as a unique (website) visitor.
V
- Visit
A visit begins when a visitors enters your site with an entry click and views a succession of one or more pages. Each page requested and viewed is a pageview. The end of a visit is signaled by an exit click or a 10 minute period of inactivity. The next event (click) will be a new visit.
WAA Definition: A visit is an interaction, by an individual, with a website consisting of one or more requests for an analyst-definable unit of content (i.e. “page view”). If an individual has not taken another action (typically additional page views) on the site within a specified time period, the visit session will terminate.
- Visit duration
- WAA Definition: The last page on a site accessed during a visit, signifying the end of a visit/session.
- Visit time (avg)
- Average duration of all visits; the sum of all visit times divided by the total number of visits. Single event (s.e.) visits are not included in this calculation.
- Visitor
- The technical definition of a visitor is the use of a browser by a person who clicks a page and thereby accepts a cookie. Typically, only”real humans”use browsers.
- Visitors by search term
- A list of the most recent visitors who used search terms to find your site. Where captured the search engines used are also displayed. All visitors here were referred by a site classified as a search engine. A link is also provided to show you the”page before”= the search engine results the visitor saw before clicking through to your site.
- Visitors typing address / using bookmark
- The percentage of visitors who bookmarked your site, or typed the address of your site directly. Visitors who come through email programs are included in this category. Note: if a visitor comes through an online mail client they do not fall into this category. Visitors not included are those who came through a search engine (referred) or a link, banner, etc. In other words if we are able to determine the origin of a visitor they will not be placed in this category.
- Visits coming from referring links
- Number of visits initiated by a referral from a 3rd party site. Examples are: search engines, forums, banners, links, directories, portals, shops, homepages, etc. See also: Referred visitors.
- Visits coming from search engines
- Number of visits coming through recognized search engines. The’Recognized search engine list’is located on the forum. Note: Search engine visits are included in the”Visits coming from referring links”item of the Summary report. See also: Referred visitors.
- Visits leaving through exit links
- Number of visits (percentage of total) that ended with an exit event (click) to another domain through an exit link.
Z
- Zip code
- A series of digits designating a specific locality in the United States, appended to a postal address to expedite the sorting and delivery of mail.