Every time a person opens any web browser, he finds millions of websites listed there, appealing to him to click upon them once. From education to entertainment and news to technical, these websites have no definite count.
Each day, these websites fight to emerge as the most popular ones and become the ones people like to knock on again and again.
But to let this happen, the people who run these websites should be able to record and evaluate people’s responses towards their websites. Hits and Visits are two such mediums that enable the website owner to know exactly how his website is doing.
But for a much deeper analysis, a distinction should be made between these two.
Key Takeaways
- Hits represent the number of requests made to a server for a file, while visits represent the number of times a user accesses a website.
- Hits do not differentiate between a user visiting a website and a website loading several files, while visits provide more accurate data on the number of unique users.
- Hits can inflate website statistics since it counts all file requests, while visits give a better understanding of website traffic and user behavior.
Hits vs Visits
Hits are the total number of requests made to a web server, such as requests for images, scripts, and others. Visits refer to the number of unique users who access a website during a time period. Hits can be inflated due to multiple requests for the same page, while visits provide a better measure.
A website contains several elements, such as the menu, the search bar, the FAQ section, etc. When a person opens a website, he clicks upon a few of these sections.
Each time he clicks upon a section, the website records a Hit. In other words, Hits are the total requests for downloading a physical file from a web page.
While a visit is said to be recorded when the person opens the website as a whole, either for the first time or after closing the website once, if the website reloads, then also a Visit is recorded.
Visits are recorded irrespective of the number of Hits recorded; therefore, Visits are always lesser in number than Hits.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Hits | Visits |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Every time an internet user clicks upon one or more pages embodied in a website; a Hit is recorded. | Visits are recorded when an internet user opens the website. |
| Uses | Used to advertise the popularity of the web page. | Used to actually evaluate the success rate of the website in a specific amount of time. |
| Effectiveness | Irrespective of the vast number, Hits are not as effective as Visits to evaluate the performance. | Visits are more efficient to measure the performance of the website. |
| Quantity | Hits are greater in number than Visits. | Visits are lesser in figures than Hits. |
| Nature | Hits are measured in the form of requested physical files. | Visits are measured in the form of opening the web page in a fresh manner. |
| Limitations | Hits do not have any limitations; they can be recorded multiple times in just one visit. | Visits have constraints. No matter how many pages one views on a webpage, it is still recorded as a single visit. |
What are Hits?
When a designer creates a website, it consists of multiple files such as a webpage, an image, a Cascading Style Sheet, etc. In other words, certain elements exist on every website but vary in number. Certain examples of these elements are mentioned below:
- Menu
- FAQs
- Contact us
- About us
- Know More
- Search Bar
Every time a viewer clicks on any of these or other elements, the website records a Hit. Hits are the numbers denoting how many times physical resources were requested from the webpage.
A website can record multiple Hits during just one visit. In earlier times, the number of Hits was used to determine the popularity of the website, but today they are not much relevant in measuring the results.
These days, websites use Hits to sort out technical equations in their analytics or boast about their success rates.
Suppose a website claims that it recorded, let’s say, 5 million Hits in one year. In actual terms, this number is deceiving as it does not tell who were the people contributing to the popularity of the webpage.
What are Visits?
Visits on a webpage are produced each time when a person clicks on the webpage. What we mean by Visits is how many times a viewer clicks upon the whole webpage at once.
A visit is counted when the viewer opens the webpage on his device after completely closing it or after coming back from another website.
For Example, A viewer visits website A once in the morning and then again at night. The second time, he first opens website A, then opens website B, and then again navigates back to website A. This will amount to two Visits to website A and one Visit to website B.
No matter how a user clicks on the elements given on a website, it will still be counted as one visit only.
Main Differences Between Hits and Visits
- Hits are counted when a user clicks on the elements given on a webpage, while Visits are counted when the user opens the webpage.
- Hits are greater in number than the Visits.
- Hits are not the accurate measurement of how the website is performing, while Visits are the authentic parameter upon which a website’s success is measured.
- Hits are a request to access physical files on a website, and Visits are requests to access the webpage at once.
- Hits are recorded every time a person views one or more pages from a website, whereas Visits are counted one time only, irrespective of the pages opened.
References
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1277741.1277823
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3308558.3313606
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