Web analytics and privacy glossary

A

Attribution model An attribution model is a rule for giving credit to the marketing touchpoints that led to a conversion. Average session duration Average session duration is the average time visitors spend on your website during one visit.

B

Bot traffic Bot traffic is visits from automated programs rather than real people, such as crawlers, scrapers and monitoring tools. Bounce rate Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions in which a visitor views only one page and leaves. Browser fingerprinting Browser fingerprinting identifies a device by combining details such as browser, fonts, screen and graphics settings, without using cookies.

C

Conversion A conversion is a completed goal on your website, such as a purchase, sign-up, download or contact request. Conversion funnel A conversion funnel is the series of steps visitors take from first visit to a goal, with drop-off measured at each step. Conversion rate Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a goal, such as buying, signing up or filling in a form. Cookie consent Cookie consent is the visitor's permission to store or read non-essential cookies, usually collected through a cookie banner. Core Web Vitals Core Web Vitals are Google metrics for loading speed, interactivity and visual stability of a page. Custom event A custom event is an action on your website that you choose to measure, such as a button click, form submission or purchase.

D

Data retention Data retention is how long an analytics tool keeps your data before deleting it. Data sampling Data sampling means a tool analyses only a part of your data and estimates the rest. Direct traffic Direct traffic is visits that arrive without a known referrer, for example by typing your address or using a bookmark.

F

First-party cookie A first-party cookie is a small file set by the website you are visiting, used for things such as login sessions and preferences.

I

IP anonymization IP anonymization removes or shortens an IP address so that it can no longer identify a person.

L

Landing page A landing page is the first page a visitor sees when arriving on your website.

O

Organic traffic Organic traffic is visits that come from unpaid search engine results.

P

Pages per session Pages per session is the average number of pages a visitor views during a single visit. Pageview A pageview is recorded each time a page of your website is loaded or a new page is shown in the browser.

R

Real-time analytics Real-time analytics shows what is happening on your website right now, with visitors and page views appearing within seconds. Referral traffic Referral traffic is visits that arrive by clicking a link on another website. Referrer A referrer is the website or source a visitor came from before arriving on your page. Returning visitor A returning visitor is a person who has visited your website before and comes back.

S

Session A session is a group of interactions by one visitor within a time window, usually ending after about 30 minutes of inactivity.

T

Third-party cookie A third-party cookie is set by a domain other than the website you are visiting, often to track users across sites.

U

Unique visitor A unique visitor is one person or device counted once in a given period, no matter how many pages they open. UTM parameters UTM parameters are tags added to a URL that tell your analytics tool which campaign, source and medium a visit came from.

Frequently asked questions

What is web analytics?

Web analytics is the measurement and analysis of website traffic and behaviour, to understand how people find and use a site and how to improve it.

What is the difference between cookie-based and cookieless analytics?

Cookie-based analytics store an identifier on the visitor device to recognise people over time. Cookieless analytics do not, and measure page views anonymously instead.

Keep reading

GuidesPractical guides to privacy-friendly web analytics. Free toolsFree calculators and generators for marketers and website owners. CompareSee how Noralytic compares with Google Analytics and other web analytics tools.