Essential Google Analytics Terms Explained

Tap a term to see what it means.

Sessions

A single unit of activity by one user visiting and interacting with a website β€” a session ends and a new one begins after a period of inactivity.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of visitors who viewed only one page and left the site without navigating to another page.

Page Views

The total number of times a website's pages were viewed β€” each refresh by the same user is counted separately.

Unique Visitors

The number of distinct individual users who visited the site, with duplicates removed.

Traffic Source

Information showing which channel β€” search engine, social media, direct entry, and so on β€” a visitor arrived from.

Goal Conversion

When a visitor completes a specific target action that the site owner has predefined, such as signing up or making a purchase.

See Exactly Who Visits Your Website, Backed by Data

Google Analytics is a powerful free tool for analyzing website visitor data. Just knowing basic terms like sessions and bounce rate goes a long way toward understanding how your site's visitors actually behave.

Curious About Digital Marketing Terms Too?

If ad performance metrics interest you, it's worth also checking out a guide to digital marketing terms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a high bounce rate always a bad sign?

It depends on the type of page β€” for example, a visitor who only wanted a phone number and left after one page still accomplished their goal, so it isn't necessarily a bad sign.

What's the difference between sessions and unique visitors?

If one person visits a site twice in the same day, that counts as 2 sessions, but only 1 unique visitor, since it's the same person.