FAQ on Metrics

What is the difference between hits and impressions?

There is a difference between hits and impressions/pageviews. When a page is opened on the browser, it is assumed that the user has viewed the page and is counted as one page view.

Hits on the other hand is the number of images embedded in a page (could be 1 or many )plus the html page. The number of images or graphics constitute Hits. So if a page has 10 graphics, the number of hits is 11 whereas it constitutes only one page view / impression.

Consider the CricInfo home page (see image on the left) which has 14 graphic elements on the page (as shown in the image). When a user requests the home page, it will be counted as 15 hits at the server end (14 graphic elements + 1 for the page), though the users sees only one page with one advertising impression on that page. This same page could have any number of hits, but would only mean the advertiser gets one advertising exposure.

What is a page request?

An opportunity for an HTML document to be displayed within a browser window, which may contain text, images, media objects (i.e. Java, Shockwave, Real Audio) or other online elements." "Page" is used to represent the visitor's view of a Web site through the browser window.

"A series of page requests by a visitor without 30 consecutive minutes of inactivity." Given the current stateless nature of the Web, a "visit" is an intrinsically arbitrary definition. *Technical consideration: It is a non-trivial matter to determine whether several page requests were performed by the same individual or not. The methods for determining a visitor are also those by which a visit would be qualified as unique.