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What is the difference between Audience - Visitor and Behaviour - Visitor?

Introduction

Two Analytics pages collect data labelled Visitors. Although the labels are the same, they collect different data. 

 

Opening the Analytics page

The Audience and Behaviour pages are on the Analytics menu. To open the Analytics menu:

  1. Go to the top menu and click Dashboard. The Dashboard displays.
  2. Click any data summary box at the top of the page. A new page displays.

 

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  1. Go to the menu on the left side of the page.
  2. Click the Analytics menu item. A drop-down menu displays.
  3. Select Audience or Behaviour.

 

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Time Period

The range of visitor data presented on the Audience and Behaviour pages depends on the time period you select for analysis. You can change the time period by customising the Date Picker. For more information, see:

 

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1  Audience page

1.1 Visitors

The Visitors box on the Audience page counts the total number of people who visit your website. 

Here are three scenarios to demonstrate the Visitors counting system on the Audience page:

  1. One person lands on one of your website pages. That counts as +1 in the Visitors box.
  2. One person lands on your website and visits 10 pages. That counts as +1 in the Visitors box (i.e. page views are not counted here).
  3. Today, one person lands on one of your website pages. Tomorrow, the same person (using the same computer) visits one of your website pages. All that activity counts as +2 in the Visitors box.

 

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1.2 Sessions

The Sessions box on the Audience page counts the number of website visits that last up to 30 minutes. 

Here are three scenarios to demonstrate the Sessions counting system:

  1. One person visits one or more of your website pages inside a 30-minute period. That counts as +1 in the Sessions box.
  2. One person visits your website for 5 minutes, leaves, and then comes back 20 minutes later to look at more web pages. That activity counts as +1 in the Sessions box (assuming the person uses the same computer).
  3. One person visits your website for 5 minutes, leaves, and then comes back 60 minutes later. That activity counts as +2 in the Sessions box (a session is a 30-minute window that begins as soon as a person lands on one of your website pages).  

 

2.  Behaviour page

2.1 Visitors

The Visitors box on the Behaviour page counts the number of visitors who explored your site.

This box does not count the number of pages visited. Rather, this box counts the number of people who landed on one page and then went to at least one more page.

Here are three scenarios to demonstrate the Visitors counting system on the Behaviour page:

  1. One person visits the landing page Sinorbis.com and then leaves. That counts as +1 in the Behaviour Visitors box.
  2. One person visits Sinorbis.com and then goes to the Sinorbis Products page. This activity generates a +2 in the Behaviour Visitors box (+1 for entering the site and another +1 for going to a different page).
  3. One person visits Sinorbis.com today, goes to the Sinorbis Products page, and then leaves. The next day, the same person (on the same computer) lands on the Sinorbis.com page and then goes to the About page. All that activity generates a +4 in the Behaviour Visitors box (+2 for entering the site two times and another +2 for going to a different page during each visit).

 

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2.2 Page views

There is a Page Views box on the Behaviour page. This box counts the total number of page visits by all visitors.

 

3.  Reading both Visitors' boxes

The Visitors boxes on the Audience and Behaviour pages are counting similar yet different kinds of activity.

Here are two scenarios to compare and contrast the counting systems:

  1. One person visits the landing page Sinorbis.com and then leaves. That counts as +1 in the Audience Visitors box and +1 the Behaviour Visitors box.
  2. One person visits Sinorbis.com and then goes to the Sinorbis Products page. That activity generates a +1 in the Audience Visitors box and a +2 in the Behaviour Visitors box.
  3. One person visits Sinorbis.com today, goes to the Sinorbis Products page, and then leaves. The next day, the same person (on the same computer) lands on the Sinorbis.com page, and then goes to the About page. All that activity generates a +2 in the Audience Visitors box and a +4 in the Behaviour Visitors box.