The Importance of Unique Visitors

What is a Unique Visitor, Anyway?

A Unique Visitor is exactly what it sounds like: every time someone visits your website from a different browser, they will appear in your analytics as a Unique Visitor. Analytics are measured during specific reporting periods (typically daily, weekly, and monthly). According to Techopedia, Unique Visitors per month is a popular metric for goal setting, ad pricing, etc. (Source). So essentially, a Unique Visitor is an individual who has visited your site. According to Avinash Kaushik, while the Unique Visitor metric is not always one hundred percent accurate, it is a metric that “continues to be a superior approximation of the number of people visiting your website” (Kaushik, 2010, p. 38).

How are Unique Visitors Determined?

Web analytic tools such as Google Analytics use a process in counting visitors. When a person visits a site for the first time, a unique cookie is attached to their IP address, registering them as a Unique Visitor. The cookie acts as a unique ID and remains attached to that person’s browser even after they leave your site. Anytime they visit in the future, the analytics software will recognize that browser as a returning user. It is important to note, however, that the data from Unique Visitors can be easily muddled. For example, if multiple people visit a site from a public computer, they will all be counted as the same user (unless they’re using a different browser).

Why Should I Care about Unique Visitors?

While the number of Unique Visitors to your site may not always be perfect, there are still plenty of reasons why you should be monitoring the number of unique visitors to visit your website within a given reporting period. For one thing, knowing the number of Unique Visitors to your site gives you an idea of the size of your audience. The importance of this can vary depending on the content of your site. If you are a brand, for example, have a huge number of Unique Visitors may be important to you. For example, according to this statistical report, Amazon had the most popular site of any retailer as of September 2015. The report was based off of the number of Unique Visitors per month. Another importance of measuring Unique Visitors has to do with marketing strategy. If you are monitoring the number of Unique Visitors you get coinciding with marketing you put out on social media, you will have a better idea of whether or not your marketing strategy is paying off. Alison Brehme at Hostway perhaps says it best: “This information is highly useful and can provide a look into seasonal trends that can help you craft messaging and website improvements for your business.”

What Now?

Take time this week to monitor your Unique Visitor activity. Are there more Unique Visitors on certain days? Is the number of Unique Visitors tied directly to whether or not content was posted via social media, a blog, etc.? Keeping an eye on your Unique Visitors can help you get to know what pushes your audience to your site, knowing that information can only help you better your site, no matter what kind of content you are pushing!