Definition
A visit begins when a browser requests a page and ends after a period of inactivity, typically 30 minutes. Analytics tools count the visits (sessions), the distinct people behind them (users) and the pages they load (page views), and attribute each visit to a source and medium read from the referrer and from tagged URLs. "Paid traffic" is the subset that arrived through advertising; "organic traffic" the subset that arrived through unpaid search results.
Types of web traffic
| Type | Where it comes from | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Organic search | Unpaid results on Google, Bing and others | Content and SEO effort |
| Paid search | Search ads on keywords | CPC |
| Paid display, native, pop, push | Ad networks and programmatic platforms | CPM or CPC |
| Social | Posts and ads on social platforms | Free or CPM/CPC |
| Referral | Links on other websites | Usually free |
| Newsletters and campaigns | List and tool cost | |
| Direct | Typed URLs, bookmarks, untagged apps | None |
How web traffic is measured
By a JavaScript tag or a server log. Tag-based tools (Google Analytics, Matomo, Plausible) record each page load with the referrer, device and UTM parameters; log analysis counts requests at the server and catches visitors who block scripts. Advertisers add a tracker between the ad and the landing page so paid visits carry a click ID and can be matched to conversions by postback. Discrepancies between an ad network's click count and the analytics session count of 10 to 20 percent are normal, caused by blocked scripts, bots filtered on one side and page abandonment before the tag fires.
Paid web traffic
Advertisers buy web traffic from search engines, social platforms and ad networks. Networks sell it by format: pop and redirect traffic as landing-page visits per thousand, push, in-page push and native as clicks, banners and video as impressions. The useful question is never the price alone but the cost per outcome after the traffic lands, which is why source-level tracking matters more than the headline CPM.
Related terms
| Term | Relation | Where defined |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic source | Where traffic originates | Term page |
| Pop traffic | A paid traffic format | Term page |
| Bot traffic | What measurement filters out | Glossary entry |
| CPM | How impressions are priced | Term page |
FAQ
What is the difference between sessions and users?
A user is a distinct visitor, identified by a cookie or device ID; a session is one visit by that user. One user can produce many sessions.
What is good web traffic?
Traffic that does what the page is for: reads, signs up, buys. Bounce rate, time on page and conversion rate tell you more than the visit count.
Why does my analytics show fewer visits than the ad network reports clicks?
Script blockers, visitors leaving before the tag loads, bot filtering applied on one side only, and different time zones. A gap of 10 to 20 percent is typical; larger gaps point to a redirect or tag problem.