Unique visitors (or users) represent individual people visiting your website. Each person is counted once during a time period, regardless of how many visits they make.
How unique visitors are tracked
Traditional methods:
- Cookies: Most common, but can be blocked
- Browser fingerprinting: Less accurate, privacy concerns
- Logged-in users: Most accurate for logged-in sites
Unique visitors vs sessions
| Scenario | Visitors | Sessions | |----------|----------|----------| | 1 person, 1 visit | 1 | 1 | | 1 person, 3 visits | 1 | 3 | | 3 people, 1 visit each | 3 | 3 |
Limitations
Unique visitor counts can be inaccurate due to:
- Multiple devices per person
- Cleared cookies
- Private/incognito browsing
- Ad blockers
Privacy-first tracking
VitalSentinel uses privacy-first analytics that counts unique visitors without storing personal data or requiring cookies.
Related Terms
Google Analytics
A web analytics service by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, user behavior, and conversion data.
Page Views
A metric that counts the total number of times a specific page on a website has been viewed by visitors.
Privacy-First Analytics
Analytics tools designed to collect website data without tracking individual users, using cookies, or requiring consent banners.
Session
A group of user interactions with a website that take place within a given time frame, typically ending after 30 minutes of inactivity.