Understanding key terminology

In the early 1990s when the majority of web geeks were using words such as hits to describe pageviews, Webalizer and AWStats were two of the popular applications to gauge web traffic. While their respective reports looked relatively primitive, these web log analysers provided a decent amount of information to report the most frequently accessed entry and exit pages, among other data. Then, in 2005, Google acquired Urchin Analytics and provided enterprise-level analytics software to the masses for free. Now, under the veil of Google Analytics (GA), it's standard practice to deploy GA on every website imaginable. It's for this reason that we expect to see granular data and use key terms such as absolute unique visitors, bounce rates, and conversion rates, when describing site activity. While this may be the first time you see some of these terms, it's important to know them for context.

When a traffic collision occurs on the road and you call the police, the...