{=
  include("docs.util");
  internal.docs.tab = "USER";
  start_docs_page(docs.user_guide.page_titles.user_visitor_totals);
=}

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<p><b>The Visitor Totals</b></p>

<p><b>Question:</b> When I add up the number of visitors on each day on the month, and I compare it to the total visitors for the month, they're not equal. Why not? Also, why doesn't the sum of visitors on subpages/subdirectories add up to the total for the directory, and why don't the sum of visitors on subdomains add up to the total for the domain, etc.?</p>

<p><b>Answer:</b> "Visitors" in $PRODUCT_NAME's terminology refers to unique visitors (see {=docs_user_chapter_link('user_metrics')=}). So:</p>
<ul>

<li>The total hits in a month is equal to the sum of the hits on the days of the month</li>
<li>the total bandwidth for a month is equal to the sum of the bandwidth on the days of the month</li>
<li>the total page views for a month is equal to the sum of the page views for each day of the month</li>

<p><b>BUT</b></p>

<li>The total number of visitors in a month is not usually equal to the sum of the visitors on the days of the month</li>
</ul>
<p>Here's why. Suppose you have a web site where only one person ever visits it, but that person visits it every day. For every day of the month, you will have a single visitor but for the month you will have a single visitor as well, because visitors are unique visitors, and there was only one visitor in the entire month.</p>

<p>If what you're really looking for is "visits" rather than "visitors" (so each visit will count once, even if it's the same visitor coming back over and over), then that's what $PRODUCT_NAME calls "sessions," and you can get information about them in {=docs_user_chapter_link('user_session_overview')=} and {=docs_user_chapter_link('user_session_computation')=}.</p>


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<br><br><li>{=docs_user_chapter_link('index')=}</li>{= end_docs_page() =}