All terms

Glossary

Unique Visitor

A single distinct person counted once per period, regardless of how many pages they view or times they return within that window.

Last updated July 21, 2026 · 1 min read

Definition

Unique visitors are typically tracked by cookie or IP over a given period (daily, monthly). It's a headcount metric, distinct from total hits or pageviews, which can count the same person multiple times.

Why it matters to marketers

When a traffic exchange advertises '10,000 hits per day,' that figure could come from a few hundred unique members surfing repeatedly for credits. Ask for unique visitor counts, not just hit totals, to get a truer sense of how many distinct people are actually seeing your ad.