A "hit" is a meaningless indicator.

[Artashes]

Many web sites owners are very proud when it comes to reporting their web stats. Many of them assume that Hits have some value as it is the number of visitors they get, yet they are wrong. Hits serve little value to marketers and advertisers. Here is why.

Suppose your web page has 4 images on it and 1 sound file. When one unique user visits your page, he creates 6 hits: 1 HTML file, 4 images and 1 sound file. 6 sounds cool, but in fact only 1 visit counts - the one that came from a unique visitor.

Hits might be useful in estimating the server load or your needs to get a certain hosting package, but no more.

2 most important stats indicators are:
Unique Visitors & Page Views (usually reported as monthly total)

Might be a good suggestion to those who sell advertising on their web site or just need to make a more accurate decision when analysing their stats.

Best,

[nicholas]

Some people actually still use this metric nowadays, but mostly to show "big" numbers for the sake of it, and because it impresses the casual user.

But this is the equivalent of an engine having a very high RPM rate, when in fact after a certain limit anything more doesn't matter anymore, because what really matters, is really only speed and horsepower. RPM gets you there, but is not an end in itself. Hits are nice and generates big digits, but ultimatley it is only the quantity of unique visitors, how many pages they viewed and how long they stayed (and for commerce sites, what they bought or ads they clicked on) that matter.

That's because website indicators are not like rock concerts. They're more like department stores. It does you no good if you had a flood of customers visiting and window shopping, if only a small handful bought anything.

[sitetutor]

10 targetted hits vs. 10,000 hits from Chinese kids who want free screensavers