Understanding traffic data interpretation

It is common to find differences in traffic count (visits or sessions), depending on which platform or tool you use to monitor your traffic. (Shopify, Google Analytics, Amplitude…)

There is no single correct form of measuring traffic, and there are many reasons that could explain a difference in results from one system to the next:

  • Page reloads and unique visitors counts Google counts each page reloads, but a browser will ignore page reloads from pages stored in the cache memory.
  • Traffic estimation Google Analytics commonly estimates the traffic based
  • Sessions definition Some third party analysis software will count search bots as visitors, while others won’t.
  • Cookies and JavaScript disabled Google can only count visitors who have them enabled, and some visitors may have them disabled.
  • Analytics blocker Add-ons If visitors use a browser with an add-on blocking the transmission of analytics and sales information, Google Analytics is unable to receive and count the data as a result.
  • Report Time zone Reports generated in different time zone may include the same data in a different day and produce different results.
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