Web Analytics Definitions - WAA - IndexTools Compliance

Summary:
IndexTools Web Analytics offer 23 of the 26 metrics defined in the WAA Web Analytics Definitions document - and comply directly with 20 of them.

All major Web Analytics vendors are members of the Web Analytics Association, because that is what we are supposed to! BUT if it really meant anything, we (the vendors) would make an effort to adhere to the standards we (as participants and members of the WAA) set ourselves. Find a first - vendor commentary – to the 26 standard web analytics definitions. :-)

Compliant	Term	WAA Definition	IndexTools Definition
yes	Page	A page is an analyst definable unit of content.	Same definition.
yes	Page Views	The number of times a page (an analyst-definable unit of content) was viewed.	Same definition.
yes	Visits/Sessions	A visit is an interaction, by an individual, with a website consisting of one or more requests for an analyst-definable unit of content (i.e. “page view”). If an individual has not taken another action (typically additional page views) on the site within a specified time period, the visit session will terminate.	Same definition. Note: The term denotes one continuous visit to a web site. When a visitor first loads a web page, a unique visit ID is created to track that visitor’s activity. The visit ends after 30 minutes of inactivity.
yes	Unique Visitors	The number of inferred individual people (filtered for spiders and robots), within a designated reporting timeframe, with activity consisting of one or more visits to a site. Each individual is counted only once in the unique visitor measure for the reporting period.	Same definition Note: For clients using the Visitor metric the definition is the same! - There is a different definition for clients not migrated to the Visitor metric. These clients still have the following unique visitor metrics: Daily Unique Visitors: The number of separate visitors who came to a web site during a 24-hour period. The 24-hour period considered is the 24 hours before the visitor’s last visit, and is not influenced by the reporting time that is selected. Weekly Unique Visitors: The number of separate visitors who came to a web site during a 30-day period. The 30-day period considered is the 30 days before the visitor’s last visit, and is not influenced by the reporting time that is selected. Monthly Unique Visitors: The number of separate visitors who came to a web site during a 30-day period. The 30-day period considered is the 30 days before the visitor’s last visit, and is not influenced by the reporting time that is selected. Each visitor is counted only once in the Unique Visitor metrics, regardless of how many times they returned.
yes	New Visitor	The number of Unique Visitors with activity including a first-ever Visit to a site during a reporting period.	Same definition Note: Different label - "First Time" Methodology: The first time a visitor comes to a web site, IndexTools sets a one-year, first party, persistent cookie in their browser that includes a unique visitor ID number. During the first visit, IndexTools identifies them as a first time visitor. On subsequent visits, IndexTools resets the cookie life to one year beyond the date of the visit, and identifies them as a returning visitor for the duration of that visit. If IndexTools is unable to set a cookie, then it will identify the visitor as a first time visitor. If the visitor has deleted the cookie, then IndexTools will identify them as a first time visitor and re-issue a new first party cookie.
no	Repeat Visitor	The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of two or more Visits to a site during a reporting period.	N/A
no	Return Visitor	The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of a Visit to a site during a reporting period and where the Unique Visitor also Visited the site prior to the reporting period.	Note: Different definition - "Returning Visits". The number of returning visits to a web site, inferred on the basis of the visitor ID contained in the cookie.
yes	Entry Page	The first page of a visit.	Same definition
yes	Landing Page	A page intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort.	Same definition Note: Different label - "Entry page". IndexTools does not distinguish between Entry Pages and Landing Pages and uses Entry Pages for both terms suggested by WAA.
yes	Exit Page	The last page on a site accessed during a visit, signifying the end of a visit/session.	Same definition.
yes	Visit Duration	The length of time in a session. Calculation is typically the timestamp of the last activity in the session minus the timestamp of the first activity of the session.	Same definition. Note: different label - "Avg. Time Per Visit". The average duration of a visit. Calculated by dividing the total time visitors spent on a web site by the number of Visits.
yes	Referrer	The referrer is the page URL that originally generated the request for the current page view or object.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Referring URL". It shows the URLs of the domains that referred visitors to a web site.
no	Internal Referrer	The internal referrer is a page URL that is internal to the website or a web-property within the website as defined by the user.	Note: IndexTools generally do not work with a Internal referrer concept, but provide the same information in different concepts such as Internal Campaigns - to measure the effectiveness of internal advertising. Internal campaigns are identified with a unique URL string that must contain the _s_icmp variable.
no	External Referrer	The external referrer is a page URL where the traffic is external or outside of the website or a web property defined by the user.	N/A
no	Search Referrer	The search referrer is an internal or external referrer for which the URL has been generated by a search function.	Note: Different concept where IndexTools provide External Search Phrases: the keywords or phrases that visitors used to reach a web site and the name and URL of the Search Engine. Internal Search Phrases: the keywords or phrases used by visitors on a web site's internal search functionality.
yes	Visit Referrer	The visit referrer is the first referrer in a session, whether internal, external or null.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Referring URL". It shows the URLs of the domains that referred visitors to a web site.
yes	Original Referrer	The original referrer is the first referrer in a visitor's first session, whether internal, external or null.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Referring URL". It shows the URLs of the domains that referred visitors to a web site.
yes	Click-through	Number of times a link was clicked by a visitor.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Campaign Clicks". The total number of clicks performed by campaign visitors.
yes	Click-through Rate/Ratio	The number of click-throughs for a specific link divided by the number of times that link was viewed.	Same definition. Note: CTR (Click Through Rate) – The average number of clicks generated by the views of online ads (Impressions). Calculated by dividing the total number of Clicks to the number of Impressions, expressed as a percentage.
yes	Page Views per Visit	The number of page views in a reporting period divided by number of visits in the same reporting period.	Same definition. Note: Page Views per Visit: The average number of pages viewed during a visit. Calculated by dividing the number of Page Views by the number of Visits
yes	Page Exit Ratio	Number of exits from a page divided by total number of page views of that page.	Same definition Note: Different label - "Exit Rate". The percentage of page views that resulted into an exit from the specified web page. Calculated by dividing the number of Exits by the number of Page Views.
no	Single-Page Visits	Visits that consist of one page regardless of the number of times the page was viewed.	N/A
yes	Single Page View Visits (Bounces)	Visits that consist of one pageview.	Same definition. Note: Bounce, The number of visits that ended without proceeding further into the web site.
yes	Bounce Rate	Single page view visits divided by entry pages.	Same definition. Note: The percentage of visits that did not proceed further into the web site after entering it. Calculated by dividing the number of Bounces by the number of Visits
yes	Event	Any logged or recorded action that has a specific date and time assigned to it by either the browser or server.	Same definition.
yes	Conversion	A visitor completing a target action.	Same definition. Note: Conversion Rate: The percentage of visits that resulted in an action out of the total number of visits. Calculated by dividing the number of unique or nonunique Actions by the number of Visits.

If anybody knows about other web analytics vendors and their compliance documents; feel free to use the content above to create a bigger industry wide conclusion.

N.B.
..And before I forget; a big thanks to Mihaela for working on all the definitions.
Cheers and see you all in New York - for Search Engine Strategies.