Visits are different to hits and provide a much more accurate measurement.
 
A hit is a request to a remote server for a page file and for any file component of that page. Thus, a page which contains, say, three illustrations will record four hits. This page will record five hits; one for the page, three for navigator bar components and one for the BCS logo. Once a file component has been stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder, subsequent requests will retrieve it from that folder and not from the remote server. The number of hits frequently exaggerates the popularity of a web-site.
 
A visit occurs when someone via a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape requests a page on the server for the first time. As long as the same site keeps making requests within the timeout period of 30 minutes they will all be considered part of the same Visit. If the visitor's site makes a request to this site, and the length of time since the last request is greater than the timeout period of 30 minutes, a new Visit is started and counted, and the sequence repeats. Very few visits last as long as thirty minutes. About 80% of all visitors leave within 30 seconds.