Introduction

During the second half of 2006 the Web Analytics Association Standards committee embarked on an effort to define what was agreed upon as the three most important metrics – Unique Visitors, Visits/Sessions & Page Views. The Standards committee determined that these three metrics make up the foundation for most web analytics definitions. In addition, since many other metrics rely on an understanding of these three, the decision was made to focus on these metrics first. After multiple rounds within the committee a request was sent for feedback to the entire WAA membership base. Comments and feedback were reviewed and the definitions tuned. After completing and publishing the “Big 3” definitions, the committee moved onto defining other key terms.