Clicks and Visits Differences in Google Analytics & Adwords

Being new to digital marketing comes with a lot of questions. One of such is the confusing difference between clicks and visits. Well, you’ve come to the right place to clear all doubts. And if you’re ready, let’s get right into it.

Clicks vs. Visits

For better comparison, you should know right from now that clicks and visits are metrics from two different systems.

Google Analytics measures your site visits, while AdWords measures the clicks.

Clicks are related to pay-per-click ads. So, every click gets measured by AdWords.

On the other hand, Google Analytics is only a web analytics tool. It is not concerned with how much you’re willing to spend on a campaign and thus, only shows you the number of visits to your websites.

From all I’ve said, clicks and visits are entirely separate concepts. After all, they have different significance in measuring performances and counting costs.

Simply put, Clicks measure the number of times your ads get clicked. On the other hand, Visits read the total number of sessions a user spends on your site.

That said, why then do people think they are similar? And how exactly are they different?

Different Instances of Clicks and Visits

The dilemma of distinguishing these two comes from this one similarity — they both get measured when a user attempts to access your site.

If a user will have access to your site at this moment, it has to be through any one of the specific channels. They could either click on your ad from a SERP. They could have saved your page as a bookmark when they last had access. Or they could even type the URL of the page they are trying to access.

Based on these, your analytics tools will count clicks — or visits.

Clicking on an Ad

When a user clicks an ad on your website, both get counted. But at times, this user might be comparing your and competitor’s ads. There is a high chance of the user clicking on your ad many times in this instance.

Now, as long as your session (usually spanning 30 minutes) is still on, leaving and clicking again on the ad only increases your number of clicks. The number of visits remains the same as long as the user’s session is still ongoing.

So, let’s say the ad got clicked three times. That means your AdWords would read 3 Clicks, while Google Analytics would read 1 Visit.

Access via a Bookmark

Another channel of access is the bookmark. Following the above instance, the user may still wish to return. So, they decided to save your site as a bookmark to check later. After a long while, your number of visits will increase when they return to your site through the bookmark.

However, as they clicked no ad this time, there will be no report for clicks. This case is also what you get when the user types in the URL without clicking on your ads.

In conclusion, it all depends if an ad got clicked while accessing your site — to count a click. And if the user’s session has expired, read a new visit.

Great! Now, you know the difference between clicks and visits.

To read more about increase Click-Through Rate, check out What is a Click-Through Rate, and How is it Calculated? article.