Time for another One-Minute Blog Makeover!I remember when I first started blogging and had no clue what anything meant. I assumed that visitors and pageviews were just different ways of saying the same thing and would use them interchangeably.

But I was wrong. Shocker, I know…

So I’m working on a running glossary of blogger terminology to demystify it all and make everything feel a little less overwhelming. Read on for some key terms with definitions in plain English instead of internet jargon!

Tell me: what blogger terminology confuses you? Or what vocabulary do you wish you had learned earlier as a blogger? I’ll update this list with your suggestions.

Blogger Terminology

Bounce Rate

• Definition – the percentage of visitors who enter the site and then leave (“bounce”) rather than continuing on to view other pages within the same site  the percentage of single-page sessions (i.e. sessions in which the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page) (source)
• In plain English – If somebody finds your site through Pinterest, skims the post, and then reads something else from Pinterest, that’s a bounce because they dropped by your blog and bounced right back out. If you hooked them early on and they found something else to read on your blog and clicked through to at least one other page, that’s not a bounce because they stuck around.
• High or low – LOW is better. A high bounce rate means that a lot of people are landing on a page and deciding not to stick around, while a low rate means that people are finding multiple pages that interest them on your site.

MUV (Monthly Unique Visitors)

• Definition –  the number of distinct individuals requesting pages from the website during a given period, regardless of how often they visit. Visits refers to the number of times a site is visited, no matter how many visitors make up those visits. When an individual goes to a website on Tuesday, then again on Wednesday, this is recorded as two visits from one visitor. (source)
• In plain English – This will be the lowest number out of visitors, sessions, and pageviews. If a reader visits your blog every day for a month, you’ll have at least 30 sessions and at least that many pageviews, but that’s still only ONE unique reader. This is how you can tell how many actual people you are reaching.
• High or low – HIGH is better.

Pageviews

• Definition – An instance of a page being loaded (or reloaded) in a browser. Pageviews is a metric defined as the total number of pages viewed. (source)
• In plain English – If somebody clicks through to a blog post and then looks at three more blog posts, then you have one visit giving you four pageviews. On the other hand, if three people visit your blog and only read one page before leaving, you have three visits and three pageviews.
• High or low – HIGH is better.

Session

• Definition – The period of time a user is active on your site or app. By default in Google Analytics, if a user is inactive for 30 minutes or more, any future activity is attributed to a new session. Users that leave your site and return within 30 minutes are counted as part of the original session. (source)
• In plain English – This tells you how often people are reading your blog. Let’s take the example I used in the MUV section: that ONE reader was coming back every day to see what you posted, which means they’re really into what you’re writing. Another reader, on the other hand, might find your blog through Pinterest and never come back after reading one post. So, for two different readers, you’re looking at 30 sessions per month versus just one session per month.
• High or low – HIGH is better.

Want to get even more in-depth? Google Analytics also provides a glossary of key terms specific to their dashboards if you’re trying to muddle your way through that!