In internet terms, the word hit refers to any request to a web server for a specific file. A hit happens every time someone or something (a robot) visits a webpage. The visitor’s system requests that the website’s server sends over the files containing all the information to be displayed on the browser. Depending on the contents of the webpage, files sent by the server could include everything from text to multimedia images.
A hit, or page hit, is often confused with a pageview. The two are different. A pageview is simply the number of times a page is accessed or visited by a person or a crawler/robot. As explained earlier, page hits refer to all requests made to web servers for every page visit.
For every pageview, there are actually several page hits generated. Marketers should be concerned about is the number of pageviews rather than hits, since pageviews are a more reliable way to measure the number of visits to that specific page. Pageviews can also help determine which products (if one product per page) people are most interested in.
Unlike hits in general, ad hits are useful in marketing. Clicks to each ad on a webpage will generate a request to a server or an ad hit. It is important to keep track of ad hits, especially for pay-par-click advertising schemes.
