Glossary

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A/B Testing

A/B Testing comprises testing at least two versions of the same webpage (version A and version B), to determine which one will be able to attract the highest visitor numbers and generate the most sales.

ActionScript

A programming language used in Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex applications.

AdServer

A program for managing online advertising used to dynamically display advertising objects in the areas provided on editorial pages and that provides campaign statistics that can be called up by the various players involved.

AdTracker

A module for tracking a website's own promotion campaign (internal advertising). This module is built-into AT Internet solutions as standard.
See also: AdTracking.

Advertising

An advertising message that directs the internet user to a commercial site.

AdTracking

An activity that comprises of monitoring the performance of Internet advertising campaigns.
See also: AdTracker.

Affiliation

On the Internet, affiliation is a marketing technique that lets an advertiser distribute their product catalog on affiliated web sites.
See also: Affiliate, SiteLinker.

Affiliate

The affiliate website promotes the commercial offering made by the originator of the affiliation, using banners, skyscrapers of text links in exchange for a payment per click, by profile or based on sales.
See also: Affiliation.

AJAX

AJAX or Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, is an acronym designating an open source programming solution for developing web applications.

Analyzer

A premium Web Analytics solution sold by AT Internet since 2005.

Analyzer Intranet Edition

A solution dedicated to simple Intranet systems or international networks.
See also: Intranet.

Analyzer Mobile Edition

A service for measuring the performance of mobile sites.

Analyzer Network Edition

An audience measurement service intended for platforms, multiple-site and mini-site networks: advertising networks, blog platforms… It offers both a consolidated analysis of the network of sites as well as a service for managing quality for the platform's showroom window.

API

Application Programming Interface : Interface de programmation applicative.

Une API, pour la programmation dans un langage donné, est composée d'un ensemble de fonctions, routines et méthodes, écrites dans ce langage.

ASP

Active Server Page: A development language for dynamic web pages.

A.T.Internet

Applied Technologies Internet is a leader in the field of Web Analytics and Online Intelligence^®.

AT Institute

A web studies institute that offers a range of custom services:
Analyzing the performance of sites or site networks
Vertical based analysis (an analysis of data over all Internet verticals or a specific business vertical)
AT Institute also publishes public reference studies in the field of new information technologies that are reprinted by the French and International mass media (Le Monde, El Mundo, Europe 1, The Times...). Survey examples: Search engine barometer, browser barometer, OS surveys.

Audience (Internet)

The analysis of website visit frequency.

Audience measurement

See: Audience.

Audit (Website)

A systematic survey of a website with a view to checking or improving quality.

Average duration of a visit

This value represents an average calculated on the basis of visits and not based on bounced or single page visits (visits to just one page). This figure is closely correlated to the number of pages seen by a visitor.

Average duration per page

This is the ratio between the total duration and the number of pages viewed for visits (ones that cover more than one page). It represents the average time spent viewing pages.

Banner

An element (rectangle) that can be clicked on and that is static or animated, containing an advertising message and that most often redirects the internet user to a commercial website.

Behavior (analysis)

A detailed analysis of visitor (internet user) behavior at a website.

Behavior Quotient^® (BQ)

The Behavior Quotient^® (BQ) is a summary indicator of the engagement expressed for a website. The Behavior Quotient^® includes a number of elements:
     Pages viewed per visit
     Pages viewed per minute
     Pages viewed per incoming visit
     Visit entry ratio
     Average visit duration

Behavioral targeting

So-called "Behavioral targeting" is an advertising technique that comprises customizing advertising content to match internet user behavior and an identification of their interests.

Benchmark

An approach to evaluating a company's practices, based on a comparison with the best practices applied within a business sector (by competitors).

BID Management

BID Management comprises managing commercial link auctions. Properly managing these links not only generates profits but also enhances reputation.

Blog

A blog or weblog is a website made up of a collection of postings written in chronological order and most often arranged in reverse chronological order (the most recent postings first).

Bounce rate

The ratio between the total number of visits and the number of visits to one page. A high ratio means that internet users do not stay at the site. This ratio is used to immediately find out all elements (sources, countries, equipment, etc.) which stop internet users from entering your site.

Browser

A web browser is an application designed to access the World Wide Web. The most well known browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera...

Browsing

The action and behavior of the internet user after reaching a website.

Business Intelligence

A Business Intelligence project is used to adopt a new approach to business computerization based on an anticipation of user needs and expectations.

Certification

An AT Internet partnership program designed for interactive marketing agencies specializing in creating and animating sites with a strong business interest (branding, e-Commerce, online services). This program brings the partner into a high added value relationship and lets them integrate all of the strategic dimensions of online intelligence^®.

Click

AT Internet solutions offer highly detailed click analyses, where a number of different types of clicks are identified:
     Browsing click (within a given site)
     Download click (PDF or other files)
     Exit click (towards another site)
     Action click (activating AJAX type elements)
See also: ClickZone^®.

ClickZone^®

The ClickZone^® is a key optimization feature used to instantly view every click by an internet user. Clicks are displayed by their actual location on a given web page. This feature is unique in that we offer three different visualizations of the analysis:
     Heat Map
     Overlay
     List
See also: Heat Map, Overlay.

Complete mode (or lightweight mode)

Tag format. In full mode, the code is stored in a JavaScript file to be placed on your website's host server.

Conversion

Corresponds to achieving an objective assigned to a site. A website's objective is to ensure that visitors perform certain tasks: buying, registering for a newsletter, filling in forms, reading articles… Consequently, a conversion means that a visitor has performed one of the defined tasks. Consequently there are as many different conversions for a site as there are tasks.

Conversion funnel

An analysis used to monitor visitor browsing through a set of consecutive pages that form a key site process (buying, registration, identification, etc.).

Conversion pages

A conversion page is a website page that visitors reach if they fulfill a precise task set out ahead of time.

ClickZone^®

Le ClickZone^® est une fonctionnalité majeure qui permet de visualiser instantanément tous les clics des internautes. Cette fonctionnalité unique en son genre combine plusieurs modes de représentation :

Heat Map
Overlay
List

Voir aussi : Heat Map, Overlay.

Conversion rate

This figure is a ratio of the number of visits brought by a campaign compared to the number of visits comprising the one or more pages defined as conversion pages. It is used to evaluate the quality of a campaign. A high conversion rate indicates that your campaigns are reaching an audience that is interested and that browses your site until they reach the desired page.
See also: Conversion, Conversion page.

Cookie

A text file placed on the connected client machine's hard disk drive while accessing a site. It is especially used to collect and store data on browsing behavior from the connected client machine.
A cookie is not spyware. The vast majority of cookies contain no personal information (the one used by AT Internet, for example, is completely anonymous).

Cost Per Click (CPC)

The unit used to measure the cost of an advertising campaign.
See also: Advertising.

CRM

A set of processes and tools used to manage and improve the relationship between a company and its customers. The aim is to meet all of the customer's needs throughout their lifecycle (communication, purchasing, support, after sales service…).

Cube

See: OLAP.

Dashboard

The AT Internet solutions dashboards are highly effective decision making tools. They summarize the main volume and performance indicators:
     Overall volumes
     Summary diagram showing bounced/normal visits to the site
     Engagement criteria table
     Indicators showing volume and Behavior Quotient^® (BQ) aspects
     A trend showing the evolution of the number of visits during the period
     A diagram of server times
     A source bargraph (outside elements that bring visits)
     A map of the world to locate the share of visitors by continent
The dashboards can be customized for each user.

Data Explorer (Module)

See: Segmentation.

Datawarehouse

Designates a very specific database which is organized so as to facilitate an analysis of all of the data produced by an enterprise. The datawarehouse is a specific concept in terms of decision making IT systems.

Domain

A domain name is a unique identifier linked to an entity with computers connected to the Internet. The system is a hierarchical one and enables defining one or more sub-domains.

Domain name

See above: Domain.

Downloading (measurement)

Downloading is a measurement of a special click that calls up a document on the site (pdf document, video, photograph, file...). This measurement is especially useful when it is not possible to place a tag on the document: measuring the click comes down to measuring the number of downloads.

E-Commerce

E-Commerce designates the exchange of goods and services between two entities via computer networks, especially Internet. E-Commerce is a subset of E-Business.
AT Internet sells a module that is entirely dedicated to sites specializing in E-Commerce.

Email

Electronic mail (or Email) designates the service used to transfer messages sent by an electronic mail system via the Internet to the electronic mailbox assigned to an addressee chosen by the sender.

Emailing

Sending electronic mail to a more or less large number of internet users. An emailing campaign is generally intended to promote a product or service or to inform readers who subscribe to the information on their chosen news.
AT Internet offers the ability to track emailing campaigns with a high level of accuracy.

E-Marketing

E-Marketing is a marketing field based on achieving targets by using electronic communication technologies on the Internet.

Engagement criteria

Indicators from a cross referencing of visit data with behavior data so as to assist with quickly evaluating the engagement that internet users find for a site.

E-Travel

Activity that covers all of the travel business on the (travel websites especially).

Exit page

The last page on a site accessed during a visit. This page is logged as the exit page if the internet user does not browse another page of the given website within the 30 minutes that follow.

Export

AT Internet solutions allow exporting analytics data in report form. These exports can be scheduled on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

First-party cookie

A first-party cookie (or internal cookie) is a cookie assigned to the domain name of the page where the tag code used to audit a site is located.
See also: Cookie, Third-party cookie.

Flash

A flash animation is an animation film produced using Adobe Flash software or from an ActionScript compiled using one of a variety of compilers (MTASC, Adobe Flex). The animation may be interactive and is played from the browser thanks to the Flash Player plug in.
AT Internet solutions can be used to measure the traffic generated by Flash animations on a website.
See also: ActionScript.

Form

In their Online Intelligence^® solutions, AT Internet offers a feature for analyzing website form page performance (purchasing, registration, subscription, and search).

Frame/IFrame

An HTML function for displaying a number of frames in a single window on a website.

Funnel

All of the key steps that lead to converting an internet user during a visit to a website. The funnel image is used for the various steps in the process that lead to the desired goal.

Geolocalization

A process that uses an internet user's IP address to determine their localization (country, region, city).

Geosegmentation

An operation that involves targeting information (visitor, population, category...) in line with its geographic localization.

Heat Map

A visual mode of showing internet user clicks based on different intensity heat zones (ranging from blue to red). The ClickZone^® feature offers a Heat Map analysis.
See also: ClickZone^®, Overlay

Hit

A hit is characterized by access to a the server, recorded in a log (the server log). Server access occurs when the user calls up an internet page: a hit is counted by element: picture, style sheet, JavaScript...

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language, generally referred to by its initials HTML, is the data format designed to display web pages.

IAB

Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Internal engine

A search engine dedicated to a single website so that the internet user can quickly find site content. An analysis of internal engines is available in the Analyzer solutions.

Intranet

An intranet is a computer network used within an enterprise or any other organizational entity using internet communication techniques (IP, HTTP servers).
AT Internet solutions allow the measurement of intranet sites.

IP

Internet Protocol: the fundamental communication protocol in the suite of Internet protocols.

ISP

Internet Service Provider
An organization (generally a company) that offers a connection to the Internet computer network.

Javascript

A computer programming language that integrates into web page codes. It is used to measure the traffic for a page.

Keywords

Represents terms typed into search engines by internet users.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Data used to measure the efficiency of a campaign.

Landing page

The first page seen by the internet user when visiting a site. This page is not necessarily the home page.

Lightweight mode (or complete mode)

Tag format.
In full mode, the code is stored in a JavaScript file to be placed on your website's host server.
In lightweight mode, all of the code is contained in the few lines of code in JavaScript. It is especially useful for site managers who have a Content Management System (CMS) which does not allow them to place a file on the site's host server.

Loading

This term designates the downloading of a website by an internet user.

Log

A log is a text file comprising connection details on the server (IP address, date...).

Long tail

The term "long tail" refers to all of the products that form the basis of a catalog (items, photographs...) that are sold in small proportions, but where the sum of these sales may together exceeds the total sales of the most sold products. The long tail is especially sited to the web retail model for the cost of putting an extra product online is only marginal and the virtual shelf space available to e-business sites is infinite, unlike real life stores.

Marketing campaign

The term "campaign" represents all of the advertising type marketing actions, buying key words, affiliation, emailing, etc. In the AT Internet range of solutions, campaigns are used to aggregate a number of referrers so that they are covered by a single campaign so as to analyze their respective impacts.

M-Commerce

Mobile commerce or m-Commerce corresponds to the use of wireless technologies and especially the use of mobile phones for business purposes.
AT Internet's technologies are equipped to measure the audience and performance achieved with mobile terminals.

Média II

A specific service offered by AT Internet for sites specializing in the press and the media on the Internet.

Mobile site

See: Mobile.

Monitoring

Website monitoring serves to monitor a website. The Observer solution lets you perform monitoring actions on your site.
See also: Observer.

Multi-criteria

A feature used to customize the audience and performance analyses by integrating specific criteria into the tag code.

Multi-dashboard

A feature used to add customized dashboards to an interface so that critical data for the measured site can be sorted by theme.

Multi-variables

A concept that characterizes tagging followed by the analysis of all or part of the variables that make up the marketing sources for a website (sponsored links, affiliations, emailing, advertising).

Multivariable sources

See: Multi-variables.

Multi-variant testing

An operation which comprises testing a number of versions of the same web page so as to determine which one will be able to attract a maximum number of visitors and generate the most sales.
See also: A/B Testing.

Newsletter

A newsletter provides information and is periodically sent out by email to a distribution list of persons signed up to receive it.

Non-referrals

A non-referral to a website is when an internet user directly types in a URL or uses their Favorites (bookmarks).

Objective

A registered action to be achieved by visitors to a website. Objectives are generally represented by the conversion pages.

Offline campaign

This term represents all of the marketing campaigns run on media other than the web. This type of campaign can nevertheless generate website traffic.
See also: Marketing campaign, campaign online.

OJD

A French association that monitors and audits media circulation: a body that certifies audience levels on the Internet.

OLAP

Thanks to OLAP technologies, the user may perform calculations that cover a set of values at a rate of some 20,000 or 30,000 cells per second, without writing a request. The various dimensions used by the OLAP server to perform these calculations form an OLAP cube.

Online Intelligence^®

The concept of Online Intelligence^® covers all of the measurement, analysis and assistance with decision making services on offer from AT Internet.

Online campaign

This term represents all of the marketing campaigns run on the web and that generate traffic.
See also: Marketing campaign.

Order ratio

The order ratio is an overall indicator ratio of the total number of orders compared with the total number of visits.

Organic search

A type of access through which the internet user arrives at a website (using search engine non commercial links). Access is said to be "organic" as opposed to an access via a marketing campaign (access via commercial links).

OS (Operating System)

The operating system is a set of programs responsible for the link between a computer's hardware resources and the user's software applications.

Overlay

A visual presentation mode based on displaying color points based on the zones that the visitor clicks on when browsing your site's pages.
See also: ClickZone^®, Heat Map.

Page

A page in a measured website. A page is displayed once the page has loaded.

Page view

The page view value represents the number of times that all of the web type tags have been loaded on the internet user's station when they perform a visit. It is an overall amount.

Perimeter

A perimeter of analysis that the website measurement is based on. This perimeter may be limited to a set of sites (a group), a site, a sub-site (level 2 site).

Platform

Designates the sponsored links platforms. The ones most often used by advertisers are:
     Google Adwords
     Yahoo Search Marketing
     MSN AdCenter
     Etc.

Plug-in

A program that interacts with the primary program to bring it new features.

Podacst

An xml feed to be integrated into a dedicated player (the most well known is iTunes). This player by compiling the feeds offers media elements (audio, video or pdf) that the internet user may download at any moment with just a click.

Portal

The Portal module is used to conduct an in-depth study of a network of sites or of a set of sites that form a portal.

PPC (Pay Per Click)

The purchase of specific or generic keywords (ads and ad groups) from advertising networks like Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Miva, MSN, etc.
See also: Sponsored link.

Project Management Pack

A service offered by AT Internet as part of a subscription to an upmarket solution (Analyzer).

Rate of entry

This is the ratio between the total number of visits and the number of visits to more than one page. A high ratio means that the internet user is entering the site.
This rate is used to immediately determine all of the elements (sources, countries, equipment, etc.) that benefit in-depth browsing of your site.

Real-time

Almost all analyses are available in real-time, minute by minute, directly from the interface. By offering this feature, AT Internet revolutionizes online activity by offering a degree of precision and response that has not previously been seen.

Redirection

An action comprising redirecting requests relating to a page or a file to another page or another file.

Referrer

Information provided by browsers which is used to determine the page where an internet user originated from when they arrive at a site.

Referrer (Referrer site)

A site located upline from an audited website. Technically our solutions are based on the JavaScript referrer to obtain these URLs.
See also: Referrer.

Remanence

This concept comprises retaining in memory (using a cookie), the fact that an internet user has already visited a site from a campaign.
Analyzer offers a number of indicators linked to remanence in its analyses.

Remanence rate

The ratio of the number of overall visits to the number of remanent visits.
See also: Remanence.

Remote tag

A remote tag refers to the measurement technology as opposed to the log technology.
See also: Tag.

Report

A document that combines one or more analyses in PDF, Word, Excel formats, etc. A report comes from an export from the interface.
AT Internet is used to schedule and then automatically generate reports.

Reputation analysis

Reputation analysis (built-into AT Internet solutions as standard) reports all of the key words entered into the various search engines containing the name of your website.

Return On Investment

Return On Investment: corresponds to the return achieved after comparing the revenue generated with the cost entailed.
See also: ROI.

Rich media

Designates all of the multimedia and interactive formats that can be used on the web (audio, video, podcast, flash, etc.).

ROI

ROI: Return On Investment
See above

RSS feed

An RSS feed is dynamic content, updated in real time that is made available to internet users. It includes titles, summaries and links to pages providing a more detailed explanation of the selected content. These are the links that direct to your site and that are destined to generate quality traffic for you that you will be able to measure.

Sales Tracker

A tracking module that is dedicated to e-Commerce web sites. This is used to track orders and sales, to optimize merchandising, analyze browsing and buying behavior.

ScrollView^®

An analysis of the way web pages are scrolled by the internet user.

Search engine

A search engine is used to find resources (web pages, Usenet forums, pictures, video, etc.) assigned to individual words. In addition to directories that work to list sites, search engines for their part perform an in-depth job to list pages within sites.

Search Engine Marketing

The generic action of registering with search engines. Web site registration is now based around search tools, and especially the search engines and directories. This approach is based on implementing two separate and complementary strategies:
Search Engine Optimization
Sponsored links.
The first strategy comprises an indexing phase, i.e. where the site is recognized by the search tools, then a phase that comprises positioning these sites in line with the natural results generated by the search tools when a search is run by internet users.

Segmentation

An optional module offered by AT Internet with the premium solution. It is a cross reference search engine used to refine your reports.
Self promotion
See also: AdTracking.

SEM / SEO

Search Engine Optimization / Search Engine Marketing: designates identification activities. In a more general way, this covers all of the web marketing activity (sponsoring, keywords campaign...).
See also: Search Engine Optimization, Sponsored Link.

Server-Side

A specific tag used to measure order confirmations when the confirmation page is hosted by an outside website (bank payment platforms).

Sharepoint

Windows Sharepoint is a website creation engine used to share information and teamwork on documents.

Site Centric / User Centric

A "Site Centric" measurement is one based on the website (TAG and LOG technologies) as opposed to a "User Centric" measurement based on the user (panels method).

Site Linker

A module for monitoring affiliation campaigns. This module is included as standard in AT Internet solutions.
See also: Affiliation.

Sources

Sources represent every possible way of reaching a website. They mainly include:
"Natural" referrers (direct access, engines, etc.)
Campaigns and marketing actions (sponsored links, emailing, advertising, affiliations/partnerships, and RSS feeds).

SSL

SSL (Secure Sockets Layers) is a process for securing transactions performed via the Internet

Tag

A tag is an element inserted into every one of the pages to be measured to record their activity. A tag is inserted into the page source code. It is especially used to generate a connection log on the server used by the third party measurement tool.
See also: Tag.

Tagging plan

A preliminary phase for technically implementing site measurements. This service performed prior to marking is designed to define the tagging and measurement strategy for a site. It especially comprises:
     An expression of the customer requirement
     A definition and implementation of headings
     The creation of user accounts
     The test protocols

Third-party cookie

The third-party cookie is a cookie assigned to a third party domain name, e.g. xiti.com.
See also: Cookie, First-party cookie.

Tracking

A system for identifying the actions performed by an internet user on a website.

Traffic

A term used to designate visits (entering and exiting) by internet users to a website.

Tree structure

A tree structure is used to organize the various headings within a website in a logical and hierarchically organized way, so that it can be measured.

Unique visitor

A visitor that visits a site more than once during a given period is therefore counted only once.

URL

Acronym for "Uniform Resource Locator".
A URL is a character string indicating the location of a resource on the Internet and the method used to access it.

User agent

A user agent is a customer application used with a specific network protocol. The term is more generally used as a reference for those accessing the World Wide Web. The web user agents run from the range of browsers to search robots, through screen readers.

User Generated Content (UGC)

All of the content generated by the users of a site.

Variable

A variable assigns a name (symbol) to a value or an object. The variable concept is then intimately linked to the programming language.
In AT Internet solutions, variables generally represent the elements that make up marketing campaigns and must be filled-in in the tag code by the client.

Visit

Represents site access. This result in a set of pages made available on the same site. Failure to view any new pages on the site, from the same client machine, and during a period in excess of 30 minutes, means the end of the visit.
The number of visits to a site is expressed in relation to a given period of time (a day, a week, a month...).

Visitor engagement

Visitor engagement measures how engaged internet users are. The greater the number of visits with a high visitor engagement, the better the site succeeds in attracting internet users towards its most important pages.

Web Analytics

Web Analytics group the measurement, the collection, the analysis and the presentation of data from the Internet and used to understand and optimize web usage.

Web Analytics Association (WAA)

The leading association in the field of Web Analytics. This association groups the major players in this market and especially AT Internet.
See also: Web Analytics.

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 has been put forward to designate what is seen as a renewal of the World Wide Web. The changes covered by this term relate to both the technologies applied as well as its uses.
AT Internet solutions allow measuring elements linked to these new uses:
     RSS feeds
     Podcasts
     Videos
     Blogs

Web-Marketing

See: E-Marketing.

Web service

A Web service is a computer program that allows data communications and exchanges between applications. AT Internet offers this kind of exchange with customers.

XiTi^® Analyzer II

Online Intelligence^® solution dedicated to websites and mobile systems seeking to optimize their performance. This solution may integrate optional modules (Sales Tracker, Segmentation, and Portal).
See also: Sales Tracker, Segmentation, Portal.

XiTi^® Expert

A Web Analytics solution offered by AT Internet until 2007.

XiTi^® Free

A free Web Analytics solution that offers the indicators needed for an overview of site traffic. Several hundreds of thousands of website owners use XiTi^® Free around the world.

XiTi^® Pro

XiTi^® Pro offers a complete and effective initial approach to traffic measurement.

XiTi^® Pro Agency

A solution dedicated to internet agencies that wish to include to their service provision Xiti^® Pro measurement service.

XiTi^®

The generic name for the Web Analytics and Online Intelligence^® product sold by AT Internet since 2000.
XiTi^® has more than 350,000 users.