August 27, 2002 – A recent analysis of traffic at Lab Tests Online has required that traffic figures be restated for the first 12 months that the site was live. Under the new analysis, traffic numbers are roughly 1/3 higher than previously thought, meaning that the site hosted more than one million visitors in its first year.

Internet traffic is measured by user session, which is typically defined as the half-hour period beginning when someone first hits the site. Through the spring, Lab Tests Online had measured traffic based on a user session defined as a 24-hour period. In other words, traffic analysis was not capturing information on people who returned to the site more than once a day.

The new analysis highlights the still imprecise science of measuring traffic on the Internet, but nevertheless it also gives everyone supporting Lab Tests Online something to cheer about.