Traffic
Visit
Also called session.
Visit is the older name for a session: one sitting on the site. The measurement is the same, the label is not.
How it is measured
Hits are grouped by a timeout rule into one block. Early tools closed a visit when the browser did; later ones used a timer. Read the definition in the tool's docs before trusting a comparison.
Tarsier shows session in the interface and keeps a random session id in the tab, so a visit ends when the tab does.
Worked example
An archive export from 2008 lists 18,400 visits and 51,000 pageviews for a local theatre. The team modernising the site compares it with 22,000 sessions today and announces growth of 20 percent.
The old tool ended a visit when the browser closed, and the new one ends it after 30 minutes. The comparison is soft, and the only safe claim is that the site is not shrinking.
How it differs
A visit and a session are the same unit. A visitor is the one who makes visits. An entrance is the first page of a visit. Use whichever word your tool uses, and do not mix them on the same chart.
Common errors
Assuming that visit means a different thing than session. Comparing eras with different timeouts. Using visit and visitor as the same word. Not recording the timeout. Quoting an old figure without its source.
In practice
When you meet the word in an old report or a vendor sheet, look up the timeout and treat the number as sessions only if the rules match.