The cost to advertise and market a domain name or website far outweighs the cost to acquire a domain name or website that already has traffic. As a result, high-traffic websites command top dollar in the domain after-market. End-users would rather acquire a traffic websites than to build a new domain. But the problem is, how can you verify the monthly unique traffic a domain name or website has before you buy it?
The unique monthly traffic is the total visits to a website (every separate visit), while the page views is the total number of pages loaded. If you’re buying a domain name or website that claims to have monthly unique traffic, then you will want to verify the traffic statistics through a third-party, independent system. Compete.com is a useful tool to verify month unique traffic.
The steps below will help you find a domain’s monthly unique traffic using Compete.com’s service.
![Domain Name Traffic Information via Compete.com Domain Name Traffic Information via Compete.com](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-competecom-420x326.jpg)
Step 2: Enter the Domain Name(s) of Interest
![Searching for Domain Name Traffic Information Searching for Domain Name Traffic Information](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-search-420x49.jpg)
Facebook.com will withstand the monthly unique traffic test. The social networking website is the second highest ranked website in the world. You can verify the monthly traffic of the website to survey its unique monthly traffic.
Step 3: Click on “Compare” Button
![Compare Domain Name Traffic Compare Domain Name Traffic](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-compare.jpg)
Step 4: Survey the Unique Monthly Traffic Graph
![Domain Name Traffic Information for Facebook.com Domain Name Traffic Information for Facebook.com](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-420x305.jpg)
Facebook.com’s unique monthly traffic in the past year is shown above. The unique traffic peaked in December 2010. In you sign up for a membership, you will have access to data from 2 years ago.
![Domain Name Traffic Information Facebook December 2010 Domain Name Traffic Information Facebook December 2010](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-dec2010-420x221.jpg)
Pointing the mouse at various months will display an actual unique traffic number. In December 2010, for example, Facebook.com’s monthly unique traffic topped out at 134,050,710.
Step 5: Verify Previous Month Unique Traffic and Page Views
![Verify Previous Month Unique Traffic and Page Views Verify Previous Month Unique Traffic and Page Views](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-monthly-420x40.jpg)
Scroll down the page. Underneath the graph, the previous month’s unique traffic will be displayed in the box.
![Domain Name Previous Month Unique Traffic and Page Views Domain Name Previous Month Unique Traffic and Page Views](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-unique-visitors.jpg)
Facebook.com generated 127,510,914 unique visitors in January 2010.
![Domain Name Monthly Page Views Domain Name Monthly Page Views](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-visitors.jpg)
Facebook.com total page views in January 2010 reached 3,774,716,112.
![Compete.com Rank for Domain Name or Website Compete.com Rank for Domain Name or Website](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-compete-rank.jpg)
Facebook.com is ranked #3 on Compete’s traffic chart.
Step 6: View Referral Sites
![Domain Name Referral Analytics Domain Name Referral Analytics](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-referral-analytics.jpg)
In the chart on the bottom of the page, the Referral Analytics display the how many sites are sending traffic to Facebook.com. For the most part, Facebook.com generates unique traffic from sites across the web. The Compete.com list of sites above does not include the type-in traffic (https://domainsherpa.com/domain-name-dictionary/type-in-traffic).
![Domain Name Search Analytics Domain Name Search Analytics](https://domainsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/domain-name-traffic-information-facebook-search-analytics.jpg)
In the box above, Compete.com provides the keywords that are used to reach Facebook.com. Using Compete.com to analyze your unique monthly traffic is a good strategy to determine how to build future traffic.
Additional Notes on How To Find Website Traffic Information
High unique monthly traffic translates into high revenue and a high value for a domain name. The more traffic a website generates, the better chance they have a converting a pay-per-lead, ad clicks, and per-per-clicks.
Unique monthly traffic is the total number of different people that visited a website in a given period – usually a month. Take for instance; a person visits your website today, and then again tomorrow – this would count as one unique visitor, two visits, and one returning visitor. The page views are the number of times a visitor loads a page, regardless of unique visitor status or not.
Compete.com doesn’t monitor traffic on new websites. A domain name usually requires some traffic web history in order to show traffic results.
Another way to verify traffic is to use domain parking companies and StatCounter.com or Alexa.com. Both traffic tools will be discussed in a later article.
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