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A web counter or hit counter is a publicly displayed running tally of the number of visits a webpage has received.

Web counters are usually displayed as an inline digital image or in plain text. Image rendering of digits may use a variety of fonts and styles, with a classic design imitating the wheels of an odometer. Web counters were often accompanied by the date it was set up or last reset, to provide more context to readers on how to interpret the number shown. Although initially a way to publicly showcase a site's popularity to its visitors, some early web counters were simply web bugs used by webmasters to track hits and included no visible on-page elements.

Counters were popular in the 1990s, but were later replaced by other web traffic measures such as self-hosted scripts like Analog, and later on by remote systems that used JavaScript, like Google Analytics. These systems typically do not include on-page elements displaying the count. Thus, seeing a web counter on a modern web page is one example of retrocomputing on the Internet.

Owing to their ubiquity, hit counters were also a useful tool to collect data on the global usage share of web browsers for a time.

Counter SEO schemes

In one SEO spamming technique, companies paid to have their site listed in the HTML code of a free hit counter. When a webmaster put it on their page, a small link appeared at the bottom, providing a way for sites to artificially accumulate inbound links. This was often done by sites in very competitive industries like online gambling. In 2008, Google removed a number of high-ranking mesothelioma sites that had been using counters from the top results.^[1]^{[failed verification]}

References

^ "Matt Cutts Interviewed by Eric Enge". June 16, 2008. Archived from the original on July 22, 2008.

External links

Template:Dmoz

[1] "Matt Cutts Interviewed by Eric Enge". June 16, 2008. Archived from the original on July 22, 2008.

[1]

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+{{short description|Web page hit count indicator}}
-{{Merge|Web analytics|date=March 2015}}
 {{refimprove|date=November 2008}}
-{{For|information on counting visits to a Wikipedia page|Wikipedia:FAQ/Technical#Can_I_add_a_page_hit_counter_to_a_Wikipedia_page?{{!}}Wikipedia FAQ (Can I add a page hit counter to a Wikipedia page?)}}
-<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:WebCounter.png|right|a webmaster's counter options|thumb]] -->
-A '''web counter''' or '''hit counter''' is a computer software program that indicates the number of visitors, or hits, a particular [[webpage]] has received. Once set up,these counters will be incremented by one every time the web page is accessed in a [[web browser]].
+A '''web counter''' or '''hit counter''' is a publicly displayed running tally of the number of visits a [[webpage]] has received.
-The number is usually displayed, with  image or text, as an [[digital image|old inline digital image]], a [[plain text]] or an [[mechanical counter|old mechanical counter]]. [[Rendering (computer graphics)|Image renderization]] of digits may use a variety of [[fonts]] and styles; the classic example is the wheels of an [[odometer]]. The counter is often accompanied by the date it was set up or last reset, otherwise it becomes impossible to estimate within what time the number of page loads counted occurred. Some web counters were simply [[web bug]]s used by [[webmaster]]s to track hits and included no visible on-page elements.
+Web counters are usually displayed as an [[digital image|inline digital image]] or in [[plain text]]. [[Rendering (computer graphics)|Image rendering]] of digits may use a variety of [[fonts]] and styles, with a classic design imitating the wheels of an [[odometer]]. Web counters were often accompanied by the date it was set up or last reset, to provide more context to readers on how to interpret the number shown. Although initially a way to publicly showcase a site's popularity to its visitors, some early web counters were simply [[web bug]]s used by [[webmaster]]s to track hits and included no visible on-page elements.
-Counters were popular in the 1990s, later replaced by other [[web traffic]] measures, at first by self hosted scripts such as [[Analog (program)|Analog]], later on more typically remote systems that used [[JavaScript]], like [[Google Analytics]]. These systems typically do not include on-page elements displaying the count, though. Thus, seeing a web counter on a modern web page is one example of [[retrocomputing]] on the Internet.
+Counters were popular in the 1990s, but were later replaced by other [[web traffic]] measures such as self-hosted scripts like [[Analog (program)|Analog]], and later on by remote systems that used [[JavaScript]], like [[Google Analytics]]. These systems typically do not include on-page elements displaying the count. Thus, seeing a web counter on a modern web page is one example of [[retrocomputing]] on the Internet.
+Owing to their ubiquity, hit counters were also a useful tool to collect data on the global [[usage share of web browsers]] for a time.
-== Counter schemes==
-In one [[Search engine optimization|SEO]] spamming technique, companies pay to have their site listed in the html code of a free hit counter. Thus when a user puts it on their page, a small link will appear at the bottom and can be a quick way for sites to accumulate inbound links. This is often performed by sites in very competitive web fields like online gambling and even asbestos litigation.
-In 2008, [[Google]] removed a number of high-ranking mesothelioma sites that had been using counters from the top results.<ref>[http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-061608.shtml Matt Cutts interviewed by Eric Enge June 16, 2008]</ref>
-=== Kiriban ===
+== Counter SEO schemes ==
-Some websites have been known to offer [[prize]]s to the visitor who makes the web counter roll over to a specific number{{fact|date=March 2015}} (known in Japanese as a '''[[:ja:キリバン|kiriban]]'''), and such events are frequently considered [[scam]]s.
+In one [[Search engine optimization|SEO]] spamming technique, companies paid to have their site listed in the HTML code of a free hit counter. When a webmaster put it on their page, a small link appeared at the bottom, providing a way for sites to artificially accumulate inbound links. This was often done by sites in very competitive industries like online gambling. In 2008, [[Google]] removed a number of high-ranking [[mesothelioma]] sites that had been using counters from the top results.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.perficient.com/2008/06/16/matt-cutts-interviewed-by-eric-enge/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080722162925/http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-061608.shtml |title=Matt Cutts Interviewed by Eric Enge |date=June 16, 2008 |archive-date=July 22, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{fv|date=February 2022|reason=The interview identifies links to "mesothelioma, payday loans site, or something like that" hidden in a web counter as an example of "widgetbait" link spam but says nothing about any removals.}}
 == References ==
 {{Reflist}}