Glossary · Web analytics
What is entry page?
An entry page is the first page a visitor views in a session — the page through which they entered the site on that visit.
Analytics tools often label the same report "landing pages." The difference is intent: every session has an entry page, while a marketing landing page is a page built on purpose to receive campaign traffic.
Also called: Entrance page, Landing page (in reports)
Updated
How are entry pages counted?
Entries for a page = number of sessions whose first pageview was that page
Each session contributes exactly one entry. Summing entries across all pages gives the total number of sessions. Entry rate for a page is entries divided by all its pageviews — a page with a high entry rate is mainly a front door; a low one means people reach it from inside the site.
Entry page example
Your blog post on UTM tagging had 3,000 pageviews last month and 2,600 entries, so 87% of its views were people arriving straight from Google or a link. Your pricing page had 2,000 pageviews and 400 entries (20%): most people reached it from somewhere else on the site. Improving the blog post's call to action affects 2,600 first impressions; improving pricing's above-the-fold copy affects only 400.
Why entry pages matter
The entry page is the visitor's first impression, and on many sites a third or more of visits begin on a page that isn't the homepage. Ranking entry pages by volume shows where to put sign-up prompts, internal links and product messaging. Pairing entries with bounce rate and conversion rate shows which front doors work.
Common entry page pitfalls
- Treating the homepage as the front door. Organic and referral traffic overwhelmingly enters on deep pages.
- Session splits. A visitor who returns after the timeout starts a new session and gets a new entry page, often a page deep in the site.
- Query strings and trailing slashes.
/blog/postand/blog/post/split one entry page into two rows if the tool doesn't normalize them. - Confusing entry and first-touch. Entry is per session; first-touch attribution uses the first page of the visitor's first-ever session.
How VisitTrack reports entry pages
The Overview has an Entry page tab next to Pages: every page ranked by the sessions that started on it, and clicking one filters the whole dashboard to sessions that entered there — so you can see their sources, countries and conversions. For revenue, each payment also records the visitor's first landing page, which the revenue attribution report breaks down alongside referrer and campaign.
Frequently asked questions
Is an entry page the same as a landing page?
In analytics reports, mostly yes: both mean the first page of a session. In marketing, a landing page is a page designed for a specific campaign, which may or may not be a common entry page.
How do I find my top entry pages?
Open your analytics tool's entry or landing page report and sort by sessions or entries. In VisitTrack it's the Entry page tab on the Overview.
Related terms
- Exit pageAn exit page is the last page a visitor viewed in a session before leaving the site; exit rate is the share of a page's views that were the last in their session.
- Landing pageA landing page is the page a visitor first arrives on from a link, ad or search result — and, in marketing, a standalone page designed for one campaign with a single call to action.
- SessionA session is a group of pageviews and events from one visitor that happen close together in time, and that ends once the visitor has been inactive for a set timeout — usually 30 minutes.
- Bounce rateBounce rate is the percentage of sessions in which a visitor viewed only one page and left without viewing a second page.
- First-touch attributionFirst-touch attribution is an attribution model that gives 100% of the credit for a conversion or payment to the source of the visitor's very first visit, ignoring every visit that came after it.
Tools and guides
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