Web counter

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A web counter or hit counter is a publicly displayed running tally of the number of visits a

Web counters are usually displayed as an

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

External links

• Web counter at
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