Dashboard, real-time and visitor reports

What you will learn #

Use the site dashboard to choose a reporting period, read the overview, check who is currently active, and move from an aggregate report to a visitor’s available visit history. You can also compare geography and device reports, and open the big-screen view. Treat visitor and company labels as analytics signals, not proof of a person’s identity.

Before you begin #

Sign in to Hitsteps and select a website for which your account has dashboard access. These report URLs require a signed-in session. Use the site selector to change websites; the dashboard URL includes a site-specific ID, so replace <site-id> with the ID selected in your own account.
Install the tracking code and wait for visits to be collected. A report can load correctly while showing no rows because there is no matching data in its chosen period, a browser blocks collection, or your own visits are excluded.
The product lists the dashboard, online visitors, online history, visitor reports and map as signed-in dashboard features. It lists big-screen, visitor detail, audience technology, AI assistant and annotations as requiring an additional access or plan check. Mentions is marked as paid-plan access and owner role. Current plan entitlements and account-specific permissions can vary; use the access message displayed by your account and the linked feature page before relying on an item.
Use the dashboard’s account timezone consistently when comparing dates. The timezone report about visitors’ browsers is a separate audience attribute; it does not set the dashboard’s reporting timezone.

Step by step #

Open the dashboard and choose a reporting period

From the signed-in website list, select the website you want to inspect. In the dashboard, the main overview is /stats/<site-id>/dashboard/.
Use the date controls at the top of a report when that report provides them. Select a start and end date, then apply the range. Some reports have their own fixed/default period or omit the date control, so a range selected on one page may not apply everywhere.
Read the dates in the dashboard’s account timezone. When comparing Hitsteps with another analytics tool, set both tools to the same timezone and identical start/end dates first. Check whether the report includes the current day, which may still be in progress.
On the dashboard, scan the summary and widgets, then open a report from the relevant card or the left navigation. The dashboard source describes widgets as rearrangeable and resizable. If the layout has moved, use the dashboard controls to restore or reposition the cards; use the layout controls offered in your account.
To change the dashboard’s appearance, open Account → Dashboard and choose the available appearance option. Source supports automatic, dark and light preferences. This changes presentation, not report data.

Expected result: the selected website’s overview appears for the chosen period. Values depend on the site’s collected traffic and the report’s own rules. A zero or blank report is not proof that tracking is broken until you check its date range, filters and data requirements.

See who is online now

In the left navigation, open Dashboard → Online Visitors (the product is /stats/<site-id>/online/).
Review the currently listed visitor cards and the page, referrer, device and estimated location details available on each card. The online view filters out visitors that have passed the site’s configured idle window. “Online” therefore means active under the product’s current online/idle rules, not a guaranteed human presence at this exact instant.
Select a visitor card to open its available detail. From there, follow the page/action history links when present. If no visitors appear, check the selected website, time, tracking installation and any own-visit or exclusion settings before concluding that the site has no traffic.
Refresh the page to request a new view. The page includes a refresh control; live updates and counts can lag or change between refreshes.

Safe example: on your-store.example, a visitor card may show a product page, a referral source, a device category and an estimated area. Use these as context for that visit. Do not infer that the location identifies the visitor or that the referrer caused a purchase.

Review online history

Open Dashboard → Online History for the selected website (/stats/<site-id>/online-history/).
Choose Today, Last 24 hours, or Last 7 days. For another interval, choose Custom, enter Start and End, then select Apply range. The range must end after it starts and stay within the last 35 days. Read the displayed timezone.
Use Chart metric to choose Total online, Active or Idle. Toggle Same weekday last week to compare the corresponding earlier period. Select a minute and Show minute table expose exact values; the table has Previous and Next page controls.
Read Range peak, Recorded average, Busiest 30 minutes and Same minutes last week. Under Sustained audience, set At least to a minimum simultaneous visitor count to find the longest sampled stretch at that level.
Use Refresh for a fresh read and Export CSV when recorded data is available. See visitors online now returns to the live view.

Expected result: minute-by-minute aggregate active, idle and total counts, with coverage and honest gaps. Samples are taken every minute; up to 35 days are retained. A recorded zero means nobody was online, while an unknown minute has no reliable sample. Averages use recorded minutes; week comparisons use minutes recorded in both periods. Unknown minutes break sustained stretches. This report contains aggregate counts, not visitor identities or an individual visit duration. No data is backfilled before collection began.

Understand visitor reports

Open Visitors in the sidebar. The dashboard provides these report destinations:

Workflow reference
Report	Route suffix	What it helps answer
Overview	`visitors/overview/`	How visitor totals change across the chosen reporting range.
Recent	`visitors/recent/`	Which visitor records match the selected period and any active filters.
Unique	`visitors/unique/`	The product’s unique-visitor count/report for the period. A visitor count is not necessarily a count of distinct human beings.
Top	`visitors/top/`	Which visitors or visitor records rank highest in the report’s selected measure. Check the table heading before interpreting rank.
Loyal	`visitors/loyal/`	Returning visitors, as described in the product. This is a repeat-visit signal, not a customer identity check.
Average traffic	`visitors/avg/`	Average traffic values for the report’s displayed periods. Read the unit and date span shown on the chart.
Bot	`visitors/bot/`	Traffic classified by the bot report. Classification can be incomplete; do not treat it as a security verdict.
Unified	`visitors/unified/`	Cross-device/unified visitor reporting where the product can associate activity. It does not prove that separate devices belong to one named person.
Map	`visitors/map/`	Geographic distribution and associated visitor records. Location is estimated.

The route base for each is /stats/<site-id>/. The sidebar also includes company traffic and a recent/returning view. Use the visible report title, active filter and table columns to understand what is being counted. Some report pages support a date filter; the overview and average views use their own aggregation. Export links, where available, export the current report rather than changing the underlying visitor data.

Drill into one visitor

Open Visitors → Recent and set a narrow date range that includes the visit.
Use the available report filters (for example browser, operating system or screen size when present) to reduce the list. Technology reports link back to matching recent visitors.
Open a row/card to view its detail. The detail route is served by /stats/detail.php with the selected visitor context. Look for page history, visit times, referrer and recorded actions that the account is allowed to view.
Compare timestamps in the account timezone and check the date range before calling a visit “missing.” A history row can be outside the selected window, excluded by a filter, or unavailable because that data was not collected.
On a visitor detail, the dashboard includes a sticky note associated with that site and visitor record; use the note area if it is visible in your account, then confirm the updated time shown. Visitor cards can also display assigned labels. Configure or review label rules in Segments and custom reports; this chapter does not assume every role can edit labels. Use labels and notes only for appropriate, non-sensitive operational context. Do not enter passwords, payment details, health data or other sensitive personal information. The visitor card may use an organization label when company identification is enabled, but an organization match does not identify an individual.

A browser cookie, device/browser characteristics and available identifiers affect how visits are grouped. Clearing cookies, switching browsers/devices, privacy controls and blocked tracking can split activity. Cross-device reporting can associate activity only when Hitsteps has a supported basis to do so. Do not promise a complete person-level journey or use a visitor ID as a verified real-world identity.

Explore geography and company identification

Open Visitors → Map for the report map, or use the dashboard’s map widget. The dashboard widget is described in the dashboard as showing estimated locations of online visitors; its information control can show locations for a specific date range.
Use country, region or location totals as broad directional context. IP-derived location can be imprecise, affected by proxies/VPNs and missing for some visits. Do not use it to infer an exact address.
The Companies entry in the Visitors menu opens a business-traffic view. Company identification is an estimate derived from available network/company signals; it may be blank, broad or wrong. It identifies neither a named employee nor a person’s intent.
For detail on public feature claims, see Live visitor map and Visitor country tracking. For the company identification feature, see Company identification.

Compare browsers, devices and other technology

Open the Computer group in the sidebar. The current menu exposes Browser, Screen resolution, Web3, Advertisement Blocking, Battery Level, Language, CPU and Timezone reports. The report pages include linked values that open a recent-visitors report filtered to that value.

Use a category count to answer questions such as “Which browser families appear in this date range?” or “What screen sizes are represented?” A category is based on the browser/device signals Hitsteps received; it is not a census of every device used by a person. Empty charts mean no matching information is available for that selected period, not that all visitors lack the capability.

Browser and operating system: compare category totals; use linked categories to inspect matching recent visits.
Screen size: compare reported screen dimensions. This describes the browser’s reported viewport/device information as implemented by the report; do not treat it as the physical monitor’s exact dimensions.
Language and timezone: these describe browser/device settings or signals, not necessarily the visitor’s preferred language or physical location. The timezone report is not the account timezone setting.
Battery level and power mode: the report groups browser-reported battery status into ranges and whether the device reports battery or charger mode. Not every browser/device supplies this signal, so coverage is partial. See Visitor battery level.
Advertisement blocking and Web3: the dashboard reports whether supported browser signals indicate ad blocking or Web3 wallet support. They do not establish the visitor’s behavior or guarantee a wallet is installed/usable.
Tor and ad-blocking detection: these are signals, not a reliable identity or security decision. Available signals vary by browser and account; check the fields actually shown in your visitor details. See Tor browser detection and Ad-block detection.

Dashboard, big-screen and visual reports

The dashboard home (/stats/<site-id>/dashboard/) brings together traffic summary and widgets. The dashboard can show online-now, live map, attention, commerce, UTM, ad traffic, actions, reports, internal search, device, annotations and mentions widgets. Some require separate access and are shown only when available for the selected website. If a card shows an access prompt or is absent, follow its displayed eligibility message rather than assuming a defect.

Open Big Screen Board (/stats/<site-id>/bigscreen/) for the large-format dashboard. The current source includes online, top-chart, label, pageview, referrer and map widgets and an owner-configured widget order. Big-screen entitlement and the account’s precise setup controls depend on your account and website. Treat it as an owner-facing option when present; do not place it on a public display containing visitor-level details unless you have checked access and privacy for that display.

For related visual analysis, the Heatmaps chapter explains click and scroll maps. The public guide How to read a heatmap explains how to interpret the result. Heatmaps are a separate, gated feature and are not part of the standard dashboard access promise.

Other dashboard tools in this chapter’s scope

Notifications: use the bell in the dashboard header to open the notification list. Notification settings is at /stats/notification-settings.php. The list can show an empty or loading state; notifications depend on events and settings. Do not assume a notification is a complete report of all site activity.
Chart annotations: open Annotations from the site sidebar (/stats/<site-id>/annotations/) to manage notes associated with chart dates. Calendar import is present in the source, but use the import format and access message shown by your workspace. Check the selected site and date before interpreting an annotation against a chart.
AI assistant: open Hitsteps AI for the selected website (/stats/<site-id>/ai/). If an access screen is shown, read its eligibility and data-use explanation before choosing any offered enable/trial action; those are owner decisions. If the composer is unavailable, use ordinary reports instead. On an enabled account, follow the steps below.
Mentions: open Mentions (/stats/<site-id>/mentions/) as the account owner. Paid-plan eligibility and website/account limits apply. If a locked panel appears, follow its access explanation; the following setup applies only to an eligible, editable workspace.

Ask Hitsteps AI about your reports

Check the selected website and the displayed daily question usage/reset time. Choose a suggestion such as Summarize the last 30 days or type a question in Ask Hitsteps AI about your analytics, including the period you mean. The question limit is 4,000 characters.
Select Send question. Wait for the answer and follow its report links to check figures and dates. Do not paste credentials or unnecessary personal data into a question.
Ask a follow-up in the same conversation. Use Stop request to stop a response, New chat for a fresh conversation, or Copy chat to copy completed turns. Review copied text before sharing it.

Expected result: an explanation grounded in the reports available to your account, or an explicit access, quota or service error. Generated text can be wrong; verify conclusions in the underlying report. An answer does not change tracking or prove causation.

Set up and read Mentions

Select Add new web search query for web results, or Search X for X results. In Please enter a search keyword:, enter a public brand, domain or phrase, such as your-store.example, and confirm. Adding a query changes the selected website configuration; use only authorized, non-sensitive terms.
Wait for the keyword view to reload. Read its results, empty state or provider error. A saved keyword does not guarantee that a provider found a mention or that coverage is complete.
Use View all mentions for the combined feed and View and Edit keywords to return to query cards. The combined feed displays newest results first.
Select a query title to edit it through the keyword prompt. Use its remove control only when you intend to stop monitoring that query. Check that the intended query remains after a change.

Expected result: query cards and any available matching results. No results can mean no matches or unavailable provider data; it does not prove that the brand was never mentioned. Search sources and account limits can change. Contact support with the public query and displayed error, without credentials or private result contents.

Worked example #

Illustrative example: On your-store.example, a visitor card may show a product page, a referral source, device category and estimated area. Open its available visit history to understand the recorded path. These signals do not verify identity or prove that the referral caused a purchase.

Controls and metrics #

Pageview: a recorded page view. It is not the same as a visitor or a session.
Visitor / unique visitor: a product-defined visitor record or unique count over the selected period. Cookie/device limits mean this is not a verified count of people.
Online visitor: an activity record that remains inside the configured online/idle window. It may update after a refresh and is not proof of active human attention.
Returning / loyal visitor: a visitor record seen again under the product’s recognition rules. It does not prove a named customer returned.
Average: a value divided over the periods shown by that report. Read whether the chart groups days or months and check its selected range.
Estimated location / company: a classification based on available network/company signals. Use as a rough aggregate, not an exact personal identity.
Browser/device property: a reported or inferred technical category. Some browsers do not provide every signal.
Unified visitor: a product-associated visitor view. Association can be incomplete and must not be described as certain person-level identity.

Problems and fixes #

Problems and remedies
Symptom	Check and remedy
Dashboard is empty	Confirm the correct website and date range. Verify tracking is installed on the page you tested and allow collection time. Check whether your own visits are excluded.
Online page shows no one	The report only shows visitors inside its active/idle window. Visit the site from a browser that is not excluded, confirm tracking, then refresh. Do not use a staff/customer session as a public screenshot.
A visitor is missing from recent	Clear the report filters, widen the dates, check the account timezone, and review whether that visit was excluded or blocked.
Counts differ between reports	Compare website, date boundaries, timezone and filters. Reports may group/aggregate different entities. Confirm the metric title and unit before comparing.
Browser, language or battery category is absent	The selected period may have no samples, or the browser/device may not expose the signal. No category does not prove the device lacks that capability.
Location or company looks wrong	Treat it as estimated network classification. VPNs, mobile networks and shared gateways can produce broad or misleading results.
Big Screen, AI, annotations or Mentions is unavailable	Check the visible entitlement/access message and the feature page. Availability depends on your account and website; ask the account owner if access is unclear.
A report link opens a login or access page	Sign in with an account that has access to the selected site, then reopen the route from that site’s sidebar. Do not share a dashboard URL with its site ID as if it were public.

Access, privacy and limits #

Dashboard reports are behind sign-in and site authorization. Some visitor controls are hidden in guest, export or read-only contexts; account permissions determine what actions are available. The source shows owner-level and site-bound checks for visitor actions, but this chapter does not instruct readers to hide, exclude, export or erase a visitor record. Use the product’s dedicated privacy and data controls guidance for those actions.

Visitor reports can expose browsing behavior and technical attributes. Limit dashboard access to people who need it, avoid copying visitor-level data into public screenshots, and use generic examples in support requests. Do not put personal or sensitive information in labels or notes. Location, company, device and identity grouping can be incomplete or inaccurate. Online History has a fixed ceiling of up to 35 days of aggregate minute samples. Actual coverage can be shorter or have gaps, including before collection began; missing minutes are unknown, not zero. Visitor-detail history and individual technology signals are separate datasets whose available periods depend on the effective plan, collected data and website settings.

Last checked #

Checked 8 November 2026 using product documentation and source, with public pages and safe sample screens where available. Account-specific access, provider controls and effective limits can differ; use the current message shown for your website. Examples are illustrative.