Hi,
I am not sure what post you are referring to, but "Visit Number" and "Visits" are very different things...
"Visit Number" is a dimension that increases on every visit (i.e. Visit 1 > Visit 2 > Visit 3 ... Visit 757, etc.)
"Visits" is a metric that will show the number of Visits that occurred within the time frame.
Now, when it comes to Marketing Channels, which have a default 30 day attribution, having higher Visits is absolutely expected... since the same "visitor" is likely to have come to the site multiple times....
Marketing Channels defer preference to "specific" channels, basically meaning that "direct traffic" to the site will not override a more specific and targeted channel in the time frame. If direct overwrote this, there would be no "30 day attribution" as every visit would be reset to a new channel....
Let's look at an example from a single visitor:
Visit 1 - Direct
- Page 1
- Marketing Channel set to "direct"
- Marketing Channel Instance triggered
- Page 2
- Marketing Channel retains value "direct"
- Marketing Channel Instance not triggered, as the MC was not explicitly set
Visit 2 - Organic Search (2 Days Later)
- Page 1
- Marketing Channel set to "organic search" (this is a new specific channel, therefore it will overwrite)
- Marketing Channel Instance triggered
- Page 2
- Marketing Channel retains value "organic search"
- Marketing Channel Instance not triggered, as the MC was not explicitly set
Visit 3 - Direct (7 Days Later)
- Page 1
- Marketing Channel retains value "organic search" (direct will not override this)
- Marketing Channel Instance not triggered
- Page 2
- Marketing Channel retains value "organic search"
- Marketing Channel Instance not triggered, as the MC was not explicitly set
All of this traffic is from one single visitor... but in total they had 3 visits... 1 visit will be considered "direct", 2 visits will be considered "organic search" (even though the last visit was direct, the 30 day attribution takes precedence)
