traffic

1. Communications: Flow of attempts to make contact, calls, and messages over a circuit, line, or network, measured usually in bits per second (BPS).

2. Electronic commerce: Number of hits or visits a website receives during, usually, a 24-hour period.

3. Retailing: Number of shoppers that pass through a shopping area, mall, or store, during the business hours.

Google has become so powerful that every internet startup should at least consider the question, Is this something that Google would want us to be doing? For sites that expect to get a lot of search engine traffic, this question should be a top priority. Sites that try to get more traffic from Google than they deserve, by employing search engine optimization tactics that Google doesn't like, typically discover that such arbitrage opportunities disappear very quickly. On the other hand, sites that provide something genuinely useful will, over time, get a lot of free traffic from Google.