What is the OM_VisitorToContact table and how does it work?

2025/03/27 12:31 PM

Hello,

I am investigating cleaning up anonymous contacts in the Contact table but notice that some of them are referenced in the VisitorToContact table. I tried to find documentation as to what a "visitor" is and how it is different from a contact but could not find anything useful. What is a visitor in this table? What does the VisitorToContactVisitorGUID represent and when is it used? and What scenario does a new row get entered into this VisitorToContact table?

Thanks!

Matthew

Environment

  • Xperience by Kentico version: 30.2.2
  • .NET version: 8
  • Execution environment: Private cloud

Answers

2025/04/01 4:49 PM

Hi Matthew.

To put it simply all Contacts are Visitors but not all Visitors are Contacts.

A visitor is anyone who visits the site. The system gathers information about all visitors including anonymous ones, but this can be very limited information such as simply a unique ID for a visit if no cookie has been accepted by the visitor.

A contact is a visitor who is identified by a cookie. Activities on a site tracked by cookies gets associated to a contact via the visitors GUID.

From looking at the source code it looks as though VisitorToContactVisitorGUID is used to map a visitor's activity to a contact.

For more information about visitors, contacts, and cookies, please take a look at our documentation on the subject here: https://docs.kentico.com/business-users/digital-marketing/contact-management

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