This dataset originates from DataCamp. Many users have reposted copies of the CSV on Kaggle, but most of those uploads omit the original instructions, business context, and problem framing. In this upload, I’ve included that missing context in the About Dataset so the reader of my notebook or any other notebook can fully understand how the data was intended to be used and the intended problem framing.

Note: I have also uploaded a visualization of the workflow I personally took to tackle this problem, but it is not part of the dataset itself. Additionally, I created a PowerPoint presentation based on my work in the notebook, which you can download from here:
PPTX Presentation

Recipe Site Traffic

From: Head of Data Science
Received: Today
Subject: New project from the product team

Hey!

I have a new project for you from the product team. Should be an interesting challenge. You can see the background and request in the email below.

I would like you to perform the analysis and write a short report for me. I want to be able to review your code as well as read your thought process for each step. I also want you to prepare and deliver the presentation for the product team - you are ready for the challenge!

They want us to predict which recipes will be popular 80% of the time and minimize the chance of showing unpopular recipes. I don't think that is realistic in the time we have, but do your best and present whatever you find.

You can find more details about what I expect you to do here. And information on the data here.

I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks, but I know you can do this without my support. If you need to make any decisions, include them in your work and I will review them when I am back.

Good Luck!

From: Product Manager - Recipe Discovery
To: Head of Data Science
Received: Yesterday
Subject: Can you help us predict popular recipes?

Hi,

We haven't met before but I am responsible for choosing which recipes to display on the homepage each day. I have heard about what the data science team is capable of and I was wondering if you can help me choose which recipes we should display on the home page?

At the moment, I choose my favorite recipe from a selection and display that on the home page. We have noticed that traffic to the rest of the website goes up by as much as 40% if I pick a popular recipe. But I don't know how to decide if a recipe will be popular. More traffic means more subscriptions so this is really important to the company.

Can your team: - Predict which recipes will lead to high traffic? - Correctly predict high traffic recipes 80% of the time?

We need to make a decision on this soon, so I need you to present your results to me by the end of the month. Whatever your results, what do you recommend we do next?

Look forward to seeing your presentation.

About Tasty Bytes

Tasty Bytes was founded in 2020 in the midst of the Covid Pandemic. The world wanted inspiration so we decided to provide it. We started life as a search engine for recipes, helping people to find ways to use up the limited supplies they had at home.

Now, over two years on, we are a fully fledged business. For a monthly subscription we will put together a full meal plan to ensure you and your family are getting a healthy, balanced diet whatever your budget. Subscribe to our premium plan and we will also deliver the ingredients to your door.

Example Recipe

This is an example of how a recipe may appear on the website, we haven't included all of the steps but you should get an idea of what visitors to the site see.

Tomato Soup

Servings: 4
Time to make: 2 hours
Category: Lunch/Snack
Cost per serving: $

Nutritional Information (per serving) - Calories 123 - Carbohydrate 13g - Sugar 1g - Protein 4g

Ingredients: - Tomatoes - Onion - Carrot - Vegetable Stock

Method: 1. Cut the tomatoes into quarters….

Data Information

The product manager has tried to make this easier for us and provided data for each recipe, as well as whether there was high traffic when the recipe was featured on the home page.

As you will see, they haven't given us all of the information they have about each recipe.

You can find the data here.

I will let you decide how to process it, just make sure you include all your decisions in your report.

Don't forget to double check the data really does match what they say - it might not.

In the second quarter of 2025, mobile devices (excluding tablets) accounted for 62.54 percent of global website traffic. Since consistently maintaining a share of around 50 percent beginning in 2017, mobile usage surpassed this threshold in 2020 and has demonstrated steady growth in its dominance of global web access. Mobile traffic Due to low infrastructure and financial restraints, many emerging digital markets skipped the desktop internet phase entirely and moved straight onto mobile internet via smartphone and tablet devices. India is a prime example of a market with a significant mobile-first online population. Other countries with a significant share of mobile internet traffic include Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. In most African markets, mobile accounts for more than half of the web traffic. By contrast, mobile only makes up around 45.49 percent of online traffic in the United States. Mobile usage The most popular mobile internet activities worldwide include watching movies or videos online, e-mail usage and accessing social media. Apps are a very popular way to watch video on the go and the most-downloaded entertainment apps in the Apple App Store are Netflix, Tencent Video and Amazon Prime Video.

Dataset Overview

This dataset provides detailed information on website traffic, including page views, session duration, bounce rate, traffic source, time spent on page, previous visits, and conversion rate.

Dataset Description

• Page Views: The number of pages viewed during a session.
• Session Duration: The total duration of the session in minutes.
• Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
• Traffic Source: The origin of the traffic (e.g., Organic, Social, Paid).
• Time on Page: The amount of time spent on the specific page.
• Previous Visits: The number of previous visits by the same visitor.
• Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who completed a desired action (e.g., making a purchase).

Data Summary

• Total Records: 2000
• Total Features: 7

Key Features

1. Page Views: This feature indicates the engagement level of the visitors by showing how many pages they visit during their session.
2. Session Duration: This feature measures the length of time a visitor stays on the website, which can indicate the quality of the content.
3. Bounce Rate: A critical metric for understanding user behavior. A high bounce rate may indicate that visitors are not finding what they are looking for.
4. Traffic Source: Understanding where your traffic comes from can help in optimizing marketing strategies.
5. Time on Page: This helps in analyzing which pages are retaining visitors' attention the most.
6. Previous Visits: This can be used to analyze the loyalty of visitors and the effectiveness of retention strategies.
7. Conversion Rate: The ultimate metric for measuring the effectiveness of the website in achieving its goals.

Usage

This dataset can be used for various analyses such as:

• Identifying key drivers of engagement and conversion.
• Analyzing the effectiveness of different traffic sources.
• Understanding user behavior patterns and optimizing the website accordingly.
• Improving marketing strategies based on traffic source performance.
• Enhancing user experience by analyzing time spent on different pages.

Acknowledgments

This dataset was generated for educational purposes and is not from a real website. It serves as a tool for learning data analysis and machine learning techniques.