They could be bots or they could be real live human beings. Eeek!
Depends on how Admin has the landing (home) page set up … as in … is it searchable or not searchable. <-- that is my recollection from years past on how one can set up a forum and/or website. Either way, Admins can (usually) tell if each "visit" is a person or a bot. Web traffic is important data!