The other answers here seem to cover most of everything, but one more possibility to add to the mix - prefetching. Just because you don't click on a link doesn't mean that you aren't already going there. Chrome (and other browsers) prefetch pages so that they will load faster when you click on them.

I haven't delved into this in a while, so I can't say I've tested anytime in the last 5 years. I did a quick search and found this page that talks about how to disable the functionality in chrome:

https://www.technipages.com/google-chrome-prefetch

I'm always surprised that more people don't seem to know about this.