Engaging users is essential for digital marketing, and a pageview is a fundamental measure of that interaction. Put simply, a pageview takes place when a user visits a page on your website: Every page a customer visits throughout the site is a pageview. The more pages a user visits, the higher the pageview count.
Understanding Pageviews in Web Analytics
How Is a Pageview Typically Recorded by Analytics Tools?
Pageviews measure the total number of pages viewed. This includes one-off views of a page and refreshes of the same page.
What User Actions Typically Trigger a Pageview?
A user can land on, refresh, or even return to a page multiple times to trigger another count for pageviews. There are also unique pageviews, which is when a specific page has been viewed at least once. The duplicated page goes into total pageviews, but only counts as one unique pageview.
Pageviews are also different from sessions. Rather than total up the pageviews, a session calculates how long a user stays on your site, in minutes. The newest version of Google Analytics, GA4 doesn’t measure sessions anymore: Instead, it measures “events” manually entered and uniquely created by the person managing GA for a company or website.
Key Aspects of Pageviews
What Does the Total Number of Pageviews for a Website Indicate?
The total number of pageviews shows how many views a page has gotten. It could indicate how popular a page on the site is, but it’s a good idea to compare pageviews to other types of data to know for certain. For instance, if a small handful of visitors continually refresh a page to check the status of an out-of-stock item or try to secure concert tickets, it can boost the total number of pageviews. But, if you look at unique pageviews, that number might be much lower, since the same people are checking the same page repeatedly.
How Can Analyzing Pageviews for Specific Pages Provide Insights?
Analyzing pageviews is beneficial in several ways. Monitoring specific pages through pageviews helps websites and companies determine if a marketing tactic works. If you’re doing A/B testing, you can use pageview insights to see which test performs better. You can also see if there are any concerns with specific pages — for instance, if an outdated or old page suddenly starts getting a lot of attention, you can optimize it for new readers discovering it for the first time.
How Are Pageviews Tracked for Single-Page Applications?
Single-page applications, or sites that have endless scrolling, measure pageviews differently than other sites. Single-page applications require a few extra steps in Google Analytics, like installing the Google Tag Manager. You can still track pageviews for single-page applications in Google Analytics to make sure each page has tracking set up.
The Importance of Pageviews in Digital Advertising
How Can Pageview Data Help Publishers Understand the Popularity of their Content?
Pageviews help publishers figure out what type of content is working and what isn’t. It allows them to see what users find interesting and could help guide outlets to doing more of what works — and less of what doesn’t. A low number of pageviews is a good way to check if something isn’t working, or didn’t go as planned.
How Do Pageviews Relate to Advertising Inventory and Potential Revenue for Publishers?
For publishers looking to earn revenue from online content, pageviews are one of the most important metrics. Pageview RPM, or revenue per mille (as in, per 1,000 views), shows how well your site converts pageviews into earnings: Divide your estimated earnings by the number of pageviews and then multiply that by 1,000 to get your magic number.
Another metric to determine how pageviews translate into revenue is earnings per thousand visitors (EPMV). This approach provides a more comprehensive look at how your site is performing and includes multiple pageviews, even if it’s the same page. You can determine EPMV by multiplying your monthly earnings by 1,000 and dividing that figure by your total monthly visitors.
Can Advertisers Use Pageview Data to Identify Valuable Ad Placements?
RPM is geared more toward advertiser revenue, since it only accounts for pageviews. EPMV, meanwhile, focuses on visitors. You can use RPM as a measurement, but if you boost ads and increase the bounce rate, there’s a chance the total visitor amount tanks. This could bring down potential revenue.
Advertisers can use different pageview data types to determine which ad placements would work best, but it depends on the measuring tools advertisers use for their own performance tracking. So, there’s no universal method for which pageview data is best for everyone.
Analyzing Pageview Data
How Can You Track Pageviews Using Web Analytics Platforms?
The type of analytics platform you use determines where you can track your pageviews. If you’re using Google Analytics and GA4, you can track pageviews inside your GA dashboard. When you log in, head to the menu and click on Engagement, then Pages and Screens. Here, you’ll see the pageviews for a particular page.
How Can You Segment Pageview Data by Different Dimensions?
Within the Engagement section, you can segment your data by traffic source and medium, or how visitors found that page. You can add other segmentations to create a specific table to match the data you’re trying to collect.
How Can You Identify Trends and Patterns in Pageview Data Over Time?
Within GA4, you can target pageview data based on a date range. If you want to see data from the original publication date onwards, you can add that to your criteria. If you’re tracking how many people have been on a page since a new ad placement was added, you can also factor that into your measurements.
Using highly targeted measuring tools can help you determine which tactics are successful on your site and which ones need more attention. It can also influence the type of content and ads you publish in the future.
Pageviews vs. Unique Pageviews vs. Sessions
How does the calculation of unique pageviews attempt to deduplicate views by the same user during a session?
To get an accurate report of who is visiting a site, how frequently, and what pages those visitors are looking at, these metrics require different measurements. Unique pageviews measure individual visitors to the pages visited during a session. There’s a chance one user could view the same page multiple times during a session, so this measurement could show high pageviews, but when broken down into unique pageviews, it shows a much lower figure.
How do pageviews relate to the concept of a session?
A session is recorded from the time a user lands on a website to when they leave it. If you want to record how many pages get viewed in any given day, week, or month, measuring total pageviews is a helpful tool. It’s especially useful for looking at the popularity of a particular page or topic. If you want to monitor how long folks are spending on your site, you can look at total sessions data.
Key Takeaways
Pageviews measure the total number of views for a particular page on a site. Using other metrics alongside pageviews can help determine if a high number of pageviews is actually driving revenue. Publishers and advertisers can use pageviews as a revenue-measuring tool, but it shouldn’t be the only tool to measure potential revenue.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does refreshing a page count as a new pageview?
If you’re measuring total pageviews, refreshing a page counts as an additional pageview. If you’re measuring unique pageviews, refreshing a page won’t get counted.
How are pageviews tracked for mobile apps versus websites?
Website pageviews are measured differently than mobile apps. For sites, pageviews measure clicks onto a page. Mobile apps are more likely to measure users than specific pageviews. Mobile app developers look at active users, engagement, app use, retention, and other metrics.
Can a single user generate multiple pageviews in one session?
If a single user continuously refreshes a page, it can count for multiple pageviews in a session. This is the most significant difference between total pageviews and unique pageviews, since refreshes don’t count toward unique PVs.
Is a high number of pageviews always a good thing?
High pageviews can be good if other metrics support it. You might miss out on valuable data if you’re only measuring pageviews without considering when (or how long) a user is on the site or page.
How do bounce rate and time on page relate to pageviews?
A low bounce rate, longer time on the site, and even longer time on the page show user interest. But, if a page gets a lot of hits without a lot of engagement — like a high bounce rate, for instance — that shows low user engagement and interest.
