Pageview

What is Pageview?

A pageview is a single load (or reload) of a web page by a user’s browser. In modern tools, the concept maps to a tracking hit/event fired when a page is rendered. In GA4, this is the page_view Event; in Matomo and Plausible, pageviews are tracked automatically on each page load. Pageviews are not people and not visits—those are Active Users and Session respectively.

Pageview vs Session vs Screen View

  • Session: a group of interactions within a time window (e.g., 30 minutes). One session can include many pageviews. See Session.
  • Screen View: the equivalent metric for in-app screens. See Screen View.
  • Pages per Session: average pageviews per session. See Pages Per Session.

How is a pageview counted?

Most trackers fire a pageview when:

  1. the URL changes and the page loads, or
  2. in single-page apps (SPAs), when a route change event is sent manually or via the tracker’s router integration.

Key inputs often include URL, page title, referrer, and UTM parameters; attribution may depend on Referral vs Direct traffic and your Attribution Model.

Why pageviews matter

  • Gauge content reach and navigation depth (combine with User Flow).
  • Diagnose acquisition quality (compare pageviews with Conversion and bounce/engagement metrics).
  • Power real-time dashboards (see Real-Time Data).

Common pitfalls

  • Double-counting in SPAs: ensure one pageview per route change; use your Tag Management triggers wisely.
  • Self-referrals: missing cross-domain/SPA referrer handling inflates new sessions and skews pageviews.
  • Bot traffic: filter server-side or by consented Cookie/First-Party Cookie logic and tracker bot lists.
  • Sampling & exports: when analyzing at scale (e.g., GA4 → BigQuery), validate that your pageview counts match UI totals.

Tool notes (GA4, Matomo, Plausible)

  • GA4: pageviews are events; enhanced measurement can auto-track route changes, but SPAs may still need manual router hooks.
  • Matomo: pageview on load; SPA tracking via setCustomUrl/trackPageView.
  • Plausible: lightweight script; SPA support via hash/history listeners or manual plausible('pageview').