According to the official definition by Google Analytics, a page view is an instance when a user loads (or reloads) a web page in a browser. Pageviews as a metric are defined by the total number of pages viewed by people on a site.
And even if a user views the same page twice (by reloading it), it’ll be counted as two pageviews.
Now, page views can often be a valuable contribution to site analytics for website hosts and marketers. This data can be beneficial such as to determine whether a specific change or addition of a component on a page leads to increased views.
In other words, page views can be analyzed to better understand a website’s audience base and what they may like or dislike.
Meanwhile, if a website displays an ad, the publisher might be interested in page views to determine how many conversions they might get or the ratio of views to sales.
So, now that you know what page views are, what about why they matter?
Well, let’s find out.
For starters, page views show site developers or hosts how popular a certain page or piece of content is. If you didn’t know how many people viewed your content, then there would be no way of gauging how many people you’re reaching or the effectiveness of your website.
However, having a high number of views for a page doesn’t necessarily imply that it’s popular - because page views on their own aren’t enough to judge how successful your content is. For instance, perhaps you have growing page views because an attractive ad leads users to that page, but they don’t stay once they get there.
So, the intelligent strategy to employ would be to use page views in conjunction with various other metrics that could allow you to evaluate website performance.
Now, page views are still necessary - even if just as a primary metric. The Google Analytics tool can help you track page views.
That aside, another essential thing to note is the difference unique page views can make. Unique page views show how many new viewers your site regularly receives, which gives direct insight into your brand’s reach. It can help you understand the number of people who were able to discover and access your content.
So, regardless of page views not showing the entire picture, ensuring that your site is reaching many people is crucial.
The question is, how can you increase page views?
Well, here are three things to keep in mind:
Other than that, you may use headers and sidebars to ensure that your pages are internally linked and allow users to find similar content. As a result, people will see more of your site’s pages, increasing your overall views.
Thus, page views are an essential component of site analytics and can give you worthwhile insights into the performance and effectiveness of your website content. By regularly tracking page views, you can stay informed about how many people your site reaches and what kind of material is most appealing to users.
The higher your page views, the higher is the likelihood of increased conversions for brands, more followers for blogs, or greater popularity of published content.