Two widely used metrics in Google Analytics are page views and sessions. Digital marketers use both to measure the performance of a website or webpage over a given period.
Although they may sound similar, they track different aspects of user behavior. Understanding how they work—and how they differ—is essential for analyzing content performance and optimizing your site effectively. Let’s break them down.
What Are Page Views?
A page view in Google Analytics is recorded every time a page on your website loads or reloads. It measures how many times your content is seen, regardless of who is viewing it or how often.
For example, if a user visits your homepage, clicks on your blog post, and then returns to the homepage, that counts as three page views: one for the homepage, one for the blog post, and one for the homepage again.
So, pageviews are the total number of pages viewed.
What Counts as a Page View?
- Every page load: Whether it’s a first visit, a reload, or returning to the same page.
- Repeated views: If a user refreshes a page multiple times, each refresh counts as a new page view.
- Single user, multiple views: Even if one person views a page several times, each view adds to the total count.
Here is an example of how a pageview and pageviews are counted.
- John visits Page A.
- While on Page A, he reloads the page (clicks the refresh button).
- From Page A, he clicks a link to go to Page B.
- From Page B, he clicks a link and returns to Page A.
| Action | Page View |
|---|---|
| John visits Page A | 1 |
| John reloads Page A | 1 |
| John visits Page B from Page A | 1 |
| John visits Page A from Page B | 1 |
| Total Page Views | 4 |
Pageviews are available in all Google Analytics 4 reports by default. They are labeled as "Views".
What Are Sessions?
A session tracks the entire time a user spends on your website in one visit. It starts when a user arrives and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity or when they leave the site.
During their session time, users may generate several page views, clicks, and events.
When a user returns after a session ends, a new session is recorded.
For example, If a user browses your site for 5 minutes, leaves, and returns 2 hours later, that counts as 2 sessions, even if it’s the same person.
In Google Analytics 4, you'll see two more session metrics:
- Engaged Sessions
- Engaged Sessions per user
Engaged sessions measure visits where users actively interact with your website. A session is considered “engaged” if it meets any of these conditions:
- Lasts 10 seconds or more
- Has at least one conversion event (e.g., form submission, purchase)
- Includes at least two page views
Here is an example to understand the difference between sessions and engaged sessions:
Two users visit your site:
- User A stays for 15 seconds and reads two pages.
- User B bounces after 3 seconds.
In your Google Analytics reports, you’ll see 2 sessions but only 1 engaged session from User A.
Engaged Sessions per User measures the average number of engaged sessions each visitor has. It’s calculated as:
Engaged Sessions per User = Engaged Sessions ÷ Total Users
This metric shows how often your visitors return and engage with your site. A higher value indicates strong user interest and retention.
For example, if 100 users visit your site and generate 150 engaged sessions, your Engaged Sessions per User is 1.5.
How to View Session Metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Session metrics are found in various reports. Under "Reports", click on "Acquisition" > "Acquisition Overview".
You’ll see "Sessions" listed as a key metric, along with traffic sources (e.g., organic search, social, paid search).
To view engaged sessions and average engagement time per session, click on "Acquisition" > "Traffic Acquisition".
To add session metrics to any report, click the "Customize report" icon and search for the metrics.
Difference Between Page Views And Sessions in Google Analytics
The main difference is that one session can include many page views. Sessions help you understand user behavior during a visit, while page views show how often specific pages are viewed.
Here is a simple example:
A user visits your homepage, reads a blog post, and then returns to the homepage. Ten minutes later, they reload the blog post. Thirty minutes after leaving your site, they come back and visit your contact page.
| Action | Page Views | Sessions |
|---|---|---|
| Visits homepage | 1 | 1 |
| Reads blog post | 1 | 1 |
| Returns to homepage | 1 | 1 |
| Reloads blog post | 1 | 1 |
| Leaves site and returns later | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 5 | 2 |
What Is More Important To Track: Page Views or Sessions?
As a general rule of thumb, the more page views a page receives, the better. But page views alone can be misleading. They should not be confused with actual page popularity. A page can accumulate many views without necessarily being valuable or engaging to users.
For example, users might generate multiple page views during a single visit if they reload a page or navigate back and forth between pages.
Let’s say you have a page listing links to other pages on your site. Users may click on a link to visit one of those pages and then return to the listing page to choose another link. This back-and-forth behavior inflates page views but doesn’t necessarily mean the page is popular or performing well.
Sessions can help you analyze the quality of user visits. You can understand whether visitors are engaging with your content or leaving quickly by looking at metrics like engaged sessions.
If you have many sessions but low number of engaged sessions, it’s a sign that users aren’t finding what they need or that your content isn’t keeping their attention.
Which Metric Should You Prioritize?
If your primary focus is content performance, such as which blog posts or landing pages attract the most traffic, pageviews are more appropriate.
If you’re assessing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns or the overall health of your site, sessions are more important.
If your reports show:
High page views but low sessions - this means users are revisiting the same pages without exploring more of your site. This might indicate issues with navigation or site structure. Adding internal links and related content recommendations can encourage users to visit more pages per session.
Many sessions but low pages per session - your visitors may be leaving too quickly. This could indicate a content quality issue and in this case, you need to work on improving the actual content to ensure that it matches the user's intent.
