Great, You've Got Me Here - Now What? : Page Views Per Visit

After someone has landed on your website (through a landing page, perhaps?), what would be the most ideal situation?  Getting them to hang out and see what your website has to offer them, of course!  In this ideal situation, the website user would visit quite a few pages on your website, consuming content and getting an idea of what the website has to offer, what they can do there, and perhaps - make a purchase or become a customer.


What is Page Views Per Visit?  

Page views per visit can be defined as "a measure of how many pieces of content (Web pages) a particular user or group of users view on a single website" ("What is Pages Per Visit (Pages/Visit)? - Definition from Techopedia", 2018).  This information is often presented an average of sorts, with the "number of page views in a reporting period divided by [the] number of visits in the same reporting period" (Tietbohl, 2018). The calculations do not stop there!  Page Views Per Visit can be worked with further, with segmentation coming into play.  As Kaushik has stated in Web Analytics 2.0 "Segment, or die!" (2010).  This average can be segmented down into segments like geographic regions or demographic groups ("What is Pages Per Visit (Pages/Visit)? - Definition from Techopedia", 2018).

How Far Down Does This Go?

How far can your website go? Some go quite a way for some users, enticing the user to click on one more link, one more video, or one more image.  Websites like YouTube.com have a reputation for drawing in people and keeping them on the website for long periods of time.  Pinterest, too, has a reputation for being like a black hole or "vortex" of its own, drawing in users and keeping them there for a long time.

One of many Tweets using #PinningVortex


What does this mean for the analyst?  Seeing this number, this page views per visit, can tell an analyst how well a particular page, or section of pages is doing ("Average Page Views Per Visit", 2005).  It can also tell the analyst how easily a user is engaging with the content; i.e. - is the page easily navigable from the links and content already on the page ("Average Page Views Per Visit", 2005).

Of course, the meaning behind page views per visit can change according to what kind of website with which the user is interacting ("Average Page Views Per Visit", 2005).  Retail based websites may find that a high number can indicate one of two things: one is that there is a high rate of engagement on the part of the user, and the other that there is a high degree of confusion while the user is interacting with the page ("Average Page Views Per Visit", 2005).  In other words, too much engagement with content can indicate both good and bad things, and some further investigation into the numbers may be warranted.  In this case, checking on navigational elements or watching users move around the website can easily indicate a high rate of engagement or a high rate of confusion ("Average Page Views Per Visit", 2005).

How do you use Page Per Views in your own analytics work?

References

Average Page Views Per Visit. (2005). Analyticsdemystified.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018, from http://analyticsdemystified.com/reporting/average-page-views-per-visit/
Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
LEATHER JACKET FOXES on Twitter. (2016). Twitter. Retrieved 12 March 2018, from https://twitter.com/CassanFerguson/status/793898739370827776
Tietbohl, M. (2018). Week 1 Lesson: Intro to Web Analytics and the Basics of Web Analytics. Ecampus.wvu.edu. Retrieved 12 March 2018, from https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_99069_1&content_id=_4524698_1&framesetWrapped=true
What is Pages Per Visit (Pages/Visit)? - Definition from Techopedia. (2018). Techopedia.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018, from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27983/pages-per-visit-pagesvisit


Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 19, 2018 at 5:43 PM

    As a publisher, measuring page views per visit is definitely on my radar. To me, the more pages a website visitors sees the more we're hitting the mark with our content.

    According to Mequoda Daily, "Reader engagement is a key metric important to all publishers. Time spent, pages per visit and return visits are all numbers that every online publisher should hold near and dear."

    Mequoda Daily explained Men's Health increased this metric by 78.3% "by adopting article navigation that users are finding friendlier, not to mention the added benefit of increased page views."

    This is something I may have to look into!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Article link: https://www.mequoda.com/articles/multiplatform-publishing-strategy/how-to-increase-pages-per-visit-by-over-75/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon SigurdssonNovember 6, 2018 at 11:21 PM

    Thanks for sharing this post!
    You've made some interesting points

    Internet Marketing Company

    ReplyDelete

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