Page 16 - volume-12-4

UNDERSTANDING GOOGLE ANALYTICS:

P A G E V I E W S

V S S E S S I O N S

Analytics is O n the other hand, a session re�ers to For exam ple, i� the user in our exam ple above

GOOGLE a rem arkably grouped user interactions w ith your w ebsite returned to your site later that a�ternoon, a

pow er�ul tool �or any sm all business ow ner that occurs w ithin a speci�ic tim e �ram e. Under new, separate session w ould start. In �act,

that can o��er detailed insight about your this m ethod o� analysis, m any pageview s m ay let’s suppose our user spends som e tim e on

custom er base. Its ability to integrate w ith be grouped in a single session. C onsider the our site tw ice a day �or 5 days - that w ould be

other G oogle Suite apps, reveal trends in data, �ollow ing scenario: recorded as 10 sessions!

and provide intelligent insight into your site’s

A user w ent to the hom epage o� your

analytics m akes it absolutely invaluable. But What can we learn �rom pageviews

w ebsite at 10:00 am this m orning. A�ter looking

�or a beginner or new business ow ner, the and sessions?

through the hom epage, they click on a link that

sheer volum e o� data and jargon can m ake

brings them to your about page at 10:02 am . Both pageview s and sessions can be used

the tool seem overw helm ing, and you m ay not

M aybe they like w hat they see and decide to as proxies �or estim ating the tra��ic that your

know w here to start! Luckily, there are m any
visit the e-store that you also host on the site at site is receiving. Pageview s can be very help�ul

resources online that you can use to learn
10:04 am . They brow se �or a w hile, but decide in determ ining w hat pages on your site are

your w ay around G oogle Analytics, and how to
not to buy anything today. H ow ever, they like m ost popular and w hich ones are least popular.

best leverage it to better serve you and your your product and w ant to learn m ore about the Sessions can tell you how long the average

business. Even sim ple data can yield pow er�ul business, so they return to the about page at user spends on your site, as w ell as w hat

insights. 10:15 am to do som e m ore reading. The page pages tend to be visited together in a single

rem ains open, but no other activity is recorded. session, and the path that a user is taking on

Som e o� the sim plest and m ost used They close the brow ser tab your page is your site. For exam ple, by looking at sessions,

in�orm ation provided by G oogle Analytics are loaded in at 11:00 am . you’ll be able to see how o ten a user visiting

page view s and sessions. But w hat exactly your site results in them buying som ething or

are page view s and sessions? This article w ill G oogle Analytics w ould record all o� not. In �urther detail, you can even see w hat

teach you the di��erence betw een a pageview those interactions as a single session. The pages they visit right be�ore buying som ething.

session began w hen the user �irst loaded You can see i� a user visits your store, but
and a session, how to interpret data about

the hom epage at 10:00 am . G oogle Analytics chooses not to buy anything, or you can see
the tw o, and w hat to do w ith the in�orm ation

sessions expire a�ter 30 m inutes o� inactivity, how o�ten adding som ething to your cart leads
G oogle Analytics gives you.

so even though the page w as closed at to a purchase! As you can see, som ething as

11:00 am , the session w ill be recorded as sim ple as session or pageview data can still

Page Views vs Sessions ending at 10:45 am , hal� an hour a�ter they o��er rem arkably detailed, and valuable insight

clicked onto the about page. This series o� to user behavior on your site.

G oogle Analytics records a ‘pageview ’

interactions w ould be reported quite di��erently
as any tim e that any page on your w ebsite

as pageview s as opposed to sessions. W hile H ope�ully, this has helped you to dem ysti�y

w as looked at by a user. You m ight also see

this is a single session, it can also be reported pageview s and user sessions, som e o� the

pageview s re�erred to as a pageview hit or a
as 4 pageview s. O ne pageview �or visiting the key m etrics reported by G oogle Analytics. But

page tracking hit. Speci�ically, G oogle Analytics
hom epage, one pageview �or visiting the store, as w ith any skill, m astering G oogle Analytics

tracks each tim e a page w as loaded as a
and tw o pageview s �or visiting the about page. requires practice and exploration. By using

pageview. So i� a page is reloaded or returned this in�orm ation as a jum ping o�� point to begin

to �rom another page, both o� those exam ples Because sessions expire, a single user delving into the m inutiae o� G oogle Analytics,

w ould be recorded as separate pageview s by can log m any, m any sessions over the course you’ll be navigating this data like an expert in

G oogle. o� a m onth, w eek, or even in the sam e day. no tim e!

16 PAYOUTMAGAZINE