The transition from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has certainly presented some challenges in terms of visibility into previously key metrics, including:

However, GA4 also offers exciting, new reporting capabilities for publishers and website owners, providing deeper insights into site performance than ever before.

Not to mention, Google hasn't removed those familiar, standard UA metrics but they did make it a bit more difficult for publishers to find them within GA4.

In this article, we dig deeper into GA4 vs. Universal Analytics, and more specifically where you can find the Pageviews Per Session, now known as the Events Per Session in GA4, and the key differences and similarities between the two metrics. 

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GA4 Training: The Ultimate Guide to Navigating Google Analytics 4 

Before we dive into Pageviews Per Session vs. Events Per Session, and where to locate each in GA4, it's important to note, to continue using any of the above-noted UA metrics rather than the updated GA4 metrics, the Explore section of GA4 allows you to access a wide range of custom reports so you may continue reviewing standard UA metrics.

GA4_Explore

Now, let’s examine the metric that Google introduced in GA4 as a “replacement” to Pageviews Per Session so you know the differences between each.

 

 

Pageviews Per Session vs. Events Per Sessions

Pageviews Per Session: A measure of the average number of pages a user views in a single session on your site.

Events Per Session: GA4 considers a pageview as a single type of event. It also tracks numerous additional events automatically and allows you to track custom events. Events Per Session is a count of the average number of total events that occur over a user session.

You’ll notice a column for Event Count in most of the standard reports in the Acquisition area of GA4.

GA4_Acquistion_Event Count-1

This column gives you the total number of events over a given time frame. If you select the dropdown next to All Events, just under the column header, you can narrow by event type, including narrowing to “page_view” events.

GA4_Event Count_Page View-1

This will give you the sum of all pageview events under the Event column. If you take your Pageview Events and divide it by your total number of sessions, you can get Pageviews Per Session relatively easily.

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How to Find Pageviews Per Session in GA4

1. First, head to Explore in the left menu, then select a Blank Exploration report.

GA4_Explore

2. Click the + next to Metrics.

GA4_Explore_Metrics +-1

3. Navigate to and select Views per Session under the Page / screen tab.

GA4_Metrics_Views Per Session

4. Choose the line chart visualization.

GA4_Explore_Line Chart-1

5. Then drag the Pageviews Per Session block from under Metrics to the Values area.

GA4_Metrics_Values_Views Per Session

From there, you can adjust your date ranges and filters, as desired, to see changes in your Pageviews Per Session over time.

You can also play with other visualization methods like tables, rather than a line chart, and more to combine Pageviews Per Session with other data streams to look at them simultaneously or add Segments in the right-hand menu that allow you to narrow your results to a specific category (e.g. just on sessions generated from Organic Traffic or other specific digital marketing efforts).

Playwire: Helping Publishers Understand User Engagement

At Playwire, it’s our job to help publishers and content creators understand how ads affect user engagement. 

Ensuring you earn the most revenue possible is a balancing act between maintaining user engagement and engaged sessions with strategic ad injection. Too many ads mean shorter and fewer sessions. Too few ads mean you’re probably missing revenue opportunities. We’re here to help you walk the tightrope.

To learn all the ins and outs of maintaining the balance between SEO and ad revenue, ad layout, and user experience, jump into our ad layout course or contact us for help!

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