Quick answer
Pages per session is the average number of pageviews in a session, calculated as total pageviews divided by total sessions for the same period and filters.
Formula: pages per session = pageviews ÷ sessions
What is pages per session?
Pages per session (also pages per visit) is how many pages a visit includes on average:
pages per session = pageviews ÷ sessionsSample: 3,000 pageviews in 1,000 sessions = 3.0.
The average hides two kinds of visit
The same 3.0 in the sample is made of very different visits:
| Pages in the session | Sessions | Pageviews |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 550 | 550 |
| 2–4 | 280 | 840 |
| 5–9 | 120 | 800 |
| 10 or more | 50 | 810 |
| Total | 1,000 | 3,000 |
More than half the visits saw one page (bounces or quick answers), while 5% of sessions produced over a quarter of all pageviews. "Three pages per visit" describes almost nobody. Look at the split, or at pages per session by landing page and channel.
When higher is good, and when it is not
| Situation | Higher pages per session means |
|---|---|
| Blog, catalogue, documentation | Usually good: people keep reading or browsing |
| Checkout, sign-up flow | Neutral; more steps is not a goal |
| Help centre, contact page | Can be bad: people could not find the answer |
| After a navigation redesign | Check whether conversions rose too, or only clicks |
Pages per session in TapCub
The data report in Web analytics shows pages per session as pageviews divided by sessions. Route changes in single-page apps count as pageviews. Read it next to bounce rate, engaged rate and goal conversions; see engaged session.
Was this explanation clear?
We use your answers to fix and expand this page.
Couldn’t send. Please try again in a minute.
Thanks for the feedback. We’ll use it to improve this page.You’ve already sent feedback on this page. Thanks.
Data Analyst
Explores traffic sources, conversion funnels, and retention, using clear metric definitions and concrete examples to explain what the numbers mean.