How Can a Page Have More Unique Pageviews than Total Pageviews?
-
The question and the attached image say it all... how is this possible?
-
tool: the asynchronous tracking code from Google Analytics
-
It seems very improbable, but it's possible (not sure how I'd check for incognito visitors... I'll try to figure this out sometime in the next few weeks).
I tell you what - this specific issue itself is confounding, but the bigger problem is the small but evolving perception that all of the analytics data behind my advice is untrustworthy (a client's growing suspicion that "if this GA data is wrong, then all GA data must be wrong; and Glenn's advice, being based on this data, is invalid". I can just show all the new rankings we get for proof in the pudding, but I just personally want to figure this out theoretically to eliminate any remaining buried seeds of insecurity.... lol!
-
I've passed this one around internally for ideas too. Is this in a subject area where many people might be visiting in incognito mode? It is a bit of a head scratcher!
-
The client never noticed, but is about to on an update report (see attached).
Still happening, still baffling... really hoping someone can help me figure this out... several dozen people I've discussed this with don't believe me, see this, then are baffled too --
-
I haven't seen this before myself, and just now saw this question. What happens if you set the date period to less than a month? Do the numbers look better then? What about if you show things by day instead of week -- is there a day that is out of whack?
Did the client ever notice this and ask?
-
Thanks - that makes a lot of sense, holycap.
Yup - This report is not for a custom segment, and is beyond a month.
Right again, this image is for an infrequently visited page -- so that low volume could lead to bigger margins of error. I would expect those margins of error to match, though, for pageviews and unique pageviews - wouldn't you? Why would such similar metrics have such varying margins of error?
-
Mad props for replying --
This screenshot is from Google Analytics. My server logs, and other analytics software (clicky) don't report the same discrepancy. Since the owners of this website only check GA, I just wanted to figure this out so I can answer their question if they ever ask).
The code is installed correctly. It hurt a little to even consider that theory - though I did review the site firsthand and check....thanks for keeping me humble, tho! This site's bounce rate is about 12%, so I'm pretty sure it's not because of the visitor pressing the backbutton before the page loads (pageload lasts 2 seconds on average, and 95%+ of visitors spend over 10 seconds).
Still unresolved.... and this question is one of the few that seems to stick with me, since this one bizarre example makes all of GA seem less trustworthy. Lemme know if any other ideas spring up ---- Until then, I'll be like the attached images.
Thanks again --hands_twiddling_thumbs_lg_clr.gif image11.gif f923589989ee7d2c47f9106d3387db29b9b2278.gif
-
Another thing he could consider is the fact that this is an Analytic pull of a date range that looks to be beyond a month, so if this is a custom segment, it might be generating a fast access report that's known to be inaccurate in its ballpark estimate at times, especially when numbers are this low, the margin of error can be much bigger.
-
Magic. Obviously.
I can't give you a definite answer but I imagine what is happening is that the data points are being pulled two different ways. Perhaps unique pageviews are being pulled from requests for a URL but total pageviews are being pulled from tracking code and the code isn't loading because the code is put in wrong or the user hits the browser's back button before the page loads.
Which tool are you using?
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Fire a tag when element is loaded on page (Google Tag Manager)
I'm using an Element Visibility trigger to track a value that appears on a page. However, I want to track this value even when the user doesn't scroll to the area of the page where the element is (i.e. when the page is loaded, and the value is displayed below the fold, but the user doesn't scroll down there). Is there a way of doing this
Reporting & Analytics | | RWesley0 -
Page Speed or Site Speed which one does Google considered a ranking signal
I've read many threads online which proves that website speed is a ranking factor. There's a friend whose website scores 44 (slow metric score) on Google Pagespeed Insights. Despite that his website is slow, he outranks me on Google search results. It confuses me that I optimized my website for speed, but my competitor's slow site outperforms me. On Six9ja.com, I did amazing work by getting my target score which is 100 (fast metric score) on Google Pagespeed Insights. Coming to my Google search console tool, they have shown that some of my pages have average scores, while some have slow scores. Google search console tool proves me wrong that none of my pages are fast. Then where did the fast metrics went? Could it be because I added three Adsense Javascript code to all my blog posts? If so, that means that Adsense code is slowing website speed performance despite having an async tag. I tested my blog post speed and I understand that my page speed reduced by 48 due to the 3 Adsense javascript codes added to it. I got 62 (Average metric score). Now, my site speed is=100, then my page speed=62 Does this mean that Google considers page speed rather than site speed as a ranking factor? Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/YSxSwOG **Regarding: **https://six9ja.com/
Reporting & Analytics | | Kingsmart1 -
SEO Effect of inserting No indexed Contents in normal Pages (Nextgen Gallery)
Hello Dear Community, I'm running a photography website and have a question about the indexability of "No indexed Content" inserted on indexable pages. Background : I read everywhere that best practice is to "no index" all useless pages with few content, what I did with Yoast plugin : I no indexed all my nextgen galleries and "ngg_tags" since they create single pages for every photo, tags or slideshow. I did the same for all my porfolio-posts, price lists, testimonials and so on... Nevertheless, I inserted these galleries and portfolios on SEO optimized page for my target keywords. + Nextgen plugin automatically adds these images in the page sitemap. My idea is to have only my Seo optimized page showing in Google and not the others. Problem: I've been checking the results in Google Search Console, filtering by images : I discovered that most of the images featured in these Masonry galleries are not showing in google, and actually almost all the images indexed are the Wordpress from media gallery. I double checked with Screaming Frog, and the software doesn"t see images on these pages. My question is: Is the low indexablilty of these contents are related to the No indexation of the original contents ??? Does somebody has experienced the same issue that these contents doesn't show on Google ? in advance many thanks for your help
Reporting & Analytics | | TristanAventure0 -
Help setting up FILTERS for External Payment pages?
Hi all, I own a webshop and believe my Google Analytics is not showing true data. At the moment when a user pays for their basket, they are redirected to an external secure payment page from my PSP, then after they have paid they are redirected back to my website. How is this visitor being counted? As the PSP-URL is a different site I assume this would be treated as an exit? Can I setup FILTERS to INCLUDE this URL so GA doesn't think its an external page or is there a better way? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | darrenbooy0 -
Can I view lost links?
Hello! One of the blogs I'm tracking has literally lost like half of the number of external followed links. So, I have two questions really 1) is that common at all? it seems odd that that many would be removed 2) is there a way to see the specific links that were lost? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | yandl
Kevin0 -
Previously performing page no longer ranking
The best performing page on my website www.danielalexandra.com/personal-training/ has suddenly completely fallen off the google radar and all of my ranking results for keywords have dropped significantly as a result. My domain is only 4/5 months old but was already becoming relatively competitive and generating some interest until this? Any ideas as to why this may have happened?
Reporting & Analytics | | DAlondon0 -
Duplicate page content
I have a website which "houses" five different and completely separate departments, so the content is separated by subfolders. e.g. domain.com/department1 domain.com/department2 etc. and each have their own individual top navigation menus. There is an "About Us" section for each department which has about 6 subpages (Work for us, What we do, Awards etc.) but the problem is that the content for each department is exactly the same. The only difference is the navigation menu and the breadcrumbs. This isn't ideal as a change to one page means having to make the change to all 5 and from an SEO perspective it's duplicate content x5 (apart from the Nav). One solution I can see is to have the "About Us" section moved to the root level (domain.com/about-us) and have a generic nav, possibly with the department names on it. The only problem with this is that it disrupts the user journey if they are forced away from the department that they're chosen. Basically i'm looking for suggestions or examples of other sites that have got around this problem, I need inspiration! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Reporting & Analytics | | haydennz0 -
For an optimized site, any available stats / guesstimates on what is avg % of traffic to homepage vs. second-level pages?
I'm interested in passing this info on to a client who experienced a period of time when an incorrect GA code was installed on their homepage. They were able to get Google stats on second level pages only. This is a site that gets 80 + % of visits from organic search engine referrals. They do minimal advertising. Thanks in advance.
Reporting & Analytics | | alankoen1230