What Is Pages per Session?
Pages per session is a metric that measures the average number of pages viewed by a user during a single session on a website. It is calculated by dividing the total number of page views by the total number of sessions over a given period.
The pages per session metric is useful for measuring user engagement, content quality, and the effectiveness of a site’s navigation. A high pages per session score typically indicates your visitors are actively exploring your content and finding value in your site.
In this article, we’ll cover:
Importance of the Pages per Session Metric
The pages per session metric is important because it shows how many pages a user views during a single session on your site. This metric helps to measure how engaged your visitors are and how effective your content is.
A high pages per session score typically indicates that your content is great, and you have a good internal linking and site navigation structure. It also suggests that visitors are actively engaging with your content, exploring multiple pages, and spending more time on your site.
On the other hand, a low pages per session score indicates potential issues with your content and user experience. This indicates your content may be irrelevant or unhelpful, and visitors are not finding what they are looking for. It can also suggest issues with your site, including your internal links, site structure, or page load speed.
However, the pages per session score can be relative. So, a low pages per session score may not indicate any issue with your content or site. For instance, if your site is designed for quick actions like submitting a form, making a purchase, or downloading a file, then you can have a low page per session score.
Overall, you should only focus on the pages per session metric if it aligns with your site’s purpose, but always consider it alongside other key metrics like the conversion rate, bounce rate, and average engagement time.
What Is a Good Page per Session Score?
A good pages per session score is relative, and can differ depending on the page, site, and business goals. However, a pages per session score of between 2 and 4 is typically considered to be good.
In itself, a pages per session score of 4 and above is often considered strong engagement. A score between 2 and 3 is considered average, while a score between 1 and 2 pages per session (depending on the site) indicates a low engagement.
However, when reviewing the pages per session score, you should never forget that it can be relative and will differ between sites and even different pages on the same site.
How to Use the Pages per Session Metric
The pages per session metric is helpful for evaluating the success of your content and marketing strategies. However, you will typically have to benchmark the page’s performance to better understand it.
This means you will typically have to compare your previous pages per session with your current one. That way, you have an idea of how engagement is changing over time. Once done, you can then review your pages per session along with other metrics.
1 Identify Your High-Performing Pages
The pages per session metric is helpful for identifying the high-performing pages on your site. Such pages often serve as entry pages or have effective internal links.
Once you identify such pages, you can proceed to optimize them for conversions. Optionally, you can review them to understand why they are successful and replicate that on your other pages.
2 Measure the Impact of Your Changes
Depending on the goal of the page, the pages per session metric can be helpful for evaluating the success or otherwise of an improvement you have made on the page.
An increase will typically indicate the improvement was successful, while a decrease may prove otherwise. However, this can be relative, depending on the page, what improvements you made, and the other metrics you use to evaluate it.
3 Measure the Performance of Your Entry and Landing Pages
UN landing page is a page that visitors are directed to after clicking on your link on an ad, email, or webpage. An entry page, on the other hand, is the first page that a visitor views on your site.
The pages per session metric helps to evaluate how engaged visitors are with your landing and entry pages. However, you will have to review the pages per session with other metrics like the average session duration and bounce rate. The page’s intent will also have an impact on what you consider a good pages per session score.
How to Improve Your Pages per Session Score
You can improve your pages per session by including and optimizing the elements that encourage visitors to remain on your pages longer, visit other pages on your site, and improve your overall user experience.
1 Improve Your Internal Linking Structure
Internal links allow visitors to discover additional content related to the content that they are interested in. This improves your visitors’ user experience and keeps them on your site for longer.
From the SEO perspective, internal links spread link equity et Classement among your pages. They also allow search engines to understand the page’s context and your site structure.
So, make sure to include internal links in the visible content. You should also include the links in “Related Content” sections where you recommend content for visitors who have engaged with your content. You can also create content hubs and populate them with internal links to other related content.
2 Use a Clear and Intuitive Site Navigation
Ensure to use clear navigation menus on your site. You should also implement chapelure along with a contextual URL structure. This makes it easy for visitors to navigate your site and access your content. It also gives them a clear view of their current location on your site.
3 Create Engaging High-Quality Content
Make sure to create high-quality content that satisfies the visitor’s intention de recherche. It should be grammatically correct and well-structured with relevant subheadings and header tags.
Poorly written or structured content can lead to short visits, high bounce rates, pogo-sticking, and an overall poor user experience. It can also lead to thin content, which can cause Google to issue a manual action penalty against your site.
4 Include Relevant Calls to Action
You should include calls to action in your content to encourage visitors to take further action, interact with your content, and visit other pages on your site. These calls to action will differ, depending on your content and goals.
For example, you can include calls to action to encourage visitors to visit related pages, your service pages, pricing pages, or to sign up for your newsletter.
5 Improve Page Load Speed
A slow page speed will frustrate visitors and cause them to leave your site earlier than they ordinarily would. On the other hand, a quick loading page will keep users engaged and encourage them to further explore the page and even additional pages.
You should optimize your images, minify code, and improve your overall technical SEO to improve your page speed. You can refer to this guide on improving your page load speed.
6 Include Multimedia on Your Site
Multimedia elements like images, videos, infographics, and interactive content help to capture attention, reduce bounce rates, and keep visitors on your pages for longer.
They also improve your user experience and make your content more appealing and easier to understand. Such visitors are likely to explore other pages on your site, which will increase your pages per session score.