Page view

A page view (PV) or page impression is a request to load a single HTML file (web page) of an Internet site.[1] On the World Wide Web, a page request would result from a web surfer clicking on a link on another "page" pointing to the page in question. This should be contrasted with a "hit", which refers to a request for any file from a web server. There may therefore be many hits per "page" view since an HTML "page" can be made up of multiple files.[2] On balance, page views refer to a number of pages which are viewed or clicked on the site during the given time.[3]

Page views may be counted as part of web analytics. For the owner of the site, this information can be useful to see if any change in the "page" (such as the information or the way it is presented) results in more visits. If there are any advertisements on the page, the publishers would also be interested in the number of page views to determine their expected revenue from the ads. For this reason, it is a term that is used widely for Internet marketing and advertising.[4]

Feature

The page impression has long been the measure of the activity of users on a website. Meanwhile, the activity is not necessarily associated with the loading of a complete HTML page. There are more modern programming techniques. The user's actions can cause such. As only individual graphics or other elements of a page to be loaded from a server (Ajax). Even during the measurement this must be taken to ensure that meaningful interpreted data are collected, can provide information about the behavior of visitors.

Page views and advertisement

Since page views can help to estimate the size of sites, which is the value of them on the advertising market, it is generally used as a criterion to decide the unit cost of advertisement and the most famous metrics is CPM. It stands for 'Cost per thousand'(the M is the Roman numeral for 1,000) [5] and it is commonly used metrics to measure page views divided by the thousands, that is, cost per 1000 views, used for the ad rates and thus, the less CPM is, the better deal it offers to advertisers.[6] However, there has been a growing concern that CPM is not as trustable as it looks in the advertising market because, although, with CPM arrangement, everyone who visits a site makes publishers’ money, for an advertiser’s view, CPM is being challenged in comparison to CPC or CPA in terms of adverts’ efficiency because visiting does not mean clicking the ads.[7]

How page views are measured

The preferred way to count page views is using a website such as Google Analytics. They can measure the number of pages on any site and therefore, it helps people to receive a rough estimate of page views on web sites.[8]

Criticism

Despite a wide range of use of page view, it has come in for criticisms.

Manipulation

Page view can be manipulated or boosted for specific purposes. [9] For example, a recent accident, called 'page view fraud', compromised the accuracy of measurement of page view by boosting the page view abnormally. When the fraud took place, a tool called ‘a bot‘ was used to buy fake page-views for the purpose of attention, recognition and feedback which can lead to the wrong increase of the site's value.[10] As a result, some people already started building alternatives to measure audiences, such as "Ophan", saying that the page view is becoming passe.[11]

Obsession

Although back in the print days, writers did not know how many readers read their publications, page view encourages them to obsess over amassing as many page views as possible, as many page views can be considered success.[12] However, as a result, more sensational headlines wound up being a mainstream to receive more profits regardless of the quality of publications. Since this trend reflects materialism, there is a strong voice against page view obsession.[12]

Humans vs. machines

Fake page views can reflect machines instead of humans.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Doyle, C. (2011). A dictionary of marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727962
  2. ↑ Opentracker.net, (n.d.). Hits or pageviews?. [online] Available at: http://www.opentracker.net/article/hits-or-pageviews [Accessed 8 Jun. 2013].
  3. ↑ Carey, E. (2012). Page View versus Page Visits - Atlantic Webworks Perspectives. [online] Atlanticwebworks. Available at: http://www.atlanticwebworks.com/blog/page-view-versus-page-visits/ [Accessed 28 Oct. 2014].
  4. ↑ Bennett, L. (2012). Metrics that Matter & the Death of the Page View « Chartbeat Blog Chartbeat Blog. [online] Blog.chartbeat.com. Available at: http://blog.chartbeat.com/2012/01/10/metrics-that-matter-and-death-of-the-page-view [Accessed 10 Jan. 2012].
  5. ↑ Heisel, C. (2008). What does CPM stand for?. [online] Chris Heisel. Available at: http://chrisheisel.com/2008/11/30/what-does-cpm-mean/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014]
  6. ↑ Scocco, D. (2008). How Much Should I Charge for my Advertising Space? : @ProBlogger. [online] Problogger.net. Available at: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/03/27/how-much-should-i-charge-for-my-advertising-space/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014].
  7. ↑ Johnston, M. (2013). CPM vs CPC vs CPA: How to Sell Display Ads | MonetizePros. [online] Monetizepros.com. Available at: http://monetizepros.com/blog/2013/how-to-sell-display-ads-cpm-vs-cpc-vs-cpa/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014].
  8. ↑ Agarwal, A. (2008). Measure the Number of Page Views on any Site. [online] Digital Inspiration. Available at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/tools/measure-page-views-of-websites/5252/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014]
  9. ↑ Holiday, R. (2012). What is Media Manipulation?--A Definition and Explanation. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/07/16/what-is-media-manipulation-a-definition-and-explanation/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014]
  10. ↑ Seidel, L. (2014). The Pageview Fraud, PLEASE READ! by Lilyas on deviantART. [online] Lilyas.deviantart.com. Available at: http://lilyas.deviantart.com/journal/The-Pageview-Fraud-PLEASE-READ-220928240 [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014]..
  11. ↑ Fischer, M.(2014). The Pageview is Passé: New Metrics Emerge to Measure Audiences - American Journalism Review. [online] American Journalism Review. Available at: http://ajr.org/2014/03/18/pageview-passe-new-metrics-emerge-measure-audiences/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014]. [Accessed 30 Oct. 2014]
  12. 1 2 Miller, R.(2013). The Problem With Our Page View Obsession, Media Redux, Vol.36(3), p32
  13. ↑ http://www.thehubcomms.com/news/no-more-fake-page-views-from-machines-google-analytics-introduces-bot-filtering/article/363883/

Further reading

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