Measure pageviews

Page Summary

• By default, Google Analytics automatically sends a page_view event when a page loads or the browser history changes.

• You can disable automatic pageview measurement and manually send page_view events, which is useful for single-page applications or infinite scrolling.

• To manually control pageviews, you need to disable the default behavior by setting send_page_view to false in the Google tag snippet.

• You can then manually send page_view events using the gtag('event', 'page_view', {...}) call.

• Ensure you disable automatic pageviews before sending manual ones to avoid duplicate pageviews.

Whenever someone loads a page of your website or their browser history state is changed by the active site, an enhanced measurement event called page_view is sent from your website to Google Analytics. Because the event is sent automatically, you don't need to send pageview data to Analytics manually.

However, when you want to manually control how pageviews are sent (for example, single-page applications or infinite scrolling), you can disable pageviews and then manually send them from your website. Learn how to Measure single-page applications.

This document describes the default pageview behavior and then how to send your own pageviews manually.

For information about how to measure screenviews on a mobile app, see Measure screenviews instead.

gtag.js Tag Manager

Before you begin

This guide assumes that you have done the following:

• Create a Google Analytics account and property. This step automatically creates a Google tag for you.
• Create a web data stream for your website
• Place the Google tag snippet on your website

It also assumes that you have the following:

• Access to your website source code
• The Editor (or above) role to the Google Analytics account

Default behavior

When you add the Google tag (gtag.js) to your site, the snippet includes a config command that sends a pageview by default. You can include additional <parameters> with information about the pageview in order to specify how Google Analytics is initialized:

gtag('config', 'TAG_ID', <parameters>);

When customizing the pageview behavior, the following keys may be used:

Name	Type	Required	Default value	Description
page_title	string	No	document.title	The title of the page.
page_location	string	No	location.href	The URL of the page. If you override page_location, the value must start with the protocol followed by the full URL; for example, https://www.example.com/contact-us-submitted. Note: The default value excludes the fragment portion of the URL.
send_page_view	boolean	No	true	Whether or not a pageview should be sent.

For example, the following overrides the page_title values:

gtag('config', 'TAG_ID', {
  'page_title' : 'homepage'
});

Manual pageviews

When you want to manually control how pageviews are sent (e.g. single-page applications or infinite scrolling), do the following:

1. Disable pageview measurement
2. Send the page_view event when appropriate

Caution: If you send manual pageviews without disabling pageview measurement, you may end up with duplicate pageviews.

Disable pageview measurement

To disable the default page_view event that is sent by the config command when the Google tag loads, set the send_page_view parameter to false in the Google tag snippet:

    gtag('config', 'TAG_ID', {
      send_page_view: false
    });

The send_page_view setting in the config command does not persist across pages. This setting must be repeated on every page of your website where you want to disable the automatic pageview on tag load.

Disable page changes based on browser history events

If Enhanced Measurement is enabled, Google Analytics will send page_view events based on browser history changes even if you set send_page_view: false. By default, Enhanced Measurement listens for history events, like those used in single-page applications, and sends page_view events independently of the send_page_view parameter in the config command.

To prevent page_view events from being sent due to history changes, you must also configure the Enhanced Measurement settings within your Google Analytics property. You can disable the "Page changes based on browser history events" option under Enhanced Measurement settings for your web data stream. Learn more about Enhanced measurement events.

Manually send page_view events

Where appropriate, make the following gtag call, replacing placeholder values as necessary:

gtag('event', 'page_view', {
  page_title: '<Page Title>',
  page_location: '<Page Location>'
});

See pageview and screenview data

Once your website or app is sending page_view (collected automatically for standard websites) or screen_view events, you can analyze this data in several reports within the Google Analytics interface:

1. Pages and Screens report: The primary report for analyzing user engagement with your content. It details metrics like Views, Active users, Views per user, and Average engagement time for each page path or screen name.

   • In Google Analytics, navigate to Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens.
   • See the guide: Pages and screens report.

2. Real Time report: To see page and screenview data as it comes in. You can select cards like "Views by Page title and screen name" or view event counts for page_view or screen_view.

   • Navigate to Reports > Real Time.
   • Learn more: GA4 Realtime report.

3. Explore (Custom reports): For more advanced analysis, create custom explorations in the Explore section. You can combine dimensions like Page path + query string, Page title and screen name, or Screen class with the Views metric to build custom tables and visualizations.

   • Navigate to Explore and select or create a "Free form" exploration.
   • Get ideas: GA4 Explore playbook.

These reports will help you understand which pages and screens are most viewed by your users.