Traffic
Pageview
Also called page view.
Pageview is a recorded load of a page URL after the tracking code fires. A refresh, a back button or a tracked route change can each add one.
How it is measured
Count collection requests that carry a page URL and the pageview type. SPAs must send one on route change. A tag that fires twice doubles the count.
Tarsier's script records a pageview on load and on history changes such as pushState and back, with nothing stored in the browser between pages. It can also be set to manual mode so you call it yourself.
Worked example
A river-tour operator's site has a booking calendar that reloads with a query parameter on every month click. One visitor browsing three months adds three pageviews on the same page. The guide pages receive 600 views, the calendar 2,400.
The owner misreads the calendar as the most popular page, when it is the page that reloads itself.
How it differs
A pageview is a load. A hit is any request. A session is a group of loads. A unique pageview counts a URL once per session. A virtual pageview is a pageview created without a real load.
Common errors
Calling pageviews visitors. Double-firing tags. Not tracking SPA routes. Counting prefetches. Comparing with server logs and expecting a match.
In practice
Test one click path on your site and confirm one new pageview lands for each navigation. Then keep the definition fixed.