What is Views per User in Google Analytics 4?

Curious what "Views per user" in Google Analytics 4 really tells you about how people interact with your website? It’s a simple yet powerful metric that highlights user-centric engagement in a way older versions of analytics didn’t. This article will break down exactly what Views per user means, how to find it in GA4, and how you can use this insight to improve your website's performance.

What is ‘Views per User’ in GA4?

Views per user is an engagement metric in Google Analytics 4 that shows the average number of pages or app screens a single user saw on your website or app. Think of it as a measure of how thoroughly a typical visitor explores your content.

The calculation behind it is straightforward:

Views per User = Total Views / Total Active Users

To fully grasp this, you need to understand GA4’s definitions of “Views” and “Users”:

• Views: In GA4, a "view" is a unified term for what used to be called Pageviews (for websites) and Screenviews (for mobile apps). Every time a user loads a page on your website or a screen in your app, it counts as one view. If a user reloads a page, that also counts as an additional view.
• Users: GA4 focuses on “Active Users.” This is the total number of distinct users who have had an engaged session on your site or app within the date range you're analyzing. GA4 identifies unique users through several methods, including device ID and logged-in User-ID.

So, if your website had 10,000 views from 2,000 unique users last month, your Views per user would be 5 (10,000 / 2,000). On average, each person who visited your site viewed five different pages before leaving.

A higher Views per user number generally indicates greater engagement. It suggests that users are not just landing on one page and leaving, they're clicking through, discovering more content, and finding your site valuable or interesting.

How ‘Views per User’ Differs From Universal Analytics Metrics

If you have experience with the older Universal Analytics (UA), you probably remember metrics like Pages / Session and Average Session Duration. While related, GA4's Views per user offers a fundamentally different and more user-focused perspective.

Session-Based vs. User-Based Measurement

The biggest difference is the shift from a session-based to a user-based focus. This change is at the core of GA4's entire data model.

• In Universal Analytics, the key metric was Pages / Session. This number told you the average number of pages people viewed in a single visit. If a user visited your site three times in one week, each visit was a separate session, and each session had its own Pages / Session value.
• In Google Analytics 4, the key metric is Views per User. This measures the total number of pages a user viewed across all of their sessions within your selected time frame, divided by that one user. It provides a more complete picture of a user's total engagement with your brand over time.

An Example to Make It Clear

Imagine a user named Sarah interacts with your blog over one week:

• Monday: Sarah visits your site and reads 4 blog posts. (Session 1: 4 views)
• Wednesday: She clicks a link from your newsletter and reads 2 more posts. (Session 2: 2 views)
• Friday: She remembers your site and directly visits to browse 3 more articles. (Session 3: 3 views)

Here's how UA and GA4 would interpret this activity differently:

• Universal Analytics's Pages / Session: For Sarah's activity this week, UA would calculate an average on a per-session basis. (4 + 2 + 3 views) / 3 sessions = 3 Pages / Session.
• Google Analytics 4's Views per User: GA4 would look at Sarah as a single user. To calculate her Views per user, it takes all her views and divides by one user. (4 + 2 + 3 views) / 1 user = 9 Views per User.

As you can see, the GA4 metric provides a more holistic view of Sarah’s loyalty and deep engagement with your content, while the UA metric simply averaged out her separate visits. This user-centric model helps you better understand cumulative behavior rather than isolated interactions.

How to Find Views per User in GA4

Views per User isn't always displayed in standard GA4 reports by default, but you can easily add it or build a custom report in just a few clicks.

Method 1: Customize a Standard Report

The quickest way to see this metric is by adding it to an existing report, like the Pages and screens report.

1. From your GA4 dashboard, navigate to Reports on the left-hand menu.
2. Under the Engagement section, click on Pages and screens.
3. At the top-right corner of the report, look for the pencil icon (Customize report) and click it.
4. A customization panel will slide out from the right. Under Report Data, click on Metrics.
5. Click the Add metric button at the bottom of the list. In the search bar, type "Views per user."
6. Select Views per user from the list. You can drag and drop it to change its position in the report columns if you like.
7. Click the blue Apply button at the bottom right.
8. Now, you can either save your changes to the current report or (recommended) click Save > Save as a new report. Name it something like "Pages Report with VPU" so you can easily access it again later from your Library.

Method 2: Create a Custom Report in Explorations

For more detailed analysis, using the Explore section is a far more powerful option. Explorations let you slice and dice your data with customized dimensions and metrics. This is perfect for seeing how Views per User changes across different traffic sources, user types, or devices.

Here's how to create a simple table showing Views per User by traffic channel:

1. Navigate to Explore on the left-hand menu and start a new Free form exploration.
2. In the Variables column on the left, you need to import the dimensions and metrics you want to use:
3. Now, build your report in the Tab Settings column:

Just like that, you’ll see a table on the right showing your Views per user broken down by each acquisition channel. You can now instantly see if users from Organic Search are more engaged than users from Paid Social, for example. Feel free to name this exploration at the top left (e.g., "VPU by Channel") so you can come back to it anytime.

What’s a “Good” Views per User Number?

There's no single magic number that qualifies as "good." A good Views per user depends entirely on your website's purpose and your specific conversion goals. A value that’s excellent for one site could be a sign of trouble for another.

Context is everything. Here are the key factors to consider:

• Site Type: A sprawling e-commerce store or a content-heavy media publication will naturally aim for a high VPU. They want users to browse product categories, read multiple articles, and compare options. In contrast, a landing page designed to capture a single email signup or a local business site where users just need a phone number is designed for efficiency. A VPU of just 1-2 might be a sign of success in that case.
• Content Structure: Sites built around exploration - like blogs with thousands of articles - should have a higher VPU than a simple SaaS marketing site with five main pages.
• User Intent: What's the user's goal? If someone searches for "your company contact info," they ideally land on the contact page and leave. That’s task completion, resulting in a low VPU. If someone searches for "best running shoes," they're in a research mode and will likely visit many pages, resulting in a high VPU.

Instead of chasing a universal benchmark, focus on these two things:

1. Benchmarking Against Yourself: Track your Views per User over time. Is the trend line moving up? This indicates your content and site changes are successfully increasing engagement.
2. Segmenting Your Data: As shown in the Explorations example, the real power comes from comparing segments. A low overall VPU isn’t as concerning as discovering your VPU for organic search traffic is half of what it is for email traffic. That’s a specific, actionable insight.

Practical Ways to Increase Views per User

If you've decided that a higher VPU is a key goal for your site, there are several effective strategies you can implement to encourage users to explore more of your content.

1. Strengthen Your Internal Linking Strategy

An internal link is simply a hyperlink from one page on your site to another. A robust internal linking structure acts as a set of signposts, guiding users and search engines to related, valuable content.

Action Items:

• Contextual Links: When writing a blog post or page, link relevant keywords and phrases to other articles on your site that provide more detail.
• "Related Posts" Sections: Add a module at the end of each article showcasing other recommended posts. WordPress plugins and most CMS platforms can automate this easily.
• Product Recommendations: On e-commerce product pages, display "You Might Also Like," "Frequently Bought Together," or "Customers Also Viewed" widgets.

2. Optimize Website Navigation

Your primary navigation menu is a user's roadmap. If it's confusing, cluttered, or difficult to use (especially on mobile), they won't bother trying to find anything else.

Action Items:

• Clear Naming Conventions: Use simple, understandable terms for your menu items (e.g., "Services" instead of "Our Synergies").
• Logical Hierarchy: Organize your site content into clear parent and child categories, especially important for large e-commerce or media sites. Don't overwhelm users with too many top-level options.
• Mobile-First Design: Test your main menu, footers, and sidebars on mobile devices. Is the "hamburger menu" easy to tap and navigate?

3. Create Deeper, More Engaging Content

Nothing encourages exploration more than incredibly useful, interesting, or entertaining content. When a reader is genuinely impressed with their first page view, they are far more likely to see what else you have to offer.

Action Items:

• Create Content Hubs or Series: Write a definitive, "hub" article on a broad topic and surround it with multiple shorter "spoke" articles that dive into sub-topics, all linking back to each other.
• Incorporate Multimedia: Break up long text articles with relevant images, videos, infographics, and interactive elements.
• Focus on a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): When a user finishes a page, what’s the next logical step you want them to take? Guide them with a CTA like "Read Part 2 of Our Series" or "Browse Our Collection of X."

4. Improve Page Speed and Technical Performance

No strategy will work if your site is slow to load. Users have little patience for slow websites. According to Google research, the probability of a bounce increases dramatically with every second it takes your page to load.

Action Items:

• Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights: This free tool will analyze your site and give you specific, prioritized recommendations for improvement.
• Compress Images: Large image files are one of the most common causes of slow pages. Use free online tools or plugins to compress them before uploading.
• Check Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure your site's layout adapts properly to all screen sizes. Your goal is a seamless experience on a desktop computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.

Final Thoughts

Views per User is more than just a replacement for an old metric, it's a reflection of GA4's modern, user-centric approach to analytics. By tracking and segmenting this metric, you can gain a much deeper understanding of how well your content resonates with your audience and make smarter decisions to increase engagement.

Analyzing metrics like Views per User across various audience segments is vital, but manually building reports in GA4 can often be cumbersome and a drain on your time. Instead of spending hours clicking through menus to customize reports, we built a tool that brings the insights directly to you. With Graphed, we connect directly to your Google Analytics data, so you can just ask questions in plain English like, "What was the views per user by Landing Page last month?" and get clear, real-time charts and reports back in seconds.