freecourses.digital
Lesson progress: 0 of 2 activities done
All lessons in Digital and Web Analytics Lesson 3.1 of 32

Module 1: Introduction to Digital Analytics

  1. 1.1What is digital analytics?
  2. 1.2The four types of analytics
  3. 1.3Connecting analytics to business objectives and KPIs

Module 2: Analytics Data and Measurement Planning

  1. 2.1How to build a measurement plan
  2. 2.2Key metrics for each marketing channel
  3. 2.3Data sources, collection, and data quality
  4. 2.4Segmentation and personalization

Module 3: Web Analytics Fundamentals

  1. 3.1Users, sessions, page views, and events
  2. 3.2Traffic sources, channels, and UTM parameters
  3. 3.3Landing pages and user behavior
  4. 3.4Engagement metrics and conversion metrics
  5. 3.5Reading reports, trends, and anomalies

Module 4: Analytics Tools and Platforms

  1. 4.1Google Analytics 4 fundamentals
  2. 4.2Google Search Console performance data
  3. 4.3Adobe Analytics overview
  4. 4.4Tag management and tracking implementation
  5. 4.5Connecting tools and choosing the right stack

Module 5: Conversion Funnels and Optimization

  1. 5.1What is a conversion?
  2. 5.2Conversion funnels and drop-off points
  3. 5.3How to calculate conversion rate
  4. 5.4Prioritizing conversion improvements
  5. 5.5Introduction to A/B testing

Module 6: Digital Marketing Performance Analysis

  1. 6.1Measuring SEO and paid advertising performance
  2. 6.2Social, content, and landing page performance
  3. 6.3Comparing acquisition channels
  4. 6.4Evaluating campaigns and avoiding vanity metrics

Module 7: Reporting, Visualization, and Insights

  1. 7.1Building a marketing performance report
  2. 7.2Data visualization and dashboards
  3. 7.3Comparing periods and benchmarking
  4. 7.4Turning data into actionable recommendations

Module 8: Analytics Projects and Practical Assessment

  1. 8.1Analytics case study: Isla Coffee Co.
  2. 8.2Final assessment: digital analytics case study

Users, sessions, page views, and events

Your roadmap for this lesson

  • What users, sessions, page views, and events count
  • How one person creates many sessions
  • Why GA4 treats everything as an event

Short answer

Users are the unique people visiting your site. Sessions are groups of their interactions within a time window, so one person visiting three times creates three sessions. Page views count each page load. Events are any tracked interaction. In Google Analytics 4, everything is an event, including page views.

The four core metrics

MetricWhat it measuresExample
UsersUnique people (or devices) visiting1 person visits 3 times = 1 user
SessionsA group of interactions within a time window1 person visits 3 times = 3 sessions
Page viewsEach time a page loads1 session viewing 4 pages = 4 page views
EventsAny tracked interactionClick, scroll, video play, form submit, purchase

In Google Analytics 4, everything is an event, including page views. This event-based model replaced the older session-based model of Universal Analytics.

Quick quiz

1. One person visits 4 times this week. How many users and sessions?
2. In GA4, a page view is...

Your action

Key terms

User
A unique person or device visiting your site.
Session
A group of interactions within a time window.
Page view
One page load.
Event
Any tracked interaction, like a click or purchase.

Questions beginners ask

Why don't users and sessions match?

One user can visit many times, so sessions are usually higher.

What replaced Universal Analytics?

Google Analytics 4, which uses an event-based model.

Related lessons

Want someone to set up your analytics and reporting while you learn? The team at Remar Digital can help.