Pageview

A measurement of a web page access. Pageview counts are recorded by a server's log files, and are most often used to describe a site's popularity to advertisers.

Pageviews are often confused with hits. Where pageviews describe the number of times that a web page (structural document) has been accessed, a hit counts the number of times that each element present on a site (including graphics, unlinked files, stylesheets, etc) have been requested. Thus, one single pageview can result in several hits.

Of course, framed and dynamic sites (which can effectively serve several web pages within one monitor of data) have undermined the rock-solid standing of this measurement, leading to many advertisers asking for unique visitor details before making a commitment.