The full value of a pageview depends on understanding the state of mind of the person reading (or in some cases, just opening and not really reading!) the page, and how reading the page affects the person's state of mind. These are very hard to evaluate correctly at the level of an individual pageview. However, I have evolved some rules of thumb for interpreting pageviews, holding the piece of content constant.
- Search and direct traffic reflect greater direct user intent. If the goal of the page is to answer specific user questions, or teach them specific things, then search and direct pageviews should be valued higher than pageviews through social media. Even in general I'd say search traffic is more valuable per pageview (though this is a crude proxy). An exception might be cases where the pageview is driven by results on an unrelated search, where the search engine just did a poor job.
- Ad-driven pageviews are less valuable than organic pageviews, because organic pageviews reflect more genuine user intent and interest. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes the fact that a person clicked on an item knowing it was an ad can be a stronger signal of user intent and desire for what's on offer.
- Pageviews spread over time are more valuable, since they signal enduring human needs as opposed to a fad. This isn't necessarily to say that the pageview itself is more valuable, but rather, it is an indicator that the lifetime value of the page is higher. For instance, if one page gets viewed 1000 times in a day and then not at all for the rest of the year, then it's probably less valuable than another page that gets viewed 1000 times evenly spread through the year (an exception might be a page that addresses a specific recurring seasonal question).
- In general, a pageview that leads to more additional pageviews (i.e., longer sessions) or more return users are more valuable: the person had a sufficiently good first impression as to continue. But sometimes, additional pageviews can signal that the initial pageview failed to address the user's concerns.