GA4 page_view vs IPS Data Layer content_view

[Clover13]

What is the difference between these two?  content_view has a much lower count in GA for me.  
 

@Matt Finger

[Randy Calvert]

Page view is the base loading of a raw page. Content view might only trigger on Ajax calls, etc. 

[Matt Finger]

Yes, page_view is every page while content_view only triggers when viewing a specific content item (e.g. topics, blog entries, etc). The listings and your landing page, however, do not count.

Just due to the nature of site navigation, clicking around several times before finding a piece of content is quite common, so the page_view is usually quite a bit larger than content_view.

Comparing the two can actually be a good metric to observe (especially if you can get the trend over time). It tells you, of your total traffic, who's browsing and who's just reading content.

[Clover13]

Thanks @Randy Calvert and @Matt Finger

So it sounds like the strongest differentiator is in the listing and landing page, and a large gap between page_view and content_view could indicate visitors simply refreshing/reloading the main landing page for updates but not actually diving into the content (or at least diving into content far less than 1:1).  Probably an expected pattern overall, as not ever landing page load will have content every user in that moment wants to or has time to dive into right then and there.  But too large of a gap could indicate your site's content isn't appealing to the larger audience enough, thereby not promoting clicking into content to view it deeper.

Hopefully I'm interpreting that correctly based on the implementation.  In any event, appreciate the feedback! 👍

[Matt Finger]

49 minutes ago, Clover13 said:

Thanks @Randy Calvert and @Matt Finger

So it sounds like the strongest differentiator is in the listing and landing page, and a large gap between page_view and content_view could indicate visitors simply refreshing/reloading the main landing page for updates but not actually diving into the content (or at least diving into content far less than 1:1).  Probably an expected pattern overall, as not ever landing page load will have content every user in that moment wants to or has time to dive into right then and there.  But too large of a gap could indicate your site's content isn't appealing to the larger audience enough, thereby not promoting clicking into content to view it deeper.

Hopefully I'm interpreting that correctly based on the implementation.  In any event, appreciate the feedback! 👍

Happy to help, and well said! These metrics are for understanding user behavior not a good/bad indicator; like you said this one property can mean many things. While few of the provided properties are actionable on their own, looking at them together should give you a sense of the bigger picture.