A pageview is a single instance of a page loading — or, for single-page applications, rendering a new view — in a visitor's browser, counted each time it happens regardless of whether it's the same page loaded repeatedly.
One person browsing a site generates multiple pageviews as they move between pages, so pageview totals are always higher than session or visitor counts on any multi-page site. Traditional tracking fires on full page loads, which is why single-page applications need extra instrumentation — virtual pageview events — to register route changes that never trigger a browser reload.
A shopper visits a product listing page, clicks into a product detail page, then goes back to the listing to compare another item — three separate pageviews within one session.
Yes — most analytics tools count each page load as a pageview, so refreshing the same URL generates an additional pageview even though the visitor didn't navigate anywhere new.
They fire a manual 'virtual pageview' event through the analytics script whenever the app's internal router changes the visible view, simulating what a full page load would normally trigger.
Not necessarily — a rising pageview count paired with a falling unique visitor count can just mean the same smaller group of people is browsing more, not that traffic is actually growing.