Metrics and Dimensions | VA Platform documentation

Last Updated: 2025-08-27

Definitions of common Google Analytics (GA) Metrics and Dimensions.

Metric - A metric is a quantitative measurement, such as an average, ratio, percentage, and so on. It's always a number as opposed to text. One way to think about metrics is that you can apply mathematical operations to them.

Dimension - A dimension is an attribute of your data. It describes your data and it's usually text as opposed to numbers.

Event

Type	Name	Definition
Dimension	Event name	The name of an event. In VA.gov tracking, the Event Name can act as a high-level grouping for events. For example, all Appointment specific events fall under the `appointment` event name.
Dimension	DataLayer Event Name	The ‘event’ variable used in dataLayer push events.
Metric	Event Count	The number of times users triggered an event.
Metric	Event count per active user	The average number of events triggered per user over the selected time period. Event count per active user = event count / active users
Metric	Events per session	The average number of events triggered per session over the selected time period. Events per session = event count / total sessions

Page

Type	Name	Definition
Dimension	Page location	The complete URL of the webpage that someone visited on your website. For example, if someone visits https://www.va.gov/search/?query=help&t=false, then the complete URL will populate the dimension.
Dimension	Page path and screen class	The page path from a website URL and screen class from a mobile application. The page path is the value after the domain.
Dimension	Page path + query string	The page path and query strings in a URL. These are the parts of the URL that come after the domain.
Dimension	Page title	The page title that you set on your website.
Dimension	Landing page	The page path and query string associated with the first page view in a session.
Dimension	Page referrer	The referring URL, which is the user's previous URL and can be your website's domain or other domains.
Dimension	Hostname	The subdomain and domain names of a URL that people visited on your website. For example, the hostname of 'https://www.va.gov/health/' is 'www.va.com'.
Metric	Views	The number of mobile app screens or web pages your users saw. Repeated views of a single screen or page are counted.
Metric	Entrances	The number of times that the first event recorded in a session occurred on a page or screen.
Metric	Exits	The number of times that the last event recorded for a session occurred on a page or screen.

Session

Type	Name	Definition
Metric	Sessions	The number of sessions that began on your website or application. A session is a period of time during which a user interacts with your website or app. A session initiates when a user either: Opens your app in the foreground Views a page or screen and no session is currently active (e.g. their previous session has timed out) By default, a session ends (times out) after 30 minutes of user inactivity. There is no limit to how long a session can last.
Metric	Engaged sessions	The number of sessions that lasted 10 seconds or longer, or had 1 or more conversion events or 2 or more page or screen views. Engaged sessions is the inverse of low engagement sessions.
Metric	Engagement rate	The percentage of sessions that were engaged sessions. Engagement rate = engaged sessions / total sessions Engagement rate is the inverse of bounce rate.
Metric	Bounce rate	The percentage of sessions that were not engaged sessions. Bounce rate = not engaged sessions / total sessions Bounce rate is the inverse of engagement rate.
Metric	Sessions per active user	The average number of engaged sessions per active user. Sessions per active user = (screen_view events + page_view events) / active users
Metric	Views per session	The number of app screens or web pages your users viewed per session. Repeated views of a single page or screen are counted. Views per session = (screen_view events + page_view events) / total sessions

User

Type	Name	Definition
Metrics	Total users	The number of unique user IDs that triggered any events. The metric allows you to measure the number of unique users who logged an event.
Metrics	Active users	The number of distinct users who visited your website or application. An active user is any user who has an engaged session or when Analytics collects: the `first_visit event`, `engagement_time_msec` parameter from a website the `first_open` event, `engagement_time_msec` parameter from an Android app, or the first_open or `user_engagement` event from an iOS app. Note: The Active users metric appears as "Users" in Reports.
Metrics	New users	The number of new unique user IDs that logged the `first_open` or `first_visit` event. The metric allows you to measure the number of users who interacted with your site or launched your app for the first time.
Metrics	Returning users	The number of users who have initiated at least one previous session, regardless of whether or not the previous sessions were engaged sessions.
Metrics	User engagement	The length of time that your app screen was in the foreground or your web page was in focus.
Metrics	Average engagement time	The average time that your website was in focus in a user's browser or an app was in the foreground of a user's device. Average engagement time = total user engagement durations / active users
Metrics	Average engagement time per session	The average engagement time per session. Average engagement time per session = total user engagement durations / sessions

Links

Type	Name	Definition
Dimension	Link text	The text of a click link.
Dimension	Link URL	The destination URL for a clicked link.

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