Navigation Summary is a page-centric path analysis that shows where users came from before a specific page and where they went next after it. Think of it as a two-sided snapshot of the user journey around a page: Previous Page Path on the left, Next Page Path on the right. It’s invaluable for diagnosing weak links in your site structure, validating internal links, and spotting content that acts as a springboard—or a dead end.
In practice, the report aggregates all sessions that viewed a given page (a Pageview within a Session) and breaks them into inbound and outbound flows. The math is simple:
- Share of inbound from X = Visits to target page with previous page = X ÷ All visits to target page
- Share of outbound to Y = Visits leaving target page to Y ÷ All visits from target page
Mini-example for /pricing (1,000 visits to this page in period):
Previous pages (top):
| Previous page | Share |
|---|---|
| /features | 40% |
| / (home) | 25% |
| /blog/article-cta | 10% |
| Landing Page (no previous) | 20% |
Next pages (top):
| Next page | Share |
|---|---|
| /signup | 30% |
| /docs/billing | 15% |
| /contact | 8% |
| Exit | 20% |
Read this like a network: strong inbound from /features suggests that link is pulling its weight; a high “Exit” share hints that /pricing might need clearer CTAs or better internal linking. Pair Navigation Summary with Behavior Flow for multi-step paths, and with User Journey when you want sequence context across several pages.
When to use
- Prioritize internal links: promote pages that already send healthy traffic.
- Reduce dead ends: if “Exit” dominates, tune copy, layout, or crosslinks.
- Validate funnels: does
/pricing → /signupcarry enough share to meet targets?
Keep it clean: filter out noise (e.g., query params, utility pages), normalize URLs, and segment by device or audience to avoid blended averages hiding outliers.