Session

A session is a continuous block of activity by one user on your site or app within a defined inactivity window (commonly 30 minutes). It starts with the first hit (e.g., a pageview) and ends when the user is inactive longer than the timeout or when the day rolls over. In reporting, sessions group hits into meaningful visits so you can analyze behavior, quality of traffic, and conversion performance.

Short formula:
session_duration = time_of_last_interaction − time_of_first_interaction
Note: the idle tail after the last interaction (until timeout) does not add to duration.

How sessions start and end

• Start: first pageview or tracked event after being inactive beyond the timeout.
• Continue: further pageviews/events within the timeout window.
• End: inactivity > timeout, hard midnight cutoff, or (in some tools) special events like new campaign attribution.
• Tabs & navigation: multiple tabs by the same user within the window still belong to one session.

Why sessions matter

Sessions translate raw hits into stories: where people landed, how far they went, and whether they did the thing you care about. Key metrics built on sessions include Average Session Duration, Pages per Session, Bounce Rate, Engagement Rate, and Conversion Rate. They help compare traffic sources, evaluate the landing page experience, and spot content that attracts attention versus content that stalls.

Mini example (timeout = 30 min)

Step	Time	Hit type
1	10:00	Pageview on /landing
2	10:05	Pageview on /article
3	10:07	Event Count: CTA click
—	10:37	Inactivity timeout (no hit)

• session_duration = 10:07 − 10:00 = 7 min
• pages_per_session = 2
• No conversion → conversion_rate = 0%

Practical notes

• One person can have multiple sessions per day; cross-device or long breaks typically create new sessions.
• Campaign changes may split sessions depending on your tooling and attribution settings.
• For quality analysis, correlate sessions with Exit Rate on key pages and the Landing Page that opened the session.