Changes in accounting for Google Analytics sessions

In Google Analytics, there have been changes in the accounting sessions.



What has changed?

Previously, Google Analytics ended the session in the following cases:

• It took more than 30 minutes between page views by one visitor
• At the end of the day
• The visitor closed the browser

If one of these events occurs, the next visitor will view the page and start a new session.



In the new model, Google Analytics ends the session in the following cases:

• It took more than 30 minutes between page views by one visitor
• At the end of the day
• The visitor has changed any of the traffic source values. Information about the traffic source includes the following indicators: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_term, utm_content, utm_id, utm_campaign, and gclid .

As before, in the event of any of these events, a new session begins for the visitor.

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How will this affect Google Analytics data?

This change will only affect data from August 11, 2011, all past data will remain unchanged.

Now the session will provide more accurate information about the visit. This will be especially useful if you use the Multi-Channel Funnels tool (multi-channel measurement of advertising effectiveness).



GA official blog: Update to Sessions in Google Analytics