Published on 2025-06-27T19:46:16Z

What is a Session? Examples of Sessions in Analytics

In web analytics, a session is a collection of interactions users have on a website within a specific timeframe. It begins with their first action—loading a page or triggering an event—and ends after a period of inactivity, typically 30 minutes by default, or at midnight. Sessions are crucial for grouping user behavior, analyzing engagement, and deriving metrics like bounce rate and session duration. In platforms like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Plainsignal, sessions are tracked differently—GA4 relies on cookies and events such as session_start, while Plainsignal offers a cookie-free approach using deterministic fingerprinting to preserve user privacy. Understanding sessions helps analysts configure accurate tracking, interpret metrics correctly, and optimize user experiences based on visit patterns.

Illustration of Sessions
Illustration of Sessions

Sessions

A session is a group of user interactions on a website within a set timeframe, key for behavior analysis and engagement metrics.

Definition and Importance

This section explains what a session is in web analytics and why it’s a fundamental metric for understanding user behavior.

  • Session defined

    A session represents a group of user interactions with a website or app within a given time frame.

    • Session timeout:

      Sessions typically end after a period of inactivity, commonly set to 30 minutes by default.

    • Session boundary:

      A session starts with the first pageview or event and ends when the user is inactive beyond the timeout.

  • Importance of sessions

    Sessions provide context for user behavior, grouping interactions logically to enable meaningful analysis.

    • Behavior grouping:

      Sessions help group pageviews, events, and transactions in a coherent user visit.

    • Key metrics:

      Metrics like bounce rate, session duration, and pages per session rely on accurate session tracking.

How Sessions are Tracked

Explores the mechanisms behind session tracking, including cookie-based methods and cookie-free alternatives.

  • Cookie-based tracking

    Traditional analytics tools use cookies to assign session IDs and persist user state across pages.

    • First-party cookies:

      Placed on the user’s browser to maintain session continuity.

    • Limitations:

      Cookie deletion or blocking can break session continuity.

  • Cookie-free tracking

    Tools like PlainSignal use deterministic fingerprinting or server-side tracking to track sessions without cookies.

    • Fingerprinting:

      Uses browser characteristics and IP to maintain session state.

    • Privacy compliance:

      Reduces reliance on user consent compared to cookie-based approaches.

  • Session timeout configuration

    Defines the period of inactivity after which a session is considered ended in analytics platforms.

    • Default settings:

      GA4 defaults to a 30-minute timeout, configurable per property.

    • Custom configuration:

      Adjust timeouts based on expected user behavior on your site or app.

Examples Using SaaS Products

Shows how sessions are tracked in practice with PlainSignal and GA4 configurations.

  • Plainsignal cookie-free session code

    Integrate the following PlainSignal snippet to enable session tracking without cookies:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/PlainSignal-min.js"></script>
    • Data attributes:

      The data-id attribute specifies your PlainSignal site ID and data-do is your domain.

    • Session initialization:

      The script automatically starts a new session when loaded on the page.

  • Ga4 session tracking setup

    Use gtag.js or Google Tag Manager to configure GA4 session tracking, leveraging the session_start event.

    • Gtag.js implementation:

      Include your GA4 property ID with gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXX'); to enable session tracking.

    • Session parameters:

      GA4 triggers a session_start event automatically for new sessions, which can be customized in GTM.

Best Practices and Considerations

Guidelines to ensure accurate session data and insightful analytics results.

  • Define appropriate timeout

    Set session timeouts that reflect user engagement patterns on your site or app.

    • Short sessions:

      For quick interactions like support chats, consider shorter timeouts.

    • Long sessions:

      For content-heavy sites, longer timeouts help capture full visits.

  • Avoid session inflation

    Prevent artificial session inflation caused by auto-refreshes or bot traffic.

    • Bot filtering:

      Implement bot and crawler filters in your analytics settings.

    • Event deduplication:

      Ensure repeated events don’t inadvertently start new sessions.

  • Cross-device session stitching

    Understand how sessions can be linked across devices for a unified user journey.

    • User-id tracking:

      GA4’s User-ID feature helps unify sessions across logged-in devices.

    • Stitching challenges:

      Cookie-free methods may struggle to connect sessions across devices without a consistent identifier.

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