[Google Analytics] Let's understand the session!

November 5, 2015 May 12, 2022 Tool introduction , Google Analytics , access analysis

Hello everyone!

Until now, I have explained Google Analytics in SEOBLOG, but this time I would like to explain the session.
The word sessions often appear when related to the web, so be sure to understand it correctly.

What is "session"?

Google Analytics has a "user" with a very similar concept to a session.
"User" also counts a unique browser.
On the other hand, "session" is counted when the visitor displays the page, but if the operation is not performed for 30 minutes or the browser is closed, the "session" is cut off.
At this stage, even if you visit the same browser again, the "session" will be newly counted, but the "user" will be regarded as the same user.

In other words, if one person visits the site twice using the same browser, it will be counted as "User 1" and "Session 2".

Did you understand so far?

The session is one of the most important indicators, and most indicators such as bounce, new session, and conversion rates are calculated based on the number of sessions.
In one session, there are no dimensions (items), such as one reference source, one media, one keyword, and one landing page, as well as the attributes and sessions that have returned or conversion. Insitations such as the number of page views and session time are also tightly linked.
The "Page number" displayed in the "All Page" reports indicates the number of sessions for each page session.

About "page/session"

"Page/session" is the average of page views browsed in one session.
There are three sessions as follows.

Session A 2 page view
Session B 3 page view
Session C 1 page view

This is a total of 6 page views, and the "page/session" is (2+3+1) ÷ 3 = 2.

"Page/session" is an index in representing the migration rate of the user, and it is basically better to have a higher value, but this figure will increase even if the user is poor and the user is lost. So be careful.

About "session time"

The session time is measured the time between the start and end of the session.
As I mentioned earlier, the start of the session is counted when the user displays the site page, and the end is finished when the site or browser is closed for 30 minutes or closed.
This indicator is an important indicator of how much you are interested in the content of the site.

For example, if there is one session as follows, the session time is 20 minutes.

Display at index.html 10:00 (session start)
Displayed in News.html 10:10
Display at Article.html 10:20 (end session)

It is important to note that the last "Article.html" stay cannot be measured.
So the stay time on this last page is ignored when calculating the session time.
Even if the user is eager to read the last page, "Article.html", the time there is not included in the session time.

Also, if the user visits the site and goes back from the first page displayed, the session time on the last page cannot be measured, so the "session time" is 0.