Web Session Defined

A web session is classified as a group of interactions a user, with a unique IP address,  has with a website over a given time frame.

The number of user sessions on a site is used in measuring the amount of traffic a website receives. A total count of web sessions can be measured as part of the total amount of traffic a website gains and the total engagement a website is having with users. A single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and ecommerce transactions. 

A single user can open multiple sessions. Those individual sessions can occur on the same day, or over several days, weeks, or months. As soon as one session ends, there is then an opportunity to start a new session.  

To effectively count the amount of web sessions a website has, time frames are put on the session. This is determined by the site administrator.  

If the visitor comes back to the site within that time period, it is still considered one user session because any number of visits within the specified time frame will only count as one session. If the visitor returns to the site after the allotted time period has expired, then it is counted as a separate user session.

In Data Defined, we help make the complex world of data more accessible by explaining some of the most complex aspects of the field.

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