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What is a Session? Website Analytics Definition and Examples
A session is a group of interactions from one visitor during a defined time window. It can include page views, events, conversions, referrer data, campaign data, device information, and other activity.
Sessions help analytics tools organize visitor behavior into visits. One person can have multiple sessions over a day, week, or month.
How sessions work
Most analytics tools end a session after a period of inactivity, often around 30 minutes, or when a new campaign source starts. Exact rules vary by platform.
Example:
- A visitor arrives from Google.
- They view the homepage.
- They open the pricing page.
- They click Start free trial.
- They leave.
Those actions can be grouped into one session.
Sessions vs page views vs unique visitors
| Metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Session | One visit or activity window |
| Page view | One viewed page |
| Unique visitor | One distinct visitor in a period |
If one visitor comes to your site twice in one day, they may count as one unique visitor and two sessions. If each session includes three page views, that is six page views.
Why sessions matter
Sessions are useful for analyzing traffic sources, conversion paths, engagement, bounce rate, and funnel behavior. They answer questions such as: How many visits did we get? Which source drove this visit? What happened during the visit?
Swetrix uses sessions to help teams understand visitor journeys while keeping analytics lightweight and privacy-first.
Related terms: page view, unique visitor, average session duration, and bounce rate.
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