Sessions
A session is a group of interactions from one visitor inside a limited time window. By convention, a session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity, and the next interaction starts a new one. Sessions answer "how many visits did the site get", not "how many people came".
Definition
A session is a sequence of events from one visitor: pageviews, custom events, engagement signals. It opens with the first interaction (usually a page load) and closes after a stretch of inactivity. A session typically contains:
- Multiple pageviews within one visit
- Clicks, form submissions, custom events
- An automatic close after 30 minutes of silence
Sessions are not the same as visitors. One person can produce several sessions per day if they come back after a break.
In Statable, sessions are computed server-side. Inactivity is the main boundary: after 30 minutes of silence, the next event opens a new session. Changing traffic source mid-session does not start a new one.
Midnight is the other boundary. The visitor identity that groups a session rotates daily, and a session crossing that line keeps its identity only while the next event lands within the first 30 minutes of the new day. After that the visitor counts as new and a fresh session begins.
For beginners
Think of a session as a container for other metrics. It tells you how many visits happened, not how deep each visit went. Combine it with pageviews or time on site for the full picture.
Difference from other metrics
- Pageviews: total page loads. One session can contain many pageviews.
- Unique visitors: distinct users in a period, regardless of session count.
- Bounce rate: share of sessions with a single pageview. Interactions do not change it.
| Metric | What it measures | Example use |
|---|---|---|
| Sessions | Number of visits | Daily traffic analysis |
| Pageviews | Total page loads | Content popularity |
| Unique Visitors | Distinct users | Audience size |
How sessions work in practice
A growing session count can mean several things at once:
- More traffic from search or paid channels.
- Site issues making users leave and return.
- Time-of-day or seasonal peaks.
To track sessions, install the Statable tracking script on every page. The server groups events from the same visitor using the 30-minute inactivity window.
Example
A user visits in the morning, views 3 pages, leaves. That's 1 session. They return 2 hours later and view 2 more pages, that's a second session. Two sessions, one user.
Example
A store records 500 sessions in a day, of which 300 are single-pageview. About 60% bounce immediately, possibly due to irrelevant landings or slow loads.
To clean the count, exclude internal traffic via the IP / hostname blocklist or the per-browser opt-out flag (localStorage.setItem('analytics_ignore', 'true')). Read sessions alongside other dashboard metrics for context.
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