• majorAlexa

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Reporting & Analytics
        4. Has Anyone Else Noticed A Jump In Google Analytics Traffic Since Session Parameters Were Changed?

        Moz Q&A is closed.

        After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

        Has Anyone Else Noticed A Jump In Google Analytics Traffic Since Session Parameters Were Changed?

        Reporting & Analytics
        5
        8
        1995
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • eTundra
          eTundra last edited by

          Ever since Google Analytics changed their session parameters August 12th I have seen a 20% jump in organic traffic & bounce rates along with a decline in pages/visit and conversion rate.

          To be clear, I don't put a whole heck of a lot of stock in these metrics as stand-alone indications of how my site is performing.  I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this blip.

          I noticed some other people mentioned a similar phenomenon in other SEO forums and blog comments, but nobody seems to be talking about this here at SEOMoz (unless I just haven't looked in the right place).

          I'm not saying the change I noticed has anything to do with the session update, I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar so that I can either cross it off the list of possible causes or explore further.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • hnydnn
            hnydnn @Bush_JSM last edited by

            Hi mate - yes I am also seeing a percentage increase of returning visitors from around 20%-80%.

            This is definitely related to the session parameter change. Although I find it hard to believe that it is a "bug". Rather, as you say, I think it is because they are now calculating the ended session differently.

            This does make past and present comparisons slightly challenging 😕

            Cheers

            Henry

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • eTundra
              eTundra @Bush_JSM last edited by

              My returning visitor count has jumped 20% - 80% as well depending on the source.  I think the key here is the following from Barry Schwartz's article:

              A session now counts as "ended":

              "When any traffic source value for the user changes. Traffic source information includes: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_term, utm_content, utm_id, utm_campaign, and gclid."

              So returning visitors are getting counted as a separate session each time they visit your site via a different source type - at least that's how I interpret that.

              It would make sense then why returning visitors has gone up...  But that would mean returning visitors would go up for everyone to one degree or another depending on how engaged and how many visits to conversion a site's returning visitors average.

              Hence why I want to know if everyone is seeing this phenomenon to one degree or another or are just some people seeing it?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Bush_JSM
                Bush_JSM Subscriber @BizRockJ last edited by

                Hi James,

                Can I ask if you have seen a big jump in returning visitors please since the session upadate? The growth I've seen in Google is mainly returning visitors and I think GA has calculated these visits twice as the session parameters are out of whack.

                Cheers

                Bush

                eTundra hnydnn 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • BizRockJ
                  BizRockJ last edited by

                  Since Thursday 8/11/11 some of my clients have seen a reported 20 to 150% increase in traffic from Google in their analytics stats.

                  Sales have increased on some of those sites as well, which makes me think it's a real increase in traffic.

                  their pages per visit and bounce times have also gone to hell, but I don't know if it's a session issue, or just the extra traffic they are getting isn't as targeted as before.

                  Bush_JSM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • eTundra
                    eTundra @Bush_JSM last edited by

                    Thanks for responding Gareth.  Anyone else seen weird stuff going on with their analytics?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Bush_JSM
                      Bush_JSM Subscriber last edited by

                      Hi - Yes I've seen my clients metrics move and there are a tonne of p155ed off people out there on the Anlaytics forum and here as well - http://www.seroundtable.com/google-analytics-session-definitions-13872.html

                      I've been looking into this and I think just as many who have left comments, that there is a bug when calculating the session times or returning visits incorrectly being flagged as a traffic source.

                      There is definitely big issues around the session update.

                      Bush

                      eTundra 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • eTundra
                        eTundra last edited by

                        I didn't say I was bothered...  All I've done is put together a list of possible causes and now I am crossing them off one by one.  This is a possible cause based on what I have seen other people saying... and all I want to know is if anyone else has seen a similar phenomenon.

                        PS - How can you be so sure?

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • 1 / 1
                        • First post
                          Last post

                        Browse Questions

                        Explore more categories

                        • Moz Tools

                          Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                        • SEO Tactics

                          Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                        • Community

                          Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                        • Digital Marketing

                          Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                        • Research & Trends

                          Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                        • Support

                          Connect on product support and feature requests.

                        • See all categories

                        Related Questions

                        • cPanel-LLC.

                          How to change domains in Google Analytics without losing the data

                          Hi there, We recently changed our domain from .COM to .NET so that all our subdomains from external pages matched. Right now in Google Console we have our new .NET website being tracked, but in GA we are still tracking .COM. It is also causing issues with MOZ crawling our site because of the .COM/.NET discrepancy. My question is what is the best way to change our Google Analytics from .COM to .NET without losing historical data and what considerations do we need to change before implementing this? Our team was concerned that just downloading the old data would be too vast and it we wouldn't be able to continue manipulating it dynamically in GA. Thanks!!

                          Reporting & Analytics | | cPanel-LLC.
                          0
                        • Gavo

                          Google Analytics Goals - Button Tracking

                          Does anyone know if there is a really easy way to track a button in Google Analytics yourself? It seems that most button click goal setups involve some use of tricky code and I'm wondering if there is a much easier way to do this that will allow us to simply setup and track certain button clicks as goal conversions in Analytics. Your help here is much appreciated!

                          Reporting & Analytics | | Gavo
                          0
                        • amichaels

                          Google Analytics SEO Queries Not Showing

                          Hi All, This might be a silly question, but for all the properties I monitor in Google Analytics, I'm now showing no data for SEO Queries under Acquisition for the past 6 days. Normally I would expect a few day delay in queries, but nothing for 6 days is somewhat peculiar especially as it was functioning fine prior to November 12th. Does anyone have insight into what might be going on? Thanks! URaNMa3

                          Reporting & Analytics | | amichaels
                          0
                        • Masoko-T

                          How many users completely block Google Analytics cookies ?

                          Hello everyone! In your experience, how many of your visitors' browsers completely block cookies including those of Google Analytics ?

                          Reporting & Analytics | | Masoko-T
                          0
                        • theLotter

                          Setting up Google Analytics for Subsites

                          I currently have one main .com site and am planning on launching geo-location subsites .co.uk, .com.au, .ru, etc... Traffic will flow between both sites and some of the content on the subsites will be duplicate and therefore include a canonical tag to the main site. I want to set up GA to capture who is going to the subsites and vice versa and correctly capture crossover traffic.  Any advice on implementing advanced analytics directly (or links to sources that will direct me the right direction for this project)

                          Reporting & Analytics | | theLotter
                          0
                        • Sarbs

                          How to remove unwanted dynamic parameters from a URL in Google Analytics

                          Hi, Would really appreciate some help with this. I have been experimenting with RegEx to achieve this but as I’ve never used it before am currently failing miserably. We have conversion pages i need to set goals for that are formatted as below: https://www.domain.co.uk//Application_Form/(S(ewhbqp5cki0mppuzukunkqno))/enterCardDetails.aspx I need to remove the (s(xxx)) section from the URL as rather than one pages i currently have thousands of unique URL's. What’s catching me out is that as it’s not a URL parameter I can’t discount and as half way through can’t just do head matches etc to /entercarddetails Help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

                          Reporting & Analytics | | Sarbs
                          0
                        • vijayvasu

                          Google Analytics Admin account not allowing us to add other users?

                          Our Google Analytics Administrator account is not giving us access to the User Manager, and because of that we are unable to add users; have you ever ran in to a problem such as this, if so what was your solution. Thanks a Billion impressions, Vijay E2qE9.jpg

                          Reporting & Analytics | | vijayvasu
                          0
                        • Alexey_mindvalley

                          Google Analytics - paid & unpaid visits messed up

                          I guess Google Analytics messes up my paid and unpaid visits. In the list of top 10 kw's sending non-paid traffic it shows 5 very short kw's that we don't rank for at all (checked with RankTracker - we are not in first 50 search results). But these are the kw's we advertise for... One more proof: Webmaster Tools 'Search queries' shows 10 times less 'Clicks' from organic search than Google Analytics. Is there anyone who is experiencing this kind of problems with GA? Is there anything you can do with it?

                          Reporting & Analytics | | Alexey_mindvalley
                          0

                        Get started with Moz Pro!

                        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                        Start my free trial
                        Products
                        • Moz Pro
                        • Moz Local
                        • Moz API
                        • Moz Data
                        • STAT
                        • Product Updates
                        Moz Solutions
                        • SMB Solutions
                        • Agency Solutions
                        • Enterprise Solutions
                        • Digital Marketers
                        Free SEO Tools
                        • Domain Authority Checker
                        • Link Explorer
                        • Keyword Explorer
                        • Competitive Research
                        • Brand Authority Checker
                        • Local Citation Checker
                        • MozBar Extension
                        • MozCast
                        Resources
                        • Blog
                        • SEO Learning Center
                        • Help Hub
                        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                        • How-to Guides
                        • Moz Academy
                        • API Docs
                        About Moz
                        • About
                        • Team
                        • Careers
                        • Contact
                        Why Moz
                        • Case Studies
                        • Testimonials
                        Get Involved
                        • Become an Affiliate
                        • MozCon
                        • Webinars
                        • Practical Marketer Series
                        • MozPod
                        Connect with us

                        Contact the Help team

                        Join our newsletter
                        Moz logo
                        © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                        • Accessibility
                        • Terms of Use
                        • Privacy

                        Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.