Has Anyone Else Noticed A Jump In Google Analytics Traffic Since Session Parameters Were Changed?
-
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.
-
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
-
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?
-
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
-
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.
-
Thanks for responding Gareth. Anyone else seen weird stuff going on with their analytics?
-
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
-
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?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
How to track in google analytic which filters selected in which category?
Hi All, Can anyone tell me how to track which filters selected in which category like in category I have 1) price ( then different - different price) 2) color ( then difference - difference colors) same for size, width, brand etc. Is it possible to track in detail via tag manager? Other than tag manager what are the best way to track filters? Please explain me technical guidance too. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | adamjack0 -
Google Analytics reporting traffic for 404 pages
Hi guys, Unique issue with google analytics reporting for one of our sites. GA is reporting sessions for 404 pages (landing pages, organic traffic) e.g. for this page: http://www.milkandlove.com.au/breastfeeding-dresses/index.php the page is currently a 404 page but GA (see screenshot) is reporting organic traffic (to the landing page). Does anyone know any reasons why this is happening? Cheers. http://www.milkandlove.com.au/breastfeeding-dresses/index.php GK0zDzj.jpg
Reporting & Analytics | | jayoliverwright2 -
Google Analytics Event Tracking
Hi Guys, I want to set up a goal in Google analytics for this site http://www.dfrsolicitors.co.uk/contact.php and the contact us form is in php (so there is no thank you html page). I know there is a piece of code "onsubmit" or whatever it is, but I can't find it. I want to be able to track successful submissions. Kind Regards Neil
Reporting & Analytics | | nezona0 -
Linking Multiple Niche Site In Same Google Analytics Account
Hi, I am providing SEO for Local business. Is it advisable to separate out the Google Analytics into different Google account or is it ok to remain it this way? Some of the client might be in the same niche, and might be competing with the same keywords as well. What I was worried is, Google might see these sites as same owner and only rank for 1 of the site. I was thinking to get the owners to register for their own Google Analytics and share the access to me.
Reporting & Analytics | | JonathanSoh0 -
Where are google analytics stats for iphone4
hi We were looking at the Google Analytics for one of our sites and noticed that there were NO pageviews from device=iphone and resolution=640x960 in the report. Given that iphone4 is supposed to be 640x960, and would be the most popular device (at least in our offices and everyone I know), it seems wierd. I sorted the Mobile Devices report by device and resolution to see what was available. The first 160 results were all device=not set. Finally got to device=iPhone and there were three entries: resolution 0x0 had 11 views resolution 320x396 had 45 views resolution 320x480 had 3,944 views. Hopefully all iphone4 users havent been classified as not set. Or is it possible that iphone4s claim to be 320x480 in browsers, as per http://www.alistapart.com/articles/a-pixel-identity-crisis/ Even worse, if I look at the Samsung Galaxy S II (myown phone), there are over 30 screen resolution combinations. Does anyone have anything to shed on this? I asked about it on the google analytics twitter account last week but havent had a response. Are there other analytics solutions that would distinguish between the iphones? Warning - this is a link to a large image, with the not set stats at the top. 6Sjji
Reporting & Analytics | | ozgeekmum0 -
Multiple Domain Tracking with One Google Analytics Account
I am working on multiple online retail stores as follow. Right now, I have tracking facility with multiple account. Attached image can give you more idea about it. http://www.vistastores.com/
Reporting & Analytics | | CommercePundit
http://www.lampslightingandmore.com/
http://www.vistapatioumbrellas.com/ I don't want to track my statistics with multiple account. Because, it may take too much time behind Goal set up as well as analysis. Can I track all data under one account for all online retail stores? 6464019053_bda32e9fe0_b.jpg0 -
URL-structure change - former long-tail traffic gone
Hey people, I'm sure many of you applied changes to the URL structure of a client's or your own website before. So did I for obvious reason: The structure before was like www.domain.com/brand_page/_22-key-word-translatedkeyword.php (ranked 20). This was changed to www.domain.com/key-word.html.
Reporting & Analytics | | dumperama
Edit: Also on-page it was optimized, but only taking out worthless links like "keyword-link to other page" and adding a relevant SEO text (also valuable for the user) Now, for the targeted short-tail keyword, the outcome was great - ranking increased by 17 landing the page on the first SERP. But: Before this page garnered a wide range of long-tail keyword traffic.To be exact: 2600 different keywords generated traffic for that page in a period of 1 month. Now the newly structured site (also on-page optimized) only receives traffic from around 100 keywords. You can imagine that the absolute amount of visits also dropped. So I'd like to know if you observed similar results. Another question that's coming up in this context: How regularly does Google refresh the keywords associated with a page? Like: Is this page really relevant for this one keyword we associated it with 5 years ago? Because it is clear, when I'm looking at the aforementioned 2600 KW in detail, most don't have anything to do with the site, i.e. are not mentioned at all. Still they generated valuable traffic though. All of this is really crucial to this project, because soon the whole website's supposed to be relaunched with optimized URL structure and of course everything else that's need SEO wise... I'd love to hear your experiences. Thanks!!0 -
Mobile and Google Analytics
As my mobile numbers are going up in Google Analytics I'm trying to figure out what phone runs what browser. I see that 93% of mobile users have Safari which I believe is iPhone, iPad and iPods. There is a 6% usage of "Mozilla Compatible Agent". What cell phone would this be?
Reporting & Analytics | | LabadieAuto0