#GA SESSION DEFINITION INSTALL#
#GA SESSION DEFINITION FREE#

How do I use Google Analytics lawfully? Do I need a cookie banner when using Google Analytics? Indicate 31536000 in the value box to change the duration to one year. Click on: Add Field and fill out the two fields below.Check this box: Enable overriding settings in this tag.Navigate to the Google Analytics Page View Tag.You can also change it in Google Tag Manager, which is even easier: The value here is noted in seconds and precisely a year. All you need to do is add the following 'cookieExpires' parameter to the script that issues the cookie. You can overwrite the default of two years directly in the script (if you have an old Google Analytics script on your website). However, you can change the cookie's duration to, for example, one year by following these steps. It's a persistent cookie that stays for two years(!). _ga is the main cookie for Google Analytics. Cookies without expiration date are called temporary cookies and are removed after you end your web session. They stay on your device even after you close the web browser. Cookies that are set with an expiration date are called persistent cookies. How long do Google Analytics cookies last?īoth first and third-party cookies can be used with or without an expiration date. If you see ads from a website you visited in the past, it means that third-party cookies are tracking you. They are mainly used for remarketing purposes. In contrast, third-party cookies are issued by other websites than the one you are visiting. The website that issues the cookies is also to only one that can read them. The difference is that first-party cookies are only issued when the user is directly using the website. Google Analytics uses first-party cookies. Is Google Analytics using first or third-party cookies? This is how Google Analytics distinguishes between unique visitors and pageviews. If Google can't find a cookie, it means it's a first-time visitor that visited the website. If there is a cookie stored, Google knows that the visitor is not unique. Whenever someone visits a website, Google Analytics looks for the cookie, which is provided by the web browser. That way, Google can identify whether someone is a unique visitor or not. The second part is a timestamp for the first time the visitor visited the page. The first part is a randomly generated number. The unique identifier consists of two parts. It consists of a version name, the first part, and a unique ID, which is the second part.

The second arrow on the screenshot indicates the value: By navigating to the 'application' (or 'storage') tab and clicking on 'cookies,' you can see which cookies are used by the specific website.Ĭookies of inspected via browserĪs you can see from the screenshot above (taken from the Indeed homepage), the cookie's name is indicated as '_ga'. You can access the cookies when you open the developer toolbar (right-click + inspect). Want to learn more about what cookies are? Check out this blog post. Determine the start and end of a session.

#GA SESSION DEFINITION INSTALL#

If you install Google Analytics to track your website performance, you need to set first-party cookies to: To understand why Google Analytics has come under pressure lately, it's key to know how it works and what implications it brings.

#GA SESSION DEFINITION FREE#

It's a free tool, but it comes at a cost. At least 86% of the websites that use an analytics tool use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is by far the most used analytics tool on the planet. Logo of Michelin Michelin chose Simple Analytics Join them How does Google Analytics work? In other words: Will there be life after Google Analytics? And what happens if they can't? Will they lose all the valuable insights as well? Organizations, especially within the EU, are questioning themselves now if they could still use Google Analytics legally. Most importantly, Meta was ordered to cease US data transfers for Facebook and fined for a record €1.2 billion in a high-profile case involving all European authorities- and for the exact same legal issues behind the rulings on Google Analytics! You can learn more about the decision here) Finland and Norway also ruled against Google Analytics- although the Norwegian decision is yet preliminary. (Update: as of June 2023, there are plenty of developments- and they are all bad news for Google. A few months later, Italy (Garante) and Denmark (Datatilsynet) joined the club. Not so long after the DSB, their french counterpart, CNIL, also stated that Google Analytics conflicts with GDPR. Various popular news outlets such as Hacker News & TechCrunch picked up on the news and spread the word. The DSB in Austria was the first to openly question the legal use of Google Analytics. 'Google Analytics might be banned in Europe.'

Ga session definition