Cookies and Sessions

A website session cookie lasts for as long as the web browser is open.

False A session cookie lasts only for the duration of a visitor's web browsing session or visit to a website. Once the browser is closed or the visitor navigates to another site, the session is over and the cookie will not be counted in the same visit if they return.

Persistent cookies are those that are still available when a web browser is closed and later reopened.

True Cookies are small text messages that a web server transmits to a web browser so that it can keep track of the user's activity on a specific website. There are two types of cookies: persistent and session cookies. Persistent cookies are those that are still available when a web browser is closed and later reopened. The length of time persistent cookies last can be set for different time periods.

You visit www.supersite.com using Chrome. You walk away from your workstation for 15 minutes, and then you return to your workstation and visit www.supersite.com using Firefox. Google Analytics would consider these visits to be part of two different sessions.

True Cookies are stored on a per-browser basis, so Google Analytics would consider the Firefox visit to be a separate session even though it occurred before the 30-minute inactivity timeout for sessions as tracked in the __utmc cookie. Because Google Analytics would also write a separate __utma persistent cookie to each browser, it would in fact identify visits from each browser as from two completely separate visitors.

For first-party cookies, only the website domain that is setting the cookie information can retrieve the cookie data.

True For first-party cookies, only the website domain that is setting the cookie information can retrieve the cookie data. This is a security feature built into all web browsers.

For the purposes of Google Analytics, "session" and "visit" mean basically the same thing.

True In Google Analytics, "session" and "visit" both define a period of activity on your website: - within a single browser - with an action (such as a pageview) executed at least every 30 minutes A new session is recorded if: - you use a different browser - you remain inactive on the website for 30 minutes and then resume activity - you arrive back on the website through a different source (for example, direct access followed by clickthrough from a referrer) - the end of the day is reached. If any of these criteria are met, the next action is considered to be part of a new session, or new visit. While "visit" is used in the Google Analytics reporting interface, "session" is used in reference to the _utmb session tracking cookie, which refreshes with each activity on your site and expires after 30 minutes of inactivity.

The __utma cookie expires two years after a user's last visit to your website, and not necessarily two years after the cookie's creation date.

True When you first visit a website that has the Google Analytics tracking code, Google Analytics writes a __utma cookie to the browser that identifies you (without any personally identifiable information) and also stores the time and day of that initial visit. The __utma cookie also records the time of each subsequent visit. Google Analytics considers the __utma cookie expired (and will therefore count a visit as new instead of returning) only if two years have elapsed since the last visit, even if the cookie was created more than two years earlier.

One browser can store multiple instances of the Google Analytics cookies.

True Your browser stores an instance of the Google Analytics cookies for each visited website that has implemented Google Analytics.

The main Google Analytics cookies have the same expiration.

False Each cookie has a different function and a different default duration: __utma (Visitor identifier cookie) has a duration of 24 months since the last session. __utmb (Session cookie) has a duration of 30 minute since last action (Page View, Event or Transaction). __utmc (Session cookie) is eliminated at the end of the Browser session. (If __utmb or __utmc is not present when an action occurs, Google Analytics records the action as part of a new visit.) __utmz (Traffic Source cookie) lasts 6 months. __utmv (Custom variable cookie) lasts 6 months. This cookie is not present if custom variables are not implemented.

Google Analytics uses cookies to track: how many first-time visitors a site has received how many times a visitor returns to a website the original source of return visitors how much time has passed between visits

Google Analytics uses the __utma cookie to determine: - how many first-time visitors a site has received - how many times a visitor returns to a website - how much time has passed between visits Google Analytics stores the source (such as search engine, referring site, or campaign) in the __utmz cookie. Although cookies can be used to store and present personalized information, such as a welcome-back message after login, Google Analytics does not store personally identifiable information.

A third-party cookie is one that operates in the background and is:

Sometimes associated with embedded content that is delivered by another domain. Not directly requested by the visitor. Usually associated with online advertisements. There are two types of cookies: first-party and third-party. A first-party cookie is one created by a website domain. A visitor requests it directly by typing the URL or by following a link. A third-party cookie is one that operates in the background and is usually associated with advertisements or embedded content that is delivered by a third-party domain not directly requested by the visitor.

Which of the following Google Analytics cookies are used to define a session?

__utmb The Google Analytics tracking code uses __utmb as the primary means of defining a session. ("Session" is synomymous with "visit".) The __utmb cookie is refreshed each time tracking code executed or otherwise expires after 30 minutes of inactivity. Thus, a separate visit occurs in a browser that you haven't used to view any pages on your website in the last 30 minutes. The other two triggers for a new session are 1)the end of the day or 2) a new traffic source for that same visitor using the same browser. On a related note, if __utma is present, Google Analytics considers the visit to be for a returning visitor; otherwise, it's a new visitor.