What is a Session?
A session is a continuous sequence of interactions (queries, clicks, cart actions) tied to a visitor via a session ID and a timeout (e.g., 30 minutes of inactivity). It underpins analytics, A/B tests, personalization, and fraud controls.
How It Works (quick)
- Start/identify: Create session ID on first hit; store in a cookie/storage with consent.
- Timeout: End after inactivity or on explicit close; start a new one on return.
- Track events: Query, facet change, result click, add-to-cart, checkout steps.
- Attribution: Stitch sessions to campaigns and referrers; respect privacy.
- Aggregation: Build metrics like CTR@k, add-to-cart rate, and reformulations per session.
Why It Matters in E-commerce
- Journey insight: See where users drop and what queries convert.
- Tuning: Train learning-to-rank and related searches with session paths.
- Fair tests: Session-level bucketing keeps A/B exposure consistent.
Best Practices
- Consent & privacy: Don’t start tracking without consent where required; avoid PII in IDs.
- Single source of truth: One session cookie across subdomains; stable timeout (e.g., 30 min).
- Event schema: Standard names/fields; include locale, device, currency.
- Sampling: Keep raw logs but roll up session metrics daily.
- Bots & staff: Exclude internal IPs and known bots.
Challenges
- Cross-device stitching, ad blockers, ITP cookie limits, and time-zone normalization.
Examples
- Session shows: 3 queries → 1 facet → 2 clicks → add-to-cart → purchase.
- Zero-result query at minute 2 followed by related search click that converts.
Summary
Sessions group actions into meaningful journeys. With consent, clean IDs, and a standard event model, they power trustworthy analytics and smarter search tuning.
