Q: Our session count looked 25% too high — was the timeout setting to blame?
A: A content site with long-read articles saw users 'returning' every few minutes. Readers who paused to read past 30 minutes triggered brand-new sessions:
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Admin → Data Streams → Configure tag settings → Adjust session timeout
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Raised the timeout from the default 30 minutes to 1 hour
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Compared two equal 30-day windows before and after
Session count dropped 24% and average engagement time per session rose 41%, because long reads stayed in one session. Users and conversions were unchanged — only the session math corrected.
TL;DR: Long-engagement sites split one visit into many at the 30-min default. Raising session timeout consolidated sessions without losing real data.
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Q: Our session count looked 25% too high — was the timeout setting to blame?
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