Session and campaign timeout handling

Set how long sessions and campaigns can last.

This feature is only available for properties using Universal Analytics. Learn how to set up Universal Analytics or upgrade from Classic Analytics to Universal Analytics.

Sessions and campaigns end after a specific amount of time passes. By default, sessions end after 30 minutes and campaigns end after 6 months. You can change the settings so sessions and campaigns end after the specified amount of time has passed.

The length of a session and campaign depends on your site and business. Here are a few ideas to get you started thinking about session and campaign timeouts:

  • If your site automatically signs a user out after being inactive for a certain amount of time, set the session timeout to match that length of time.
  • Lengthen the session time if you have a lot of content and expect users to take a long time engaging with that content. Conversely, shorten the session time if the site has a small amount of content.
  • Set the campaign timeout handling to the same amount of time the campaign is going to run or expected to be relevant. Clicks to a social media micro-campaign might not be relevant for more than a few days after launch.

Campaign timeout cannot be greater than 2 years. Sessions cannot be less than 1 minute or greater than 4 hours.

Change session and campaign timeout settings

These settings are applied in the admin settings of each property in your account. To change these settings:

  1. Navigate to a property. If you're not in the settings menu, click Admin. Select the account and property you want to edit.
  2. From the property column, click Tracking Info then Session Settings.
  3. Under Timeout Handling, use the controls to set Session timeout and Campaign timeout.
  4. Click Apply.

Learn more about setting session timeout and campaign timeout in your tracking code.