How SourceLoop defines a session

A session in SourceLoop is one continuous visit, a single bounded period during which a visitor interacts with your site. Every metric on the Traffic dashboard expressed “per session” (session count, pages per session, session duration, bounce rate) depends on this definition. Per-channel and per-campaign attribution at the session level is what powers the marketing-source story.

This article covers exactly when SourceLoop starts a new session, when it ends one, and how those decisions feed into your dashboards.

What starts a new session

Four triggers can start a new session for an existing visitor:

Trigger	Example
First page view ever	A new visitor lands on your site for the first time.
30+ minutes of inactivity	The visitor was browsing, walked away from their computer, came back 45 minutes later. New session.
Attribution change	The visitor arrives with a new utm_source / utm_medium / utm_campaign, a new paid click ID, or a referring domain that maps to a different channel. New session.
Midnight (workspace timezone)	A visitor browsing at 11:50 PM keeps browsing until 12:10 AM. Two sessions, one ending at midnight, one starting.

These triggers are checked on every page view and every custom event.

What does NOT start a new session

Non-trigger	Why it doesn’t fire a new session
Tab switch	The 30-minute timer tracks tracker activity (page views, custom events, scroll pings), not tab visibility. A visitor with your tab open in the background isn’t “active” but isn’t “inactive” either; the timer doesn’t tick unless they switch back and resume.
Browser refresh	Same anonymous ID, same session, same attribution. The refresh just emits another page-view event in the same session.
Internal navigation	Clicking from /pricing to /docs to /contact is one session, regardless of how many page views.
Cross-subdomain navigation	yoursite.com → app.yoursite.com is the same session (cookies are shared on the same eTLD+1).
Cross-domain navigation with the linker	yoursite.com → yoursite-checkout.com with the cross-domain linker configured is the same session (the anonymous ID is passed via URL).

How attribution attaches to a session

Each session has exactly one set of attribution fields:

Field	Set from
Channel	The classification rules (see Channel definitions)
Source	utm_source parameter, or platform inferred from click ID, or referring domain
Medium	utm_medium parameter, or cpc/cpm/organic inferred from click ID, or organic/referral inferred from referrer
Campaign	utm_campaign parameter
Content	utm_content parameter
Term	utm_term parameter
Landing page	The URL of the first page view in this session
Referrer	document.referrer at session start
Click IDs	gclid, fbclid, msclkid, etc., from the URL on session start

Once a session starts, these values stay frozen for its duration. The visitor navigating internally on your site doesn’t change them. This is why the attribution-change trigger above is so important, it ensures each session has exactly one truthful set of attribution.

Sessions roll up into the visitor and the contact

1 contact (1 real person)
  → N anonymous IDs (1 per device/browser they've used)
    → N sessions per anonymous ID (1 per visit)
      → N page views per session (1 per page they viewed)
      → N events per session (custom events, scroll pings, conversion events)

The Traffic dashboard’s “Sessions” metric counts the sessions inside the date range. The “Visitors” metric counts unique anonymous IDs. The “Contacts” metric counts identified contacts (with an email or phone).

A single high-engagement contact who browsed your site five separate times across two weeks contributes:

• 1 contact
• 1 anonymous ID (assuming same browser each time)
• 5 sessions
• 25-or-so page views (assuming 5 pages per session)

Session-level vs visitor-level metrics

Most dashboards offer both:

Metric	Session-level	Visitor-level
Count	Number of sessions	Number of unique anonymous IDs
Conversion rate	Conversions ÷ sessions	Conversions ÷ visitors
Bounce rate	Sessions with 1 page view ÷ all sessions	Visitors who only bounced ÷ all visitors
Pages per session	Total page views ÷ session count	Total page views ÷ visitor count
Duration	Time from first to last event in a session	Sum of all sessions per visitor

For attribution work, session-level metrics are usually more meaningful. Visitor-level metrics make sense for “how engaged is my audience over time?” but session-level metrics answer “did this specific campaign produce engaged visits?”.

How session resets affect attribution

The attribution-change trigger is the one with the biggest implication. Consider:

1. 9:00 AM — Jane arrives via a Google Ads click. Session 1 begins with first-touch channel = Paid Search.
2. 10:00 AM — Jane leaves your site without converting.
3. 10:25 AM — Jane sees a LinkedIn ad in her feed and clicks it. She returns to your site. 30 minutes haven’t elapsed, but the click ID and referrer have changed, so SourceLoop starts a new session. Session 2 begins with channel = Paid Social.
4. 10:45 AM — Jane submits the demo form during Session 2.

The conversion is attributed:

• First-touch = Paid Search (Session 1’s channel — the earliest session in Jane’s identity graph)
• Last-touch = Paid Social (Session 2’s channel — the converting session)

Both touches are visible on the lead, and you can group revenue / leads by either model on the Attribution dashboard.

If SourceLoop hadn’t reset the session on the attribution change, Session 1 would still be active when the form fired, and the conversion would attribute entirely to Paid Search, hiding the role LinkedIn played in closing the deal.

What’s next

• Understand how channels are picked on each session: How SourceLoop classifies marketing channels.
• See sessions per visitor on the Contacts Hub: How to use the SourceLoop Contacts (Leads) table.
• See session-level metrics on the dashboards: Traffic dashboard.
• Pick the attribution model that scopes how sessions roll up: 7 Types of Attribution Models.