: Optimize user session duration with AdWords in addition to conversion tracking? We've set conversion tracking with our e-commence website in our thank you page for conversion tracking (when user

@Rambettina238

Following up on Oliver13, indeed the session duration in Google Analytics is not a good measurement. In addition, the data is usually averaged, so it does not really make sense to analyze it.

To circumvent this shortcoming, I suggest you to use another tool, such as Mouseflow, which records the exact session length. If you have the time and the will, you can analyze those sessions carefully (that is, one by one) and make your conclusion. It is a lengthy process, but you will learn a lot about your users.

However, you will need to change your target URL (and add {keyword}) to the target URLs of Adwords so you will be able see which keyword triggered the ad on which the user clicked. Auto-tagging (which you probably use) prevents the target URL from having any identifiable information on the campaign/keyword that triggered the ad.

So, instead of
example.com/page?gclid=23kjs8du34dd

You better have:
example.com/page?gclid=23kjs8du34dd&dummyparameter={keyword}

Then you can sort and group the pages/users according to the keyword.

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@Barnes591

While I'm not sure I understand every detail of your question (what do you mean by spending report? E-Commerce section of GA? Custom report?), this sounds like sth. that should be fairly easy to implement. But you should probably ask yourself: Is it helpful? Is a long visit duration a better one or just one where the user needed longer to understand your website? Is a short duration a bad one because he leaves early or is it because they're finding what they're looking for without issues?

Also, be aware that Google Analytics tracks duration between page visits on your website, meaning the last page will not be timed.

With all that in mind, think about a better metric like funnel tracking e.g., or meaningful websites they visited. If you still plan on tracking visit duration, there are some reports in GA that already contain the information and you can also set up a goal to track this.

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