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All of these settings apply to new data only. Changing an exclusion rule doesn't delete visits that are already stored; changing the session timeout doesn't re-merge sessions that were already cut. The best time to set them is right after installing, while there is little data.
Time zone
Where: Configuration › Settings.
Dates, "today", "yesterday" and every daily point on a chart follow the project time zone. Typical symptoms of a wrong zone: your early-morning traffic peak shows up in the afternoon, or yesterday's number is still growing this morning.
After a change, each new day is cut by the new zone. Daily totals from before are not recalculated.
Excluding yourself and staging
Where: exclusion rules under Website analytics › Configuration › Website settings.
On a small site the team's own visits can be a large share of traffic, and they distort conversion and bounce rates. You can exclude by:
- Exclude me — records your current visitor identifier in one click. Good for individuals and small teams.
- Path — for example
/admin/*or/preview, so admin and preview pages stay out of reports. Rules with*match as wildcards. - Host name — when staging and production share a project, exclude the staging host.
- User agent — for internal uptime checks, screenshot services and similar fixed agents.
You can exclude in two places: the script's data-exclude attribute stops sending in the browser, and project rules drop data on the collector. Project rules take effect immediately without redeploying your site, so they are usually the better choice.
Apps and mini programs can exclude test devices and versions separately; until you add their own rules they follow the website rules.
Session rules
Where: Sessions & channels on the same page.
A session is one visit. By default:
- After 30 minutes without activity, the next action starts a new session. Adjustable from 5 to 720 minutes.
- A session lasts at most 24 hours.
- If a visitor comes back mid-session from another external site, or through a link with different UTM tags, a new session starts under the new source. Internal navigation, reloads and returns from a payment page don't split a session.
Content sites whose readers leave a tab open for a long time can raise the idle timeout. Tools and apps usually keep the default.
Site search parameter
If your site has a search box, the results page usually carries the query in its address, such as /search?q=refund. The parameters s, q and search are recognised by default. If your site uses another name — keyword, say — add it in website settings so reports can read the search terms.
Data retention
Where: Configuration › Settings › Privacy.
Retention decides how long detailed data is kept. It can be shorter than your plan allows, never longer: up to 6 months on Free and 12 months on Pro. Expired detail is deleted by a scheduled job; summary trends stay. Shortening retention can't be undone, so be sure before you save.
Related
- I installed the snippet but see no data — a wrong exclusion rule can also look like "no data".
- Script attributes reference — the switches on the browser side.