What Does Google Analytics Use To Differentiate New And Returning Users?

Concluding Updated: December 30, 2021

Agreement users in Google Analytics

In Google Analytics, a user is a person who has visited your website. If the person has visited your website for the very first fourth dimension they would be counted as a 'new user' and if a person has visited your website more than once, they would exist counted as a 'returning user'. Let'due south understand information technology more technically.

For Google Analytics, a user is a combination of a unique random number and the first timestamp. This combination is chosen 'Client ID'.

When a user visits your website for the very first time this Client ID is generated by Google Analytics script and placed in a cookie value in your browser's local storage data.

When someone visits your website, Google Analytics checks for the Client ID, if Client ID is present, Google Analytics considers them a returning user and starts a new session. If the Customer ID is not present, Google Analytics will consider them a new user and generates a new client ID

Thus, the Customer ID is made upwardly of a unique random number and the first timestamp. The first timestamp is the time of the first visit by a user or the time when the Google Analytics cookie was first set for the user.

Following is an example of a Client ID:124562358.46738999

Here, '124562358' is a unique random number and '46738999' is the get-go timestamp.

Client ID is assigned to each unique user of your website/app.

The Client ID is set by _ga cookie (which is the Universal Analytics Cookie).

Below are some of the scenarios where Google will not be able to identify the aforementioned users every bit returning users. Let us take an instance to sympathize this meliorate.

Scenario-1: A user visits your website for the get-go time from a personal laptop and Google Analytics assigns it a Client ID since it is the first visit and he/she is considered as a new user.

Scenario-2: The same user now uses his mobile device to access your website. Since Customer ID is non present, Google considers him/her as a new user. Nonetheless, he is the same user who accessed your website from a personal laptop before.

Scenario-3: If the user clears his cache and cookies, the Client ID will exist deleted and a new Client ID would be generated. Although the same user is accessing our website, Google yet considers this user as a new user since the Client ID was deleted.

Google uses two methods for calculating users.

#1 Precalculated method: T his method is used to summate users for a unmarried dimension similar date of the year, week of the year, or calendar month of the year. This calculation method is used for smaller engagement ranges where data is retrieved from the already existing tables and serves the reporting needs quickly. This is used for audience overview reports or when you build a custom report without calculation any segments.

#ii Calculated on the fly: This method is used on much larger sets of data. It takes longer than the precalculated method as information technology has to retrieve the data from the raw and unprocessed tables. Reports generated using this method may undergo sampling if certain weather condition are met, however, Google Analytics 360 users tin request unsampled reports.

The following steps volition guide you in checking Customer ID on your website:

Pace-ane: Click on the three dots in the left corner of your Chrome browser then click on 'Settings'.

Stride-2: Ringlet down and click on 'Cookies and other site data' in the 'Privacy and security' section.

Step-3: Roll down and click on 'See all cookies and site data.'

Step-4: Await for your website domain and click on information technology

Step-5: Click on "_ga" and in content you will find your Client ID

_ga cookie is made up of the following four fields:

Another simple method to check Client ID in the browser:

Step-i: Load the URL in the browser for which you lot want to check the Client ID. Let's load www.optimizesmart.com in the browser.

Step-2: Now open the programmer console by post-obit the command (ctrl+shift+I).

Step-iii: Navigate to the 'Application' tab.

Step-iv: On the left-hand side, click on the cookies and now click on https: www.optimizesmart.com as shown beneath.

Step-5: On the right-hand side, you lot would be able to see all the cookies fix for this site.

Step-half-dozen: Check for_ga cookie which is our client ID.

This is what a user looks similar to Google Analytics.

The first field is the version number like GA1.

The 2d field is the number of components at the domain separated by a dot.

By default, the _ga cookie is set on the top-level domain with the root level (/) path. And then if you have gear up a cookie at the top-level domain similar optimizesmart.com then the 2d field would have a value of ii every bit there are 2 components separated past a dot. One component is 'optimizesmart' and the second component is 'com'.

If you have ready a cookie at the sub-domain level, like analytics.optimizesmart.com, and then the 2nd field would have a value of iii as there are now three components separated by a dot. The commencement component is 'analytics'. The 2d component is 'optimizesmart'. The third component is 'com'

The third field is a random unique ID (randomly generated number). Here 908899769is the random unique id.

The fourth field is the first timestamp i.e. the time when the cookie was first set for the user. Hither 1600020018is the first timestamp.

The third and 4th fields together make the customer ID. So the customer ID would exist 908899769.160020018.

You can call up customer ID through the 'ga.getAll' method:

var clientId = ga.getAll()[0].get('clientId');

and so send information technology to Google Analytics by creating a new custom dimension (with session scope):

ga('set', 'dimension1',clientId);

By default, Customer ID cookie expiration fourth dimension is two years. For example, if you visit today and do not visit the site for 2 years so your cookie will expire and a new cookie will be generated.

Let's say you lot have visited the website today and Google Analytics assigns a Client ID to you and the Customer ID expiration time is fix to two years. However, if you go to the same site from the aforementioned browser within two years, then Google analytics volition understand that you lot are the aforementioned user and cookie expiration volition be set up to elapse two years from the time of your visit.

Let's make it more elementary, if you visit the site daily, your Client ID will non expire unless yous delete your cookies.

How Google Analytics counts new and returning users

The first fourth dimension a device (desktop, laptop, smartphone, etc) or a browser (like Chrome, Net Explorer) loads your website content, Google Analytics tracking code creates a random, unique id called the client ID and sends information technology to GA server.

This unique id is counted as a new unique user in GA. Every fourth dimension a new id is detected, GA counts a new user.

When GA detects an existing client ID in a new session, it counts it equally a returning user.

If the user deletes the browser cookies, the ID gets deleted and reset to a new client ID on their next visit to the website.

If the user switches device or browser on a return visit to your website, a new unique client ID is created and the returning user is counted as a new user, as customer ID exists only on the device/browser where information technology has been set.

That's why the client ID cannot be used to measure across devices.

New user metric allows you to identify how many people visited your website for the outset fourth dimension. These metrics can exist helpful to sympathize how your marketing campaigns are performing, whether they are able to drive new users to the site.

Returning users metric helps u.s. empathize how many people came back to your site after their first visit. For a publication or blog, information technology is expected that we should see a large number of returning users, which will help businesses empathize that users are consuming the content published on the website.

Google Analytics does not report on unique users

Google Analytics does non report on unique users anymore.

If yous go to Audience > Overview report, you can see a report like the one below:

According to Google'due south own definition:

The 'users' metric includes both new and returning users.

And so if the 'users' metric includes both new and returning users, and then certainly the number of users can't exist equal to number of unique users (or unique visitors)

So where are the number of unique users? …….They are missing.

Users != New Users + Returning Users

The total number of users reported by Google Analytics is not equal to the sum of New Users and Returning Users:

This is because Google Analytics also counts new users every bit returning users if they render within the selected time period. Thus there is an overlap betwixt new and returning users.

A new user can too be labelled every bit a returning user past Google Analytics.

Google Analytics does not accept any 'Returning Users' metric

Google Analytics did not create whatsoever metric for returning users. It is missing for no apparent reason.

Yous can only see the 'New Users' metric in GA:

Google Analytics does not report on the number of returning users past default

You need to utilise a 'returning users' advanced segment to meet the number or percentage of returning users

Visitor vs User

In the context of Google Analytics, users and visitors are the same things. Both refer to your website visitors. However, there is an exception.

While everywhere else, Google Analytics refers to website visitors as 'users', in the New vs Returning report information technology categorises website visitors as a 'new visitor' and 'returning visitor' (instead of a 'new user' and 'returning user'):

In the context of the New vs Returning report, a new company is a dimension and a new user is a metric . Similarly, in the context of the New vs Returning report, returning visitor is a dimension . Yet, there is no corresponding returning user metric. Google Analytics did not create any metric for returning user. Information technology is missing for no apparent reason.

You can only encounter the new user metric in GA. Information technology seems GA couldn't come up with a unique proper noun for the values of the user type dimension. Had GA used a new user as a dimension name, then information technology would have become impossible to differentiate between the new user dimension and the new user metric.

Client ID and User ID

Client ID is unique to the browser or device, whereas User ID represents a unique logged-in user. The main aim of the Client ID and User ID is to identify the visitors on the website.

All the same, the main aim of the User ID is to identify users across browsers and devices to provide unique IDs.

Customer ID is generated by Google Analytics cookie and doesn't need any additional configuration. However, to capture User ID, you must make boosted configurations in your Google Analytics account.

To understand more than about the difference between User ID and Client ID, refer to this article: Difference between Client ID and User ID

A person can be counted equally a new/returning user more than once

A person can return to your website via different devices and/or browsers.

Since customer ID is not shared between unlike devices and browsers (past default), the same person can be counted as a new user or returning user more than once by GA.

Also worth noting is that Google Analytics uses two unlike techniques for calculating users. Consequently, there can be discrepancies in the user count in different reports.

There is also a possibility that the same user is counted twice for different sources/mediums. For instance, If a user visits your website from organic search then afterward returns to your website via paid search within the selected fourth dimension flow then both organic search and paid search would record a visit from the aforementioned user.

You need to exist enlightened of these problems while analyzing your user'due south information.

Tips while using the Users metric in Google Analytics

#1. Don't sum your users:

From the beneath image you can see that on 1st Baronial nosotros had 1063 users and on second August we had 1188 users.

If we add together the users on both days together, it comes to 2251 just in actual fact Google Analytics is showing us that full users is 2198. If we subtract the 2198 actual user count shown by Google Analytics from our 2251 manually added sum then we get a divergence of 53 users.

In this instance, 53 users have visited your website on both days and hence Google is not counting them twice.

#2. Don't consider no. of users = no. of actual persons

Google Analytics users are based on the cookie ID stored in the local storage of a browser.

It is possible that a single person visited your website from multiple devices or multiple browsers on the same device. In this case, every time a person uses a new browser, a new client ID will be generated. But in actual fact, the person is the same.

#3. Don't consider that new user means it'south their first time visit to the website.

It happens many times that a user clears their browser cookies, visits your website from incognito mode or uses different browsers or devices.

In this case, every time Google Analytics identifies a new browser information technology assigns a new client ID to the browser even though it'due south the aforementioned user visiting your website.

Hence information technology is not wise to consider a new user every bit a first time visitor to the website.

Frequently Asked Questions nigh Google Analytics Unique vs New vs Returning Users Explained in Great Detail

How does Google Analytics define a user?

For Google Analytics, a user is a combination of unique random number and the first timestamp. This combination is called 'Customer ID'. Thus Client ID is made up of a unique random number and the starting time timestamp. The first timestamp is the time of the first visit past a user or the time when the Google Analytics cookie was kickoff set up for the user.

How does Google Analytics counts New and Returning users?

The first time a device (desktop, laptop, smartphone, etc) or a browser (like chrome, cyberspace explorer) loads your website content, Google Analytics tracking lawmaking creates a random, unique id called the client id and send it to GA server.

This unique id is counted as a new unique user in Google Analytics. Every time a new id is detected, Google Analytics counts a new user. When Google Analytics detects an existing customer ID in a new session, information technology counts it as a returning user.

Does Google Analytics report on unique users?

Google Analytics does not report on unique users anymore. According to Google's ain definition: The 'users' metric includes both new and returning users. So if 'users' metric includes both new and returning users, and so certainly the number of users can't be equal to the number of unique users (or unique visitors).
So where are the number of unique users? …….They are missing.

What is the difference between company and user in Google Analytics?

While everywhere else Google Analytics is calling website visitors equally users, in the 'New vs. Returning report' it categorize website visitors as new and returning visitors instead of new users and returning users.

New visitor is same as new user. Only in the context of 'New vs. Returning study' and technically they are different. The 'New Company' is a dimension and 'New Users' is a metric. Had Google Analytics used 'New user' every bit dimension name than it would take become very hard to differentiate between the 'New User' dimension and the 'New Users' metric.

Tin a person exist counted as new / returning user more than than once in Google Analytics?

A person can return to your website via different device and/or browser. Since client ID is not shared between different devices and browsers (by default), the same person can exist counted every bit a new user or returning user more once by Google Analytics.

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