First session internal: other reasons then cookie deletion?

For data modelers & consumers
1

In our data, we often see it happen that the very first sessions of a domain_userid has as refr_medium ‘internal’. I want to know the reasons why this can happen.

Clearly, when cookies have been deleted with the website still open, and the user continues using the website, this will result in a first session of a domain_userid to have a refr_medium equal to ‘internal’.

Moreover, this could happen when data of the actual first page view does not enter the database, due to for example bad rows. Hence, only the second page view makes it to the database, it being internal.

Are there any other reasons why this may happen?

UPDATED:
When a website has an internal redirect when entering the website, this also results in an internal session.

2

Hi @Marjoo,

It’s also possible that the user previously had events that failed validation, or that something in your referer parser config has set an external site to ‘internal’.

Best,

3

@Colm Thank you for your response. Do events that fail validation end up in the bad rows? Or don’t they even reach the collector or something?

4

Do you have your tracker running on multiple domains? That would cause this as the session data is tied to the domain cookie.

5

Thanks for your response! This is not the case, but still a true statement. I think it is a good place to gather insights in this overall.