Why are Google Analytics Dashboard statistics changing?

Question

Background:

I have a Google Analytics account using which I am tracking user activity for web and mobile app. After logging into your account and choosing the web property and the corresponding view, you generally see a dashboard with quick stats like Pageviews, Users, Sessions, Pages/Sessions, Avg. Session Duration, Bounce Rate and percentage of new sessions. You can change the time period (from the top right area of the Dashboard) to get the same stats for that period.

Problem:

Last week, I was interested in the three main stats: Page views, Users and Sessions for a particular day - say, day A. The dashboard showed the following stats:

Pageviews - 1,660,137
Users - 496,068
Sessions - 983,549

This report was based on 100% of sessions.

I go back to the dashboard TODAY and check the same stats for the same day A. Here's what I saw:

Pageviews - 1,660,137
Users - 511,071
Sessions - 1,005,517

This report is also based on 100% of sessions.

Nothing was changed in the tracking code for the web and mobile app. Could someone explain why I have this difference in the stats? Is this normal?

Answer 1

They need some time to update the system, otherwise their system would overwhelm

Answer 2

When you first create a profile it can take up to 48 -72 hours for it to start showing data.

After that time data will appear instantly in the Real-time reports.

Standard reports take longer to finish processing. You need to remember the amount of data that is being processed. Some of the data may appear in the standard reports after a few hours. The numbers have not completed processing for at least 24 hours, so anything you look at then will not be accurate.

When checking Google Analytics never look at todays or yesterdays numbers in the standards reports, if you want accurate information. Things get even more confusing when you consider time zones. When exactly is it yesterday? I have noticed numbers changing as far back as 48 hours. But Google Says in there documentation 24 hours. I am looking for the link in the documentation will post it when I find it.

Found it: Data Limits

Data processing latency

Processing latency is 24-48 hours. Standard accounts that send more than 200,000 sessions per day to Google Analytics will result in the reports being refreshed only once a day. This can delay updates to reports and metrics for up to two days. To restore intra-day processing, reduce the number of sessions you send to < 200,000 per day. For Premium accounts, this limit is extended to 2 billion hits per month.

So try doing the same thing again today but check your last day being Monday. When you check again next week the numbers should be correct.