Session duration is defined as the total time spent by a user on your website during a single session. This measurement begins when the user first engages with your site, such as by landing on a page, and continues until they leave the site, either by closing the browser or being inactive for a period that exceeds the session timeout threshold set in Google Analytics.
Choosing the total time spent during a session is essential for understanding user engagement, as it reflects how interested users are in the content and their overall experience during that visit. By analyzing session duration, businesses can derive valuable insights into user behavior and make informed decisions about site improvements and content strategy.
The other options describe aspects related to user interactions but do not accurately capture the definition of session duration. For instance, the time between the first and last page viewed or the cumulative time across all pages may convey similar concepts but do not represent the complete picture of how long users actively interacted with the site in a single session.