Microsoft Clarity splits continuous website visits into multiple recordings after internal navigation

Andrew K 0 Reputation points
2026-11-06T01:37:37.1866667+00:00

On our WordPress/WooCommerce site, Clarity sometimes ends a recording just as a visitor clicks an internal link. The next page opens normally in the same tab, but the rest of the visit can appear in a separate recording under the same Clarity User ID. Some recordings capture several page changes before this happens.

I first noticed the pattern with a Google Ads visitor and reproduced it in Chrome on my iPhone. In one Incognito test, I browsed from the homepage through product categories to a product page, all in the same tab. Clarity listed that one visit as four sessions. The sessions contained 1, 2, 1 and 3 page views, so some page transitions stayed together while others started a new recording.

Clarity is installed manually through Flatsome’s Header Scripts, and cookies are enabled in Clarity. I found no dedicated consent plugin, and Breeze’s main JavaScript optimisation settings are off. In a desktop test, several pages stayed together in one recording and the _clsk session ID stayed consistent.

Has anyone experienced this and found a fix?

Is there a way to tell why Clarity splits one visit into several recordings sometimes? If you fixed it, what worked?

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  1. AI answer

    2026-11-06T01:38:46.0066667+00:00

    Internal navigation should remain in one Clarity session while _clsk is available and the visitor has not been inactive for 30 minutes; for visitors in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, the first action is to send Clarity an explicit consent signal after consent is granted.

    Enabling Settings → Setup → Advanced settings → Cookies is not sufficient for affected visitors in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland. Clarity now requires the website to convey the visitor’s consent status. Microsoft specifically documents missing consent signals as a cause of each page visit generating a new session. Without consent, cookies cannot be used reliably and session recordings may be affected.^1^

    If your tests originated from one of those regions:

    1. Add a consent-management mechanism to the site.
    2. After the visitor grants analytics consent, invoke the Clarity consent API:
    function grantAnalyticsConsent() {
    if (typeof window.clarity === "function") {
        window.clarity("consent");
    }
}

// Call only after the visitor grants analytics consent.
grantAnalyticsConsent();

    The consent API call and syntax are documented by Clarity.^2^

    1. Clear the site’s cookies and start a fresh test.
    2. Navigate through several pages without pausing for 30 minutes.
    3. Confirm that _clsk exists and retains its value across each transition.

    Do not call the consent API before obtaining consent where consent is legally required.

    Why the same User ID can have several recordings

    Clarity uses separate identity levels:

    • _clck persists the Clarity User ID.
    • _clsk connects multiple page views into one session recording.^3^

    Therefore, the same User ID across four recordings only establishes that Clarity recognizes the browser or visitor. It does not establish that all page views were assigned the same session.

    Clarity normally captures a session until 30 minutes of inactivity. Returning afterward starts another session, including when returning to the same tab.^4^ That does not explain a continuous seven-page test, so the session boundary should be examined directly.

    Capture the exact transition where it splits

    Since JavaScript optimization is already disabled and _clsk remained stable in the successful desktop test, capture an affected test rather than repeating those checks:

    1. Open browser developer tools and enable Network → Preserve log.
    2. Clear site data and reload the homepage.
    3. Record the initial _clsk and _clck values under Application → Cookies.
    4. Navigate one page at a time, noting the time and destination URL.
    5. For each Clarity collection request, inspect its payload. Clarity payload metadata includes UserId, SessionId, PageNumber, ProjectId, and IsLastpayload.^5^
    6. At the first split, determine whether:
      • _clsk disappeared or changed;
      • the payload’s SessionId changed;
      • the tracking script was loaded or initialized again;
      • consent had not yet been communicated on the destination page.

    Also search the generated page source and tag-manager configuration for the Clarity project ID. It should be installed once per page. Do not add custom session IDs as a workaround: the Identify API’s custom identifiers are informational and do not replace Clarity’s native session stitching.

    If _clsk and consent remain valid but SessionId changes

    That is not explained by the documented 30-minute boundary or cookie-disabled behavior. Collect:

    • Clarity project ID;
    • links to the split recordings;
    • timestamps and URLs immediately before and after each boundary;
    • browser/device and visitor region;
    • a HAR export or screenshots showing _clsk and the changing payload SessionId.

    Submit these through the smiley-face support control in Clarity or email the support address listed in the Clarity FAQ.^1^ The visitor profile can help gather the entry URL, exit URL, device, browser, page count, and timestamps for every recording associated with the same Clarity ID.^6^

    References

    1. Frequently asked questions
    2. Clarity client API
    3. Cookies
    4. Recordings overview | Microsoft Learn
    5. Clarity Data Collection
    6. Visitor Profile in Clarity
    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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