Dwell Time Good or Bad for SEO?
There is a lot of noise on the web about the meaning of dwell time. How is it measured? Can it be measured? Is it good or bad?
First of all what exactly is dwell time? Dwell time is an amalgam of bounce rate and time-on-site metrics. It is the actual length of time that a visitor spends on a website page, advertisement or buying goods and services before returning to the search engine results page (SERP). The average dwell time on these things is about 4.7 seconds.
It can be measured but it is not very straight-forward. By looking at the metrics of time on website and bounce rate in analytics, we can get an idea of your users’ engagement, giving us an idea of dwell time. If you know your website's bounce rate, CTR and time-on-page, this can give you a good idea of your dwell time. Here is, of course, where good content comes into play. Good website content will keep people engaged and increase your time-on-page and dwell time, and lessen your bounce rate.
Does dwell time effect Google rankings? We think yes. Remember the number 1 thing Google wants users to be when using Google is satisfied with the first search results and for users to click on it and not to hit the back button to the SERP. Google revealed that the number 1 and 2 ranking factors were quality links and rich content. So Google does measure the user experience, through dwell time, and this influences your rankings.
Since Google uses dwell time to influence your website's ranking, how can you improve your website's dwell time? Here are 5 critical tips to improve dwell time:
- Add High-Quality Content
- Target the Right Keywords
- Improve Page Load Time
- Use Internal Linking
- Good Website Design
If you have been following along dwell time, bounce rate, and time on a website all come down to quality links and rich content. So if you have been updating your website experience all along, then you might only have a few more things to do to move up on the SERP.
If you are concerned your current website is not performing well or you would like a website evaluation please contact Penguin Suits. We can help you take an in-depth look at your website’s performance and help make it work better for you and become a lead generation machine.
