Why is Dwell Time Important? 3 Ways to Improve it!

Dwell time is one of those less talked about SEO tactics. Why is dwell time important? Why would you want to spend time improving this for your target audience?

Like most business owners, you want to ensure that your website is performing well in search engine results pages (SERPs). And if you’re not already focusing on dwell time, you should be.

Dwell time is a key metric that SEOs use to determine the quality of a website’s content.

How to increase dwell time may serve you well in improving your SERP and organic traffic. 

Contrary to popular belief, SEO isn’t just about hitting the sweet spot in keyword density or hitting the ideal word count.

There are other, lesser-known SEO tactics, that are equally as important to get and keep your site ranking high.

Today we are going to discuss one of those ‘lesser known’ SEO tactics… Dwell time!

Table of contents

What is dwell time?

Dwell time, also known as time on page, is a measure of how long someone spends viewing a single page on a website before leaving it. It is often used in search engine optimization (SEO) as a metric for evaluating the success and engagement of a webpage. It is possible to view your website web page’s dwell time on Google Analytics.

 “dwell time is the length of time a person spends looking at a webpage after they’ve clicked a link on a SERP page, but before clicking back to the SERP results.” 

According to Search Engine Journal

Here’s why this is important… 

The “dwell time” of a website is actually very important because, without this metric, it makes it difficult for your website to secure higher rankings on SERP results pages.

This is especially true when you want your site to rank super high because to do so, you need to make sure that your website has content that will make visitors want to stay on your site.

Dwell time can be affected by various factors such as the design and layout of the page, the relevance and quality of content, and even external factors such as slow loading times or distractions from other tabs or notifications.

As such, improving dwell time can often lead to better SEO performance and increased conversions.

How to calculate dwell time?

The dwell time calculation involves subtracting the time a user first accesses a webpage from when they return to the SERP or leave the site entirely.

It is important to note that dwell time can only be measured for individual users, not for overall site traffic.

Dwell time can provide valuable insight into the effectiveness and relevance of your website and its content, helping inform future optimization efforts.

Additionally, dwell time is becoming increasingly weighted in search engines’ algorithms, making it more important than ever for companies to monitor and improve this metric.

Should you just focus on dwell time?

However, it is important to note that dwell time should not be the sole focus in SEO efforts, as it only provides insight into one aspect of user behavior. I

Instead, it should be analyzed in conjunction with other metrics, such as bounce rate and click-through rate. All in all, understanding dwell time can prove valuable for optimizing and improving websites for both users and search engines.

Ultimately, the more that your users are scrolling, browsing, and clicking on your site (aka – ‘dwelling’) – the better for your SEO.

What is the impact of poor dwell time?

In terms of search engine optimization, it is important for websites to have high dwell time to rank higher on search engine results pages.

A low dwell time can negatively impact a website’s performance, as it signals to search engines that users are not finding the content relevant or engaging. For any web page with a low dwell time will also have a poor bounce rate.

Average session duration will also be adversely affected. This will also be a Google ranking signal to rank your web pages lower in search results.

Additionally, low time on page, can also lead to lower conversion rates and decreased user experience. Improving dwell time can involve creating more engaging and relevant content, improving page design and navigation, and promoting shareable content that encourages longer visits.

Ultimately, addressing poor dwell time is crucial for a website’s success in attracting and retaining users.

How to increase dwell time?

Here are three ways to improve the dwell time SEO of a website:

Shutterstock by Rawpixel.com

#1 – Publish quality content

Is the content or information on your site trustworthy or of any value to your readers? Is it written engagingly and interestingly? Can you retain your visitors with your website content, and make sure they don’t stray toward your competitors’ content?

If you can confidently answer all the above questions then it means that your site has trustworthy quality content. This very likely means you’re on the right track to success and that your site’s average dwell time is pretty good!

When it comes to website success, engaging content is key. Not only does well-written and informative content improve a website’s dwell time, or the average amount of time that a visitor stays on the site, but it can also have an impact on search engine optimization (SEO).

In fact, one aspect that search engines use to rank websites is the time on page, or how long visitors are spending on individual pages.

Great content keeps readers engaged and encourages them to spend more time on the page, signaling to search engines that the website is valuable and should be ranked higher. Engaging content can increase session duration and help reduce bounce rate.

If users like your site content, they will be more likely to visit more web pages. This will signal to Google that your content keeps your readers interested and will ultimately lead to improving your search results.

So for businesses looking to improve their online presence, investing in quality content should be a top priority.

#2 – Make sure your site is easy to navigate

Even if you do your best to make sure the quality of your website content is the cream of the crop, but no one can figure out how to navigate your site, then all effort put into your content is in vain. 

Ensuring that the “dwell time” is long enough means that your site needs to be user-friendly and easy to navigate.

When designing a website, you need to make sure that each page layout is simple and clear. Maybe even spend and spend a little more effort selecting font types – because they do matter.

Careful consideration should also be taken for mobile devices through responsive design. By ensuring that the page layout adjusts to fit the screen size, users are able to navigate and consume content more seamlessly.

In addition, optimizing page load speed can also have a significant impact on dwell time. Slow-loading pages can lead to frustration and higher bounce rates, so it’s important to prioritize speed when designing for mobile.

Finally, incorporating interactive elements such as surveys or quizzes can encourage users to stick around and engage with the content longer. By implementing these strategies, companies can improve their dwell time and boost mobile conversions.

For both desktop and mobile, the color scheme and menu layout also matter, by the way, so don’t forget that!

Once you make sure your site is super sexy and easy on the eyes, sit back, and watch your dwell time grow, baby!

Dwell time SEO is important for SERP

#3 – Brand reputation

Last but not least, branding. Branding is the most important component of any business, and it can have an enormous impact on your dwell time.

Good branding doesn’t happen overnight, but when you have a solid brand, it means that you have trust, which means people will be more willing to spend time on your site. 

So be sure to focus on keeping your branding a tight and consistent as possible. Maintaining a good reputation is the most important strategy to ensure optimal online performance because it can indirectly increase your SEO ranking.

Final Thoughts 

The above points are important factors to make your dwell time super impressive. In order to optimize your company’s website to reach more audiences, it is essential for digital marketers to pay more attention to these factors and not let these opportunities flow away. If you still have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact our digital marketing specialists!

We invite you to have a look at our reputation management services which can help you with your dwell time.

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