The importance of Dwell Time is one of the often ignored aspects of Search Engine Optimization.
Most SEOs focus on how to get traffic to their site and don't pay attention to how to retain them there.
To understand whether the audience adores the content on your website, all you need to do is simply look into the dwell time.
Having a longer dwell time indicates that you're providing quality solutions to solve your users’ intent.
In this post, we'll talk about some practical tips on how to increase dwell time to boost your SEO score.
We'll first look at what dwell time is and why it matters in terms of SEO. Following that, we will briefly discuss how to measure it before concluding the post with some solid strategies on how to increase dwell time.
What is Dwell Time
Dwell time is the amount of time a user spends on a web page after clicking on the search results and before heading back to the search engine result pages (SERP).
In simple words, Dwell time is a count of how much time visitors stay on a page after clicking on a search result.
For example, let’s say you’re looking for “best laptops for video editing”. So you search for it on Google.
Now you click on the very first organic search result. However, the page seems hard to navigate and its information is hard to understand.
So you hit the back button and head back to the search engine results pages after only 5 seconds. The dwell time in this case is only 5 seconds.
Then you click on the second organic search result, and this time the page is easy to navigate and the content is very simple and straightforward. This time, you end up spending 5 minutes there before heading back to the search engine results pages. The dwell time is pretty long here.
Now let's talk about the importance of dwell time in SEO. Then we'll go over how to calculate and increase your dwell time to boost your SEO score.
Importance of Dwell Time
Even though Google has never publicly stated that dwell time is a ranking factor from an SEO standpoint, Bing actually utilizes Dwell Time in their algorithm.
However, there are some hints that Google utilizes Dwell Time as a ranking factor.
According to a Google Engineer, “So when search was invented, like when Google was invented many years ago, they wrote heuristics that had figure out what the relationship between a search and the best page for that search was. And those heuristics worked pretty well and continue to work pretty well. But Google is now integrating machine learning into that process. So then training models on when someone clicks on a page and stays on that page, when they go back or when they and trying to figure out exactly on that relationship.”
In other words, The amount of time someone spends on a page is EXTREMELY important.
That is the Dwell time.
Dwell Time (v/s) Bounce Rate (v/s) Time on Page
There is a possibility that you may confuse Dwell time with Bounce Rate and Time on Page.
To clear your confusion, they all mean different things.
A bounce happens once a visitor lands on a page but exits without clicking anything or interacting further. Bounce rate basically measures user sessions during which they did not interact with the website.
On the flipside, the difference between “Time on Page” and “Dwell Time” is whether the visitor moved to another page on your website. With time on page, they must visit a second page on your website for Google Analytics to keep track of the session.
For example, let's say If a user visits one page in one go, Google Analytics will show time on page for that session as zero.
How To Calculate Dwell Time
There is no direct way for calculating dwell time.
As an alternative to Dwell Time, you can use Google Analytics' "Average Session Duration" for organic traffic.
It's not an exact measure of dwell time. Average session duration tracks the amount of time a user spends on the whole website instead of one page.
However, knowing how long visitors stay on your website will help you to determine how engaged they are.
So that’s how you can get an idea about the dwell time of your site.
How to Incease Dwell Time
Here are few ways that can help you increase the dwell time of your website:
1. Understand Search Intent
If your goal is to increase dwell time, one of the most vital things you can do is make sure your web pages match the searcher intent. This way, you'll know that the visitors you receive are relevant and likely to stick around.
You'll lose users if your page doesn't provide them with the solution they need. You should always consider user intent when creating your landing page. Provide them with content that helps them reach their goals.
2. Create Curiosity Hook
You only have one chance to make a good first impression from the search engine results pages.
You must strive to "hook" visitors to your site right away.
This is typically achieved at the beginning of your content. Make an introduction that explains what types of concepts are covered in the content, what are the valuable things that can solve their problems.
Visitors will quickly notice how their concerns will be addressed and they'll get to keep reading through the content.
3. Improve Your Site Speed
Having fast-loading web pages is key to making a great first impression - and preventing visitors from clicking the back button.
Furthermore, as visitors scroll down your page, if they see that the images aren't loading properly, they may choose to leave your site right away.
Thus, following SEO best practices for fast load time is super important to improving dwell time.
4. Embed Relevant Videos
Embedding relevant videos can greatly increase the Dwell Time of your web page.
Some effective video marketing strategies for increasing dwell time include using an eye-catching thumbnail, customer testimonials, skyscraper videos, and popular videos from popular YouTube channels.
A lot of folks may become bored with reading too much text, so spice up the page by embedding videos, images, infographics, and other multimedia contents to keep your readers engaged on your site.
In addition to increasing dwell time, embedding multimedia content can increase traffic to your site. For example, embedding a YouTube video in your blog post could drive more traffic to your YouTube channel.
On the other hand, including a link to other videos in your niche shows search engines that you value your entire community as well as your company.
5. Nail Internal Linking
Dwell time is actually the time someone stays on your web page before heading back to the SERPs — which simply means including internal links is a brilliant good way to keep them engaged on your site for more time.
The most important thing is to make sure that the links are relevant to the topic of the content. For example, a blog post about SEO should link to other posts about image optimization or schema markup rather than WordPress designing.
6. Leverage Comments Section
People love to read comments. They are super interested in reading what others have said.
It takes longer for people to dwell on a page as they read others’ comments or add their own.
7. Slice Up Your Content
Make sure that your content is super simple to read.
As you hook your visitor with an introduction your visitors are drawn in and eager to keep reading after your evoking introduction.
Now you can use H2 headings and divide your content into smaller chunks.
You can also make your content easy by converting succinct lists into bullet points.
Another smart idea to engage visitors is to use result-oriented screenshots, gifs and other visuals to describe the topics.
In conclusion, you need to talk about what your readers are supposed to do next.
By doing this, you not only qualify your content but also demonstrate your accountability to your visitors.
8. Use Skyscraper Technique
The Skyscraper Technique is a link-building strategy introduced by Brian Dean of Backlinko as a way of creating engaging, in-depth, long-form content that deals with each part of the problem.
The skyscraper technique basically involves finding a popular topic, producing better content than what's on the first page of the search engine results, and then promoting it to the right people.
Longer content typically attracts more visitors. More effective content increases dwell time because it takes longer to read.
Furthermore, long-form content will naturally contain more keywords, which allows it to rank for more than one search term.
9. Implement PPA Strategy
PPA stands for “People Also Asked”.
PPA strategy refers to responding to some of the most frequently asked questions about the topic you presented.
People enjoy reading the questions that others have raised.
So you can create a specific section titled "Frequently Asked Questions" to cover all the questions that you've compiled after your research.
That way you will keep your visitors engaged on your site and enjoy more dwell time.
10. Create Interative Sections
Interactive content not simply retains users on site, additionally it can also improve the UX.
You can, for example, create sections for relevant and useful quizzes, polls, or downloadable files or anything that you think is valuable for your visitors.
11. Avoid Clickbait Technique
People mostly select search results by looking at the title tag and meta description. If they are misled, they will immediately click the back button and exit your website.
12. Avoid Too Much Advertising
There’s nothing wrong with little advertising, however some people take extra advantage of the opportunity.
Excessive advertising, such as repeated pop-up ads, can be intimidating and lead visitors to leave your website.
13. Mobile Optimization
Very importantly, your site must be mobile-friendly.
You need to design your website with mobile users in mind since they make up more than half of all search traffic across the globe.
If your website is difficult to use on a mobile device, you will lose an enormous number of visitors.
To identify errors that need to be fixed, go to Google Search Console and look in the "Mobile Usability" section.
To get more information on specific errors, you can refer to the Google support documentation link.
14. New Tab Redirection
Make sure all of your links open in new tabs or new windows, whether they are to internal pages on your website or external resources.
In this way, the user's browser will keep the current page open, giving you more dwell time while they're on another web page.
15. Prioritize User Experience
User experience may play a significant role in lower dwell time, especially at the top of the page, as visitors who are not satisfied with your UX are unlikely to stay around.
If your article doesn't strike resonance with readers right away, this could be a significant factor leading to lower dwell time.
16. Keep Updated Content
People do not want outdated information for certain search queries.
For example, if you talked about "best smartphones under 50K," you should update your article whenever a better smartphone under the budget comes out.
Furthermore, updated content tells Google that it is a more valuable resource that should be ranked higher.
Dwell Time As KPI
Dwell time is one of the most important key performance indicators that deserve to be measured. Dwell Time increases, meaning the website is providing proper and engaging content that meets the needs of the users.
A decrease in dwell time, on the other hand, indicates that the website's design and content need to be improved because it does not provide the user with what they are looking for.
Use the above strategies to keep your organic traffic engaged. If you can keep your users engaged for a long enough period of time, almost any incoming organic lead has the potential to become a paying customer.
FAQs
Q. What is a good dwell time?
A good dwell time depends on a variety of factors, including your niche, the type of content etc. But instead of focusing on the average number, use the techniques you just learned to increase your site's Dwell Time.
Q. What is the difference between Pogo-Sticking and Dwell Time?
Pogo-sticking refers to the act of a searcher quickly switching between pages of search results. Dwell Time is specifically the amount of time a searcher spends on a page before returning back to the search engine result pages. Both are maybe similar in nature, however they are distinctly different.
Q. Is Dwell Time a Ranking Factor?
Bing was the first search engine to mention dwell time. According to Google, it's not a direct ranking signal. However, measuring engagement metrics is always advantageous to improving your overall SEO score.
Final Thoughts
Whether or not dwell time is a ranking signal, improving the amount of time visitors spend on your site is a very good SEO strategy.
You can make your web pages more engaging, provide an improved user experience for your visitors, and conceivably boost conversions by implementing the dwell time improvement strategies listed above.
