SEO

Do you know what dwell time is in SEO?

Whenever you visit any site, do you ever notice how much time you invest in it? Whether you notice or not, it might not matter to you. But digital marketers, web operators, and SEO would definitely notice this. Do you know why? Because time becomes one of the biggest ranking factors for Google. Now what if I add prefix in time i.e. dwell? The complete word you get here is “Dwell time.” What’s the heck it is? You might be having this question in mind. Let me tell you that knowing the concept of dwell time is crucial for every digital marketer. Why? Because it plays a significant role in SEO.

dwell time in SEO

In this post, I will be talking about the concept of dwell time and its role in SEO. Are you ready to enlighten yourself about dwell time? If yes, keep your eyeballs here and read the article till end.

Curvearro gets the title of a leading digital marketing agency by SearchGnext in 2020.

Let’s dive in.

The notion about dwell time in internet marketing

Putting it in very simple and precise words, dwell time considers the amount of time a reader or user or visitor or Google searcher spends on your website or page. In fact, dwell time is a significant indicator to know about traffic spent on your website page. You can say that the longer dwell time would be the positive experience users will enjoy on your site. This is the reason why many SEO professionals dwell time a crucial Google ranking signal.

Let’s take an example and understand dwell time briefly here –

Suppose, you’re searching for Indian restaurants in New York, USA. The first organic search results you get, you will click on it, right. Now you will take a look at the restaurant webpage that comes up, go through the menu, and make up mind to keep looking. Finally, you then return to SERPs 3 minutes and 15 seconds later. The counted time is the dwell time for the page you just visited.

Now take a step ahead and talk about dwell time in SEO.

The relevance of dwell time in SEO

Does dwell time really matter in SEO? This is the question of many of you, right. The simple answer is ‘yes.’ If you thoroughly read the above section then I have mentioned that higher dwell time brings a positive user experience and vice-versa. Therefore, for content-oriented websites, high dwell time denotes that the page content captures the online user’s search intent. This is actually a remarkable insight as you know optimized content is the most important ranking signal for search engines. Thereby, in SEO, dwell time helps generate quality backlinks, build thought leadership brands, and improve search engine rankings.

Guys, you all know that there are many reasons due to which visitors leave your site page instantly. Some of the reasons include –

  • Spammy sites
  • Misleading content
  • Slow loading site pages
  • Content having grammatical errors
  • Not mobile-friendly website
  • Pops-up windows and ads

Here dwell time is used as a tool to determine how long a particular web page caters to visitors’ interest. You’re right; it acts as an indicator of the quality and relevancy of your page content.

Do you want to calculate dwell time of your site?

Let me clear you that there is no specific formula available to calculate dwell time. Don’t’ lose heart. The good news is that you can still calculate dwell time using the “Average Session Duration” in Google Analytics.

Just follow the given steps to calculate dwell time in GA.

  1. Firstly, log into your Google Analytics account.
  2. Click ‘Behaviour’
  3. Now click ‘Site Content’
  4. Then click ‘Landing Pages’
  5. You have to create a ‘New Segment’ and specify that you want only to view ‘Organic Traffic’
  6. Finally, you’re ready to see the metric ‘Avg. Session Duration’

This formula lets you know what’s working and what isn’t working on your website.

Few tips to increase dwell time SEO ranking

If you’re still reading this article, make sure you follow the given tips to increase your website dwell time thereby SEO ranking –

  • The first tip I want to give is that always produce longer, relevant, authentic, and unique content for your site.
  • The loading time of your site should be 2-3 seconds, more than that will compel visitors to leave your site and thereby increased bounce rate you will encounter.
  • Try to engage with your customers in comment section on your post. The more interactive you become with visitors, the higher dwell time you receive.
  • Don’t forget to embed videos to your content. People still like to watch engaging and quality videos.

If you want to avail digital marketing services and rank your website on Google’s first page, then Curvearro is here to help, check our work and contact us.

Summing it all up

Now that you know what dwell time is and its relevance in SEO, you should not underestimate it. Google also pays attention to your website and checks how much time it takes in loading and user experience. So dwell time becomes a significant ranking factor in SEO. Make sure you follow the above tips to improve the dwell time of your site.

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By Monika Gola