What is Dwell Time?
Dwell time is the amount of time that passes between clicking one of the search results and heading back to them. It’s not the same thing as bounce rate, time on page, or any other metric in Google Analytics.
Example
Let’s say you click on a search result, stay on the page for two minutes, then click back to the search results. Your dwell time on that page is two minutes.
How Does Dwell Time Differ from Bounce Rate and Time on Page?
Bounce rate and time on page are different metrics unrelated to dwell time. They’re only similar in the sense that they’re measures of user activity or engagement.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that take no further action after landing on a web page. It has nothing to do with whether they go back to the search results.
Time on Page
Time on page is how long a visitor spends on a page before going somewhere else. That could be back to the search results, to another page on your website, or to a different website.
Is Dwell Time a Ranking Factor?
Nobody knows for sure as there’s no official statement from Google. We know they’ve used it to train models, but not if or how these influence live algorithms. Google employees have said many times that clicks data is unreliable and that it’s not a ranking factor.
Despite this, many believe it could be a ranking factor. There are many scenarios where shorter dwell time is an indication of quality. For example, anytime someone is looking for a quick piece of reference information, such as a zip code or phone number for a business.
Best Practices for Improving Dwell Time
Ranking factor or not, you can’t improve dwell time because there’s no way to calculate it. That’s because search engines don’t share dwell time data. So it’s better to focus on doing what you can to improve searcher satisfaction and engagement. Let’s look at a few ways to do that.
1. Hook Readers in the Intro
People have short attention spans. Unless you can grab their attention right away, they’ll head back to the search results. You can do this with a proven intro formula like the Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) formula.
2. Keep Search Intent in Mind
People have a goal in mind when they search Google for something. We call this their search intent. You can often get a clear idea of intent from the keyword itself, but not always.
3. Don’t Clickbait
People choose search results based largely on their title tag and meta description. If they’re misleading, they’ll hit the back button. Make sure your content delivers what your title and description promise.
4. Cover Relevant Subtopics
People don’t always want the answer to one question when searching in Google. And even if they do, finding that answer can often lead to more questions. Covering relevant subtopics can keep searchers consuming your content for longer.
5. Keep Content Up to Date
People don’t want outdated content for some search queries. Regularly update your content to ensure it remains relevant and useful.
6. Add Internal Links to Useful Resources
People are less likely to head back to the search results if they have an alternative path. You can give them this by adding internal links to other useful resources.
FAQs
Who Created Dwell Time?
Duane Forrester, former Senior Project Manager at Bing, was the first to mention dwell time in his 2011 blog post. He explained that the time between when a user clicks on a search result and returns to them tells a potential story.
How Do You Calculate Dwell Time?
You can’t calculate dwell time because search engines don’t share this data. But, in theory, it’s the time between a user clicking on your result in the search results and clicking back to them.
What is the Average Dwell Time?
Nobody knows because search engines don’t share dwell time data. Even if they did, knowing the average isn’t very useful. It’s likely to vary by industry, intent, and many other factors.
Learn more about improving user engagement and SEO performance on the Ranktracker Blog and explore our SEO Glossary for more terms and definitions.
