According to Google, time on page refers to the amount of time that a visitor spends on a web page before moving on to another page. You will see this web metric after you login to your Google analytics account, and you should definitely pay attention to it. One thing that you have to know is that this metric does not include exit pages. Exit pages are included in the time on site metric, and it is also important that you keep an eye on this information as it will show you the number of readers who come to your website, spend a few seconds looking around, and then move on to another website.
Longer time on page and time on site can give you favorable rankings in Google, because it means that you are providing the kind of information that searchers are trying to locate with their searches. If your visitors leave your website after spending just a few seconds there, it means that your website does not have the information that they are looking for. Google will take note of visitors who failed to find what they need at your website, and it will lower your rankings on search engine results pages. This will eventually lead to a decline in your incoming traffic.
What is a Good Time on Page?The ideal time on page varies from one web page to another, and you have to decide for yourself what length of time you should aim for. Here are some things that you have to take into consideration:
Length of Written ContentIf you have a short article or post in your web page, it will probably take just a few minutes for your visitors to read it. It is almost a guarantee that they will spend at least several minutes at your web page. Articles that are more than 1,000 words long can give you longer time on page, but it is less likely that your visitors will finish reading them. If you want to post long articles in your web pages, you have to make sure that they are engaging enough to keep readers interested from start to finish.
Type of ContentThe type of written content that you have on your web page also has a significant effect on the time on page:
• Generally, articles that offer useful tips and reviews will make visitors stay on a web page for a longer time. These articles are engaging to readers because they enable them to learn something new and gain in-depth information on something that they are interested in. The readers also have to spend time to digest the information, resulting in longer time on page.
• Articles that do not contain easy-to-find or specific information can give you long time on page figures. However, they can also result in very short time on page if they are not engaging enough. Your visitors may not have the patience to read the entire article to look for the information they want.
• Articles that are mostly made up of links usually do not give you good time on page. Your visitors will just scan through the articles, look for links that interest them, click on the links, and leave your web page.
• If your web page has many charts, it is also likely that your visitors will not stay there for a long time. Charts provide an easy and efficient way for your visitors to view information, enabling them to get all the information they need in just a minute or two.
• Short stories and poems can also increase the amount of time that your visitors stay in your web page. People usually spend some time pondering over poems and short stories after they read them, and this will give you longer time on page.
• It is a good idea to have a comment section on your web page, because it takes a fair amount of time for your visitors to write a comment.
How to Use Google AnalyticsThe average time on site for a chosen time period is displayed on the dashboard. To find out the time on page for a certain web page and the average time on page for all your web pages, you have to click on “view report” under “content” first, and again under “top content”. One thing you have to know is that the average time on page may contain figures that are not really applicable. For instance, a report may include more than a hundred “translate views”, which are mostly at zero time on page, and hundreds of “slide views”, mostly under 10 seconds. There may also be some “search” results at zero time that can cause the average results to be misrepresented. If you want to get an accurate average time on page figure, you have to delete all these results.
Also, you need to be careful when you are looking at individual web pages that have only a few views. Sometimes, you may get a result showing that a visitor spent more than 20 minutes on a webpage. Actually, nobody takes such a long time to read an article, and a possible explanation is that the person has left the browser open while having lunch or doing something else. Do not pay too much mind to unusually high or low results for web pages that get only a few views. Instead, you should be interested in the results for web pages that have been viewed dozens or hundreds of times. This will give you a better idea of the real time on page for specific web pages.
Achieving Longer Time on Page• First of all, you have to make sure that your website attracts the right visitors. If you are running a political website, you do not want people who are looking for electronic products to pay you a visit. They will probably find out that they are in the wrong website in a second or two and leave. They are not going to read your web content, leave a backlink, or click on an ad. Instead, they may bar your website from their computers, which can affect your Google rankings.
• It is essential that you choose keywords that are relevant to your website. Google uses keywords to present your web pages to searchers, and you may get all the wrong people visiting your website if you do not have the right keywords. If you fail to deliver what your visitors are expecting, you may lose favor with Google. To find the appropriate keywords, you can use a keyword tool and perform searches with the recommended keywords. If the results of your searches are all related to your subject, you have found the right keywords. You have to know exactly what your potential visitors are looking for and provide the keywords to meet their needs.
• Having a good summary of your website in Google can also help you gain more visitors and increase your overall time on site and time on page figures. The summary should contain the appropriate keywords, provide a good description of your website, and entice your visitors to pay you a visit. It is not easy to convince your potential visitors with just a few words, but if you are able to come up with a good summary, you can rest assured that your website will enjoy greater success. Make sure that you write a straightforward and honest summary to avoid attracting the wrong visitors.
• Articles that have a good introductory paragraph will increase the length of time that your visitors will remain in your web pages. The main function of an introductory paragraph is to convince readers to keep reading, and an effective one will ensure that you will get better time on page figures. The paragraph also serves as a support for the Google ads that you are placing on your web pages. It should be long enough to give readers a good idea of the purpose of the article, but an over-lengthy introductory paragraph can turn them away.
• Additionally, you should present your web pages in such a way that your visitors can look for the information they need quickly. By doing so, you can at least make your visitors stay at your web pages for a few minutes. If information in your web pages is too difficult to locate, they will most likely leave after a few seconds. Many Internet users scan for information rather than read entire articles, and they read at about 8th grade level. As such, you have to make sure that your articles can be easily scanned and understood. It is a good idea to use headers, bullets, and capsules in your articles.
Once you have succeeded in getting your visitors interested in your web pages, you should take measures to keep them interested. One way to do this is to use videos that are related to your subject. If you are trying to promote travel to Australia, having a video about China will not help. A video that gives your visitors the information they need can increase time on page figures significantly. Photos and images are also an excellent tool for making your web pages more appealing to your visitors. They can break up long stretches of text and enhance the visual appeal of your web pages. If you want your visitors to spend more time looking at your photos and images, you have to make sure that they are really interesting. Descriptive photos and images are the most effective, but you can also use humorous or historic ones.
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