What Is Dwell Time?

Dwell time is one of those terms that gets bandied about when discussing different “stickiness” metrics related to webpage usage and how long a person stays on a given page. But dwell time is a very specific measurement, and it’s often confused with bounce rates, session duration and click-through rates.  

What Is Dwell Time?

The answer is in the name, but with a SERP twist. Dwell time is how long a person “dwells” on a web page after clicking through from a search engine results page (SERP) and before clicking back to a SERP. That’s it. It’s different than bounce rates and duration times, because those visitors could be coming from someplace other than a SERP.

Does Dwell Time Impact Organic Search Results?

While Google has never publicly commented on whether dwell time is an SEO ranking factor, SEO experts tend to believe it is because it is an indicator of quality content. And, we know Google likes to help its users quickly and satisfactorily find what they’re looking for.

Why Is Dwell Time Important?

Generally, the longer someone dwells on a webpage, the more likely they are to engage or develop an affinity and come back. However, dwell time alone should not be a reason to make changes to an existing website, and you shouldn’t make changes just to impact dwell time metrics. Creating your very best user experience will be more effective in the long run and likely to increase dwell time anyway.

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