If you want to attract visits to your online store, blog or corporate website, one of the metrics you should look at is the time users spend on your site. So the longer they stay, the better your site will rank.
The time spent on a web page is one of the metrics that Google considers to raise the position of a web page, along with many others.
The theory is fine, I know, but the practice is more difficult. I know that keeping the user on your website for as long as possible can become a great challenge, since this requires effort, perseverance and work.
To unravel this enigma, in this post I am going to help you with some useful tips to retain users on your website, working on the “average session duration” metric in Analytics. Will you accompany me?
Time spent on the web: What is it and how to measure it
Dwell time is a metric that indicates how long a user spends on a URL on your web page. But how is this metric measured?
Another way to access this information is in the 'Site Behavior' report. Click on 'Site Content' then go to 'All Pages'.
Then, enter the URL you want to analyze in the search engine and the average time on the page will appear in one of the columns.
Why measure the time spent on a web page?
If a user spends time on your website, it means that the level of user engagement with your content is good. And one of the metrics to measure this engagement is the time spent. A KPI that indicates that your visitors like what they find and, therefore, they spend a while browsing it.
In short, these are the benefits you will get by improving the time spent on your website:
- Improve your SEO positioning. Google understands that the user experience is good and that it finds valuable content on your site. Thus, your positions in the SERPs will rise.
- Identify faults on the page. For example, 404 errors or seo failures to optimize content.
- Loyalty to the user. The user who has had a good experience will visit you again and recommend you.
- Decrease the bounce rate. The main reasons you had a high bounce rate are low-value or incomplete content, slow loading speed or broken links.
Tips to increase the time spent on the web
If your dwell time is less than 1 minute, or your visitor abandonment rate is between 50-60%, you should make some optimizations.
Take note of the following SEO tips to increase your web dwell time:
➽ Conveys a professional image
The design of your website matters a lot. Imagine that a user enters your site and finds an unreadable typeface, a bad combination of colors or an abusive use of moving images.
The design must be in line with the corporate identity of the brand. This must be attractive and consistent to convey the essence of the brand and connect with users.
If you do not convey a serious and professional image, it will generate mistrust on the part of the user. This as it enters your website, it will not have a good impression and therefore it will not take many seconds to leave.
➽ Check the user experience
Another important aspect is to improve the user experience. Make sure that the user quickly and easily finds what they are looking for on your site. Therefore, your website has to be intuitive and easy to navigate.
To do this, you will have to work on:
- A menu with a coherent structure. The user must find a simple and intuitive menu.
- A web architecture. It will be necessary to work both the use of suitable keywords distributed well on each page and the hierarchy.
➽ Links to other internal content
Link to other content on your site to help users resolve their concerns with more content on your website. What is technically known as Link Juice.
Also, if the content is of value, internal linking will improve the user experience on the page. On the other hand, in this way you are transferring authority to other pages that interest you, which will improve your positioning.
➽ Pay attention to the user's search intent
Understanding well what type of information the user is looking for will help you to hit the nail on the head to solve their doubts.
For example, it is important to pay attention to whether the user wants to buy, find out about something or answer a question. Because depending on the intention, the user will put one term or another in the search engine. This is why keyword research is so important.
In this way, you make sure that users who enter your store or website use those terms and will find what they are looking for.
➽ Decrease the loading time of your website
The speed of web loading affects the dwell time, since many users will not wait more than 4-5 seconds for the web to load at 100 %.
Here are some tips to improve the loading speed of your website.
➽ Use powerful copy
Content is another of the things that must be taken care of to increase the time spent on a website. Therefore, I recommend:
- Use a simple language and according to your target.
- Add attractive calls to action.
- Include short paragraphs and structure the information well.
- Have a professional blog that provides valuable content and that these are optimized for seo.
- Apply copywriting techniques to write product descriptions.
➽ Includes video content
Another strategy to increase the user time is to add a video to your home and other informative content (even transactional or sales).
Here are some ideas to inspire you:
- A presentation video on the home page. Your potential customers will put a face on you and build trust. Also, you can demonstrate a specific skill so that they know you better.
- A product video. If you have an ecommerce where you sell products, a video will help the user to better understand its characteristics and functions.
➽ Fix 404 errors
Review all 404 errors because these can greatly harm your positioning, since it mainly affects the user experience.
Google Search Console or W3C Link Checker are free tools with which you can check and detect if there are broken links to correct or eliminate them. In this way, the user would not have a negative experience on your site.
CONCLUSIONS:
I hope all these strategies to increase the time spent on a web page, that I have already tried on my website and that of my clients, they are as useful and effective as they were for me.
And remember that the end goal is to improve your web positioning in Google, but this cannot be achieved if you do not offer a good user experience. And, precisely, the time spent on the web is a metric to measure the engagement between the user and the brand.
