{"id":14012,"date":"2017-05-17T13:16:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T10:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/?p=14012"},"modified":"2017-05-29T14:44:36","modified_gmt":"2017-05-29T11:44:36","slug":"dwell-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/14012\/dwell-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Dwell Time a Ranking Factor or Not? Everything You Need to Know About Dwell Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems like the digital marketing community started to rave about \u201cdwell time\u201d. There is a lot of controversy on forums, blogs and social media of whether it is or not one of the search engines’ ranking signals. Should you care about it? We have to admit that nowadays it is becoming increasingly important to understand your users. This is what makes Search Engine Optimization so interesting. You have to adapt, you have to continually change. <\/span>But \u201cdwell time\u201d seems to cause a bit of confusion even amongst SEO specialists. There seem to be divided opinions about whether it is, indeed, important for ranking. Some say it is critical and it shouldn\u2019t be overlooked, but not everybody shares this belief. If it is a ranking factor, it means that everybody should rush to optimize it for getting the most out of it. Let\u2019s see what it really is and what the search engines’ representatives\u00a0\u00a0have to say about it as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Dwell<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0There is a lot of turbulence around the exact dwell time meaning. What we tried to do is bring some light into the subject and clarify once and for all everything you need to know about the dwell time data and its impact on your business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What is Dwell Time?\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Can You Measure Dwell Time in Google Analytics ?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Is Dwell Time a Google Ranking Factor?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Is Dwell Time a Bing Ranking Factor?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Is Dwell Time a Yahoo Ranking Factor?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Should You Measure Dwell Time?<\/a><\/strong>\n
      \n
    1. Possibly Replace Bounce Rate<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Good Indicator of Relevance and User Intent<\/a><\/li>\n
    3. It Doesn\u2019t Work Well for Simple Question Queries<\/a><\/li>\n
    4. It Doesn\u2019t Work Well When You\u2019re Searching for a Specific Page<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    5. Steps to\u00a0Improve Dwell Time<\/a><\/strong>\n
        \n
      1. Add High-Quality Content<\/a><\/li>\n
      2. Target the Right Keywords<\/a><\/li>\n
      3. Improve Page Load Time<\/a><\/li>\n
      4. Use Internal Linking<\/a><\/li>\n
      5. Have a Good Website Design<\/a><\/li>\n
      6. Remove Some of Your Ads<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      7. Conclusion<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u00a0

         <\/div><\/p>\n

        What Is Dwell Time?<\/h2>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \n

        Putting it simply, dwell time is the amount of time that elapses between a user\u00a0clicks on a search result and returns back to the SERPs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

         <\/p>\n

        More generally talking, dwell time is the time spent in the same position, area, or stage of a process. \u00a0However, if we are looking for a\u00a0dwell time definition in\u00a0the\u00a0English dictionary, we are immediately redirected to the marketing industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"dwell<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        What we are interested in is trying to define dwell time in the context of the digital marketing niche. Therefore, what is dwell time in the context of SEO?<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \n

        Dwell time is a user-based metric that combines the user’s \u00a0engagement, session duration, and SERP click through rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Although we might tend to say that dwell time is similar with session duration, bounce rate or pogo sticking, it seems that dwell time is slightly different. \u00a0Is more of an amalgam\u00a0of bounce rate and time-on-site metrics as Dr. Peter J. Meyers claims<\/a> . As dwell time is a data point that is not publicly available (but might still affect a site\u2019s rankings), we can only speculate around the concept or on its impact on the rankings. However, what we do know for sure is that dwell time does impact one’s website.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"dwell

        Source: ahrefs.com<\/p><\/div>\n

         <\/p>\n

        A simple search on Google about dwell time might lead you to some sophisticated concepts, such as dwell time radar, dwell time ignition or dwell time mass spectrometry. However, even if, due to the complexity of the concept we cannot offer you the exact definition of dwell time, what you need to know is that dwell time combines but is not equal to time on your site, session duration, SERP, CTR, bounce rate, exit click. \u00a0<\/p>\n

         <\/div>\n

        Can You Measure\u00a0Dwell Time in Google Analytics ?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Dwell time has stirred the waters among the SEO community and has been in the headlines of industry news and lots of blog posts. As it is still a concept whith much confusion around it, we cannot say for sure what the ideal dwell time is. No big data research has been written on this matter yet, not even a beginner’s guide that would tell you what the average dwell time that would influence one site’s rankings is. On the Search Console (Google Webmaster Tools) there is no specific data available for dwell time (yet).<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \n

        What we can do is to track the user’s engagement with Google Analytics.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

         <\/p>\n

        In order to fully understand the concept, you first have to know that the user experience which starts from clicking on one link on SERP might involve more than a single page. This is especially true for online stores, for example. A customer usually goes from a landing page to other inner pages before making a decision or returning to SERP. There are a few concepts that we have to comprehend first, such as Time on Page, Exit Rate, and Bounce Rate. According to <\/span>Google<\/span><\/a>, to understand the difference between Exit Rate and Bounce Rate for a particular page, keep the following points in mind:<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n