Why Average Time on Page Matters and How to Improve It

For your business website to succeed, it is essential to incorporate search engine optimization strategies and find ways to bring more traffic in. On top of that, you’ll also need to take note of another very important metric— average time on page.

As more and more people these days spend time online, it is essential that you optimize your website, so visitors aren’t just interested in checking it out but that they also stick around for longer. More importantly, you want them to spend longer time on your site not because it is taking them ages to find what they’re looking for, but because they are enjoying the experience and the content you are offering.  

Read on as we look into the importance of average time on page and what steps you can take to improve it.

Understanding time on page

This refers to the length of time a visitor spends on a single page. The calculation starts the moment they land on the page until they decide to move on to another. Time spent is measured the moment a visitor clicks a link to move on to another page within the same website.

While there are certain flaws in the way time on page is calculated which may make the figures higher than the actual figures, if used right, it does help give you an insight on how engaging or not your content is to your viewers. When your average time on page is lower than what it should be, this could be an indication that the materials on your website may not be as interesting or engaging. 

However, depending on your web design and layout, this time may have to do with how long it would take a user to read the content on your pages. This is why setting the right expectations to fit the different types of pages being viewed is important in assessing your numbers.

For instance, if you have an informative blog about Japanese culture, you expect users to spend more time reading about accounts of your travels around the country than say, a page urging them to sign up for a Japanese language course you may be offering. Both these pages are equally important but due to the content in your blog, you’d expect users to spend a longer time browsing it.  

Improving time on page

If you’re worried that your time on page numbers is not hitting the benchmark, it wouldn’t hurt to incorporate some strategies that can help pull your numbers up.

Vary your format and content

Including a variety of content within a single post can help improve the average time people will spend scanning through your pages. Instead of posting a single flat article, adding infographics, charts, relevant photos, and other interesting elements will make it more interesting to the viewers.

The key is transforming your content into something more engaging. When there are more than just letters on your pages for the viewers to see, they will be more invested in what you have to say and the information that you are sharing. Just see to it though that the media you choose to add to the page is relevant and does add value to the overall content.

Follow content writing basics

When it comes to keeping people’s attention on your pages longer, it is important to go back to the basics of content writing. You want to capture your readers’ attention with posts that are not only easy to understand but are also engaging and ultimately, something that people will want to read.

Make sure that your posts directly answer the readers’ query. You’ll also want to keep your paragraphs short and to keep the readers engaged, make sure that the section titles are interesting enough to capture their attention. When you write, do so in a conversational tone as the last thing you want is to sound too academic— which can turn readers off.

Optimize your site’s performance

People are becoming too used to getting everything they need instantly and the same is true for online users. If your site is taking longer than necessary to load— a load time of 0-4 seconds is ideal if you’re targeting conversions, expect that a lot of users will easily exit the page and look elsewhere.

This is why you must optimize the overall speed of your site and make it more user-friendly. If your website has been around for a while, you might want to consider giving it a revamp. You’ll be surprised how even the slightest improvement to your site speed can make a difference to the user experience.

Make your site mobile-friendly

If you want to improve the average time on page, then make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Having a responsive design will give visitors a better experience regardless of their device.

With the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices, web traffic is increasingly coming from mobile devices. You don’t have to go all-in on building a mobile site; you can start with just a few tweaks. Making sure your navigation works well, adding alt text to images, and testing different screen sizes are just a few things you can do to improve your user experience for mobile users.

Incorporate an internal linking strategy

One of the best ways to improve your average time on page is to add meaningful internal links within your content. Internal linking is the process of linking from one part of your site (or blog) to another part, thereby creating additional navigation paths for users.

When used appropriately, internal linking can lead to greater user engagement and conversion rates. They will also make it easier for visitors to discover posts and website content that they may be interested in. Do see to it that the internal links you add are relevant and that there is a sense of continuity across your content.

Keep users longer on your page

Keeping users engaged and interested in what you have to offer is not always easy on the digital platform. With so many websites that are competing for attention, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. With the right strategy, however, you can get more people to not only visit your website but spend more time checking out what your pages have to offer and making sure that you’re paying close attention to the right metrics that will help you assess that is essential.