Google Premier Partner
Meta Business PartnerWhat is dwell time?
Dwell time is the time between the moment someone clicks a page in the search results and the moment they return to those results. It is not an official metric in Google Analytics. Google has said it does not use dwell time as a direct ranking factor.
Why is dwell time important?
- A hint about quality: a quick return can mean the page does not answer the question.
- Thinking like the visitor: it pushes you to write for what someone really wants to know.
- No fixed benchmark: a short visit is fine when the answer was found straight away.
Examples of dwell time
- Someone reads an explanation for three minutes and closes the tab: there is no return, so no dwell time to measure.
- Someone returns to Google after five seconds and picks another result.
- Someone reads an article for two minutes and then returns to Google with a follow-up question.
How do you improve dwell time?
Answer the search question right at the top of the page and expand on it with clear headings. Make the page fast and add internal links, images or video that genuinely help. In Google Analytics 4, average engagement time is a useful proxy. Read more about this kind of writing in our content marketing service.