Why Dwell Time Could Be Hurting Your SEO (And How to Fix It)

Are you doing everything right with your SEO, but still struggling to rank for a key keyword? The issue might be your dwell time—the length of time a visitor spends on your website before returning to the search results. If people leave your site quickly, search engines may interpret that as a sign that your content isn’t relevant or engaging enough.

Here’s how to identify and fix poor dwell time to improve your ranking.

What is Dwell Time?

Dwell time refers to how long a visitor stays on your website before returning to the search results. If someone clicks on your site and then quickly clicks back, that short dwell time can indicate to search engines like Google that your content didn’t meet their expectations.

Low dwell time could be a sign of several things:

• Content isn’t engaging or relevant.
• Page speed issues make users frustrated.
• Design problems or poor user experience (UX) could lead to confusion or frustration.

Search engines pay attention to dwell time because it’s an indicator of how satisfied users are with your content. High dwell time often correlates with content that answers the user's query, while low dwell time may signal the opposite.

How to Measure Dwell Time

While you can’t directly track dwell time in Google Analytics, you can monitor bounce rate and session duration as indirect metrics. A high bounce rate or short session duration often points to issues with dwell time. You should also look at pages per session to see how effectively users are navigating your site.

Additionally, at Honorable Marketing, we leverage Microsoft Clarity to get a more in-depth understanding of user behavior. Clarity allows us to track rage clicks, dead clicks, scroll depth, and even watch real-time session recordings to see exactly how users interact with your site. This tool is invaluable in identifying areas where users might be getting frustrated or confused, helping us fine-tune your website for maximum engagement and longer dwell times.

How to Improve Dwell Time

1. Enhance Your Website’s Content

The most obvious reason visitors might leave your website quickly is that the content isn’t what they expected. To fix this:

• Write engaging, high-quality content that directly answers the search query.
• Break up long blocks of text with subheadings, bullet points, and images to make your content easier to read.
• Ensure your meta titles and descriptions accurately reflect the content on your page to avoid misleading visitors.

2. Improve Page Speed

A slow-loading page can cause visitors to hit the back button almost immediately. Page speed is a huge factor for both SEO and user experience. Consider using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas where you can speed up your website, such as compressing images, minifying code, or using a content delivery network (CDN).

With Clarity, we can also monitor how page speed impacts user frustration. By reviewing session recordings, we can see where users are dropping off and make targeted improvements to enhance performance.

3. Optimize User Experience (UX) and Navigation

Poor website design or confusing navigation can lead users to exit your site quickly. To improve UX:

• Simplify your site’s navigation so users can easily find what they’re looking for.
• Ensure your website is mobile-friendly—more than half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices.
• Use clear calls to action (CTAs) to guide visitors to the next step, whether that’s contacting you, reading more content, or making a purchase.

Microsoft Clarity helps us track where users are clicking on your site and identify dead zones or areas that aren’t performing as expected. This allows us to make data-driven changes that enhance the overall user experience.

4. Add Multimedia and Interactive Elements

Videos, infographics, and interactive tools can increase dwell time by offering more engaging ways to consume your content. For example, a family law firm could include a divorce process explainer video or an interactive child custody calculator to keep visitors on the site longer.

5. Internal Linking for Better Engagement

Internal links guide users to other relevant content on your website, increasing the likelihood they will stay on your site longer. Make sure your internal links are strategically placed and lead to valuable content that answers your visitors' questions.

The Role of Technical SEO

Beyond the content and UX improvements, technical SEO plays a significant role in improving dwell time. Fixing issues like broken links, redirects, and site structure can keep users from getting frustrated and leaving your site.

When to Call in the Experts

Dwell time issues are often complex and multifaceted, involving everything from technical SEO to on-page optimization and website design. If you’ve tried everything and still aren’t seeing results, it might be time to consult professionals. At Honorable Marketing, we specialize in helping businesses improve their SEO rankings through comprehensive website audits, on-page optimization, and user-focused design updates. Using tools like Microsoft Clarity, we ensure you’re always equipped with the data you need to succeed.

Contact us today to learn how we can help optimize your website and improve your SEO rankings.