The Average Engagement Time on a website is something you can track with Google Analytics, and it’s also something that Search Engines use when they decide how to rank your website on the Search Engine Results Page. 

Why Website Performance Matters

Search Engines consider several factors when deciding how to display your website in response to specific searches:

• The keywords and content on your website

• The credibility of your website

• How users interact with your website

Remember, the goal of search engines is to provide it’s users with search results that they will click on and use, so users will continue to trust that search engine.

What gets measured, gets managed

If you haven’t already installed Google Analytics on your website, you should, so you can start tracking key metrics that signal how your website is performing.

Some website hosts (like Squarespace) provide analytics, too. We’ve found that Google Analytics is more accurate, collects more specific data, and has more reporting capabilities. Plus, it’s free to install and use. 

The Engagement Time Metric

The average time visitors spend on your website signals how helpful or entertaining your website is. 

When the engagement time is high, it signals to search engines that the average person spends time reading and exploring your website, so other people who search for your keywords may find it helpful or entertaining, too.

Each website page will have its own Average Engagement Time metric, and you’ll also see an Average Engagement Time per session. Take a look at which pages need the most improvement, and start there with the following tips and tricks to improve your Engagement Time.

How to Improve the Average Engagement Time

If your Engagement time could be higher, you may wonder how to improve it. While almost nothing can happen overnight, there are ways to improve this metric for your website over time.

Add more content to your website 

Give users more text to read, photos to look at, videos to watch, and buttons to click on.

Try to think about it this way: websites should hold all the answers to every question a customer may have before purchasing your product.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself, as a small business owner, to inspire you to create more content:

• What kinds of problems are my customers experiencing before they realize they need my product? 

• In what situation would someone need to purchase my product?

• What do I most often explain to customers in person?

• What are the biggest questions people ask after purchasing my product?

Install Intuitive Website Navigation

Is it easy for users to find more information on each web page, or get to the next topic? 

Adding links, buttons, and calls to action can help guide users to spend more time on your website.

Ensure each page is easy to skim and scan (people rarely read every word!). 

Make sure people know what they are clicking on BEFORE they click

If potential customers are looking for something, and can’t easily locate it on the first page they see, they will likely “bounce” and go straight back to the search engine results page to find what they are looking for.

Bounces will hurt your website data overall, and reduce the average engagement time. 

Here are a few ways to avoid bounces, and let people know what they can expect on each of your website pages:

• Update your Search Engine Titles and Descriptions for each page to ensure they accurately describe the content on each page. 

• Add a social sharing image that signals what this page is about

• Whenever you refer to this page elsewhere on your website, make sure you are accurately describing it before adding a link

Take a Holistic Approach to Improve the Website for Your Small Business

Although the Average Engagement Time on your website is just one metric to keep an eye on, it can be a huge indicator of your website’s overall performance. 

Here is a screenshot from Google Analytics, regarding one of our monthly clients.

We post blogs, send out email campaigns, run digital ads, and manage the social media accounts for this client every week.

As you can see, our strategy is working very nicely, and we’re happy to announce they’ve realized record-breaking revenue for the past six months.

If you’re interested in improving your website’s performance, and you’re looking for assistance from a small marketing agency that cares about its clients, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.