How to Improve the Average Time on Page?

Source: Databox

Discover how to improve the average time on page that the website users are spending, tips from 78 marketers that share their advice for improving the average time on page for every blog post you write.

Most blog posts are designed around a question-and-answer exchange–so it’s common for readers to click through from search results, find the info they came for, and promptly leave.

That’s why bounce rates are often higher for blog posts, and that’s normal—but it isn’t always the ideal situation from a marketing perspective as it limits the time you have to really build a connection with readers.

Most marketers would love to see readers spend more time on their blog posts.

With that idea in mind, we wondered if there were any proven tactics marketers use to increase average time on page for their individual blog posts.

What is Average Time on Page?

Simply put, average time on page is the amount of time website visitors are spending on a specific page on your website.

While bounce rate informs you that a certain percentage of visitors quit your webpage without taking action, average time on page lets you know how much time these visitors actually spent on that webpage before clicking a link to proceed to another webpage.

How Does Google Analytics Calculate Average Time on Page?

Google calculates average time on page by dividing the total duration of all sessions for a specific page by the total number of sessions that page generates.

However, it’s not always straightforward. In order to measure the actual duration of a session, Google calculates the difference between the time stamps of hits on a page. The first website hit (obviously) being the visit to the page, the second being any action being tracked in Google Analytics, i.e. a video play, ebook download, etc.

However, if Google has no second “hit” to calculate the difference in timestamps (say you’re not tracking video plays in Google Analytics), then the session duration cannot be accurately measured and therefore the time on page for that specific page cannot be counted toward the average.

What is a Good Average Time on Page For Blog Posts?

When we asked our survey respondents what the average time on page for their blog posts is, 45% of them said their average time on page is between 3-5 minutes.

20 Ways to Improve the Average Time on Page for Your Blog Posts

So, how do you improve average time on page? We posed this very question to 78 marketers and got 20 solid ways you can improve the average time on page for your blog posts:

1) Set Links to Open in a New Window.

2) Vary Your Content Marketing and Format.

3) Add Video to Your Blog Posts.

4) Start With a “Post Summary”.

5) Add a Table of Contents.

6) Follow Web Writing Basics.

7) Convert More Users with Exit Intent.

8) Make Your Piece Unique with Original Data.

9) Put the Bottom-Line Up Front.

10) Make Blog Posts Interactive with Tools for Readers.

11) Add Proactive Live Chat to Your Blog.

12) Be More Direct in Your Writing Style.

13) Write More In-Depth, Story-Based Articles.

14) Link to Related Articles.

15) Tease Additional Value.

16) Use Language That Inspires Curiosity.

17) Pitch Your Article in the Intro.

18) Use an Actionable, Step-by-Step Format.

19) Cultivate More Organic Traffic.

20) Give Your Audience Multiple Ways to Consume Content.

Read more here.