So, all of your SEO efforts are in place. You’re ranking well on search engines and your site is gaining a steady amount of traffic. You’re pouring all your efforts in SEO, content marketing, and social media. 

There’s nothing wrong with this. But do you also pour in the same time and effort once visitors actually visit your site?

There’s no point in getting a lot of traffic to your site if visitors are leaving as soon as they arrive. Not only will this hurt your chances of converting them into prospective customers, it negatively impacts your SEO efforts as well. And, If you want to know the hard truths about social media marketing then read here. 

What is Dwell Time and Why it Matters?

Your site’s dwell time is the amount of time that a site visitor spends on your webpage. It matters because it is an important UX metric.

Google wants its users to have the best possible experience, as well as provide them with engaging and useful search results in any given query. On the other hand, dwell time allows you to better understand whether or not your content meets your needs.

So, if users click on your website on the search results, and stays there for a long time, Google will think that the said result is good for them.

On the other hand, if users visit your site and leave straight away, then chances are they haven’t really found what they’re looking for. As a result, Google will think that your content (and website) is no good. 

So, what does this mean for you? Improving your website’s dwell time can help improve your organic search rankings. 

In order to improve marketing results, here are some helpful tips on how you can boost your site’s dwell time:

1. Create an appealing website

The first thing that you should do in improving your site’s dwell time is to draw people in. People aren’t going to spend time on your site if it looks cluttered, ugly, and is bombarding their screens with ads.

To create an aesthetically appealing site, adapt the “less is more” mindset. This is something that you should communicate with your team, especially if you outsource it.

It’s quite easy to overdo yourself with cluttered widgets, poor formatting, and annoying ads. That why at Sytian Productions Web Design Philippines, we always aim for a simple, visually appealing design that avoids potential distractions, extreme contrast, harsh colors, unusual fonts, and more.

2. Easily navigable site

To get your prospects to move down the sales funnel, it’s important to remember that what you feel doesn’t really correlate with what your prospects think is important to them. 

While the history of your company and other information about your brand is vital, chances are, people aren’t visiting your site to look for that. 

They came because they want to check out and buy your products and services. Giving them clear site navigation will hook their interest, which eventually increases your dwell time. 

3. Produce relevant, easy-to-digest content 

Long-form content is powerful. However, presenting your content in an easy-to-digest manner is crucial to enticing people to read it. Meaning, you have to:

• Use shorter sentences
• Write simple, less complex paragraphs
• Utilize content chunking techniques like lists and headings
• Make sure that your entire content is skimmable

Remember that people aren’t buying a book. They’re likely just going to skim through your content and find bits that interest them. 

When you create content that’s digestible, you’re making it easy for them to read. Therefore, it makes your content appealing. This eventually leads to increased dwell time. 

4. PPT formula

If you want people to spend a long time on your site, you need to hook them instantly. That’s where the PPT formula steps in.

This content introduction formula is specifically used to increase Dwell Time:

Preview

Your content’s first line should provide a brief preview of your content. It lets Google searchers know that it’s precisely what they’re looking for. Meaning, they’ll likely stick around. 

Proof

Your content’s second and third lines should be made up of proof that your content could help them. This immediately shows people that the material you have is legit. 

Transition

The last step is the transition. It walks the reader from the intro to the next section of your content. 

5. Internal linking

Once users are reading content on your website, you should give them a clear direction on where to go next. 

Because dwell time is usually measured based on the time a user lands on your site and returns back to the SERPs, you need to keep them on your site as much as you can ‒ even after they’re done reading the page that they’re on. 

Adding links that point to other content on your site is one of the most effective ways to increase your dwell time. Internal links guide the reader to other related content that is relevant to their interests.

They can also be used to tie your content with a product. 

6. Include rich media

Rich media is described to be anything on your site that’s designed to increase user interaction. These usually include:

• GIFs
• Videos
• Interactive PDF
• Zoomable photos
• Tweetable posts
• Store location maps
• Customization widgets

Apart from being an engaging way to capture your audience, it’s also extremely adaptable and mobile-friendly. Also, by including rich media in your copy and landing pages, search engines will look at your site more favorably. 

Rich media also improves your brand authority in your specific niche, and consequently your rank. Luckily, there are WordPress development tools that can help you create rich media content for your site.

Final Thoughts

Dwell time might not be an official ranking factor, but your site and your content can certainly benefit from it. By focusing on improving the quality of your content and other elements, you’ll increase the dwell time of your website over time.