In the information overload and fast-paced Internet environment, the effective engagement and retention of the audiences on the website is a crucial factor. This isn’t just creeping on the internet; it goes a long way to say that Length of Visit influences your Search Engine Ranking Position and user interaction.

When users linger for a long time on your site, this sends a signal to search engines that the content is worth analyzing for ranking. Further, engagement is likely to lead to better conversion rates and customer retention, among other improvements.

But how do you prevent visitors from leaving your pages so soon? This blog is devoted to discussing practical tips on boosting the average time of a user’s stay on your website to improve your overall SEO ranking and get more engaged visitors.

What Is the Average Time Spent on a Website?

The amount of time depends on the particular industry and website. Nevertheless, the average time on site is slightly over 52 seconds [average time on page].

However, remembering this as an initial brainstorming framework rather than an idea to follow strictly is still worth remembering. Some factors that can influence this metric include:

• Industry: Visitors prefer such sites to stay longer, and the average time spent on B2B websites can be around 82 seconds.
• Content type: It might be expected that articles with more than twenty pages or videos with tens of minutes duration might have a longer average visit duration than a single or a few lines of text.
• Device: According to the source, mobile users average a significantly lesser number of visits, which are observed to last for a shorter time than those from desktop users.

There are other methods of collecting information about the population. Still, monitoring your site-specific data through analytics tools is more appropriate to understand how your website performs better.

How To Increase Average Time Spent on a Website

Here are 11 hacks you can apply to increase the average time spent on a website:

1. Tidy up Design

A regular internet user spends just a few seconds on the site before deciding whether to linger on the page or exit. This is a very small space of time available to you in which you are required to influence the said individuals to remain. One way to do that is by bringing order to your site’s visual layout.

Consider the above fold of your website design for mobile and desktop compatibility. Only the most important content seemed to scroll up. Your users have to obtain the value proposition on your site without scrolling down when they enter the page.

This way, it will not only be easier for users to look at it, but this kind of design will also help you to keep all flashy and unnecessary features to a minimum. If there are fewer targets on which attention can be focused, then attention and time will be spent longer in a particular site.

2. Improve the Readability of Your Pages

Every once in a while, we come across websites that are hard to read. To address accessibility on your site, ensure that all links maintain their readability across all devices.

Ensure that your font is large enough to be legible but small enough to prevent making excessive vertical movements on the screen.

Do not write bulky paragraphs it is better to divide it and make parts easier to read. Subdivide your articles into several sections, with headings for each, as many paragraphs as possible, lists, and white space.

3. High-Quality Images

Believe it or not, images and visual elements play a major role in the popularity and success of an online website. If your website has high-quality graphics and visuals, you can increase the average time spent by online visitors.

Hire expert graphic designers to create the best quality images for different pages of your site. Fullscreen background images can make your landing pages look beautiful. Optimize your images using editing tools so as not to slow down your website.

4. Optimize Website Performance and Speed

Website performance enhancement or website acceleration refers to measures and guidelines to enhance the web page loading speed and general functionality. This involves reducing the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files using GZIP compression and minification, utilising browser caching, optimising images with suitable formats and sizes, and using content delivery networks CDN to distribute content.

Moreover, cutting down on server response time and fine-tuning the web host parameters are critical elements so that the users would not have to wait for long and the site would always be available. Optimization is not only a vital part of the process of increasing users’ satisfaction but also a factor influencing search rankings and conversion rates.

5. Add Video to Your Blog Posts

Having the possibility to add a video as a part of a web page can be very beneficial with the goal of improving the experience of a visitor but also with the goal of delivering useful information.

There are several ways in which the use of videos can be helpful: Videos can be used to advertise products, for instructional purposes, have customer reviews, or offer something ‘flashier’ for the site.

To include videos in your site, it is possible to take material from actually used services such as YouTube or Vimeo and paste the obtained code into the HTML code of your site. It is also possible to link your video directory to your website and host the videos with your website server, this might take more space.

So, no matter which strategy you want to pursue, including video on your website will definitely add more spice to your already branded website, which visitors will find more engrossing and interesting.

6. Add a Table of Contents

Having a TOC on your website is a great idea to improve users’ usability. They are crucial as they show the content on the page and help visitors skip to the sections they are interested in.

This also aids in minimizing bounce rates since the information is well systematically arranged and ensures the visitors navigate through more content. The advantages of better accessibility of information include longer visits and higher satisfaction levels due to the help of a Table of Contents.

• Identify Key Sections
• Utilize Anchor Links
• Keep It Updated
• Ensure Responsiveness

7. Link to Related Articles

Providing related links to articles in the text can positively affect the user experience and increase the average time spent on the website. In addition to helping readers stay interested when creating enhanced content, you help your site become the one-stop shop for everything related to the topic.

Related articles should be pertinent in the context and unobtrusive, whether as embedded links in the body of the article, a box of suggested reading at the end of the article, etc.

Not only does it help to increase user engagement and the likelihood of their return visits but it also enhances internal linking to improve one’s ranking on search engine result pages.

8. Publish Fresh Content Regularly

Creating new posts and updating the site regularly is one of the most important requirements for raising the average time per visitor. In this way, creating new content attracts users to view other materials and spend more time on the platform.

This can refer to blog posts, articles, videos or even specialized items that could be of interest and use to your target audience. Moreover, volatile content keeps your website updated and modern to attract the attention of new visitors and helps rank it higher on search engines’ result pages.

Finally, constantly updating the content promotes the consistency of readers coming to your site for new information, increasing the overall number of interactions and time spent on your pages.

9. Optimize for all Devices

For every web page to be accessible and usable on various devices, and to boost the time users spend on a site, responsive web design must be adopted. Responsive design enables a site to be viewed perfectly on different devices at various screen sizes and laptops, tablets, and mobile phone resolutions.

Apart from that, ensure that the site loads as quickly as possible by reducing the size of images and useful coding techniques. Also, when designing a website, using a simple and easy-to-navigate menu bar can highly assist the user in his search for the right information.

Another useful form of content is the one that keeps users engaged, such as videos, quizzes, and interesting articles for reading, which can also keep their attention and force them to look for other pages and spend more time on your website. By routinely conducting tests and adjustments to these elements, users’ overall satisfaction and involvement can be optimized across all platforms.

10. Optimize your Navigation

Website navigation helps customers to easily locate what they are specifically looking for, for instance a blog post or any other related information which may not be their primary need but other related information such as the prices. This system’s simplicity, clear, and logical structure can help people go further and take certain actions on the website.

When designing a navigation menu, follow these best practices

• The most important items are often brought to the foreground, which must be laid down in the initial section of the navigation menu.
• When choosing labels for your navigation link, ensure that they are apt for your type of business and include keywords for SEO.
• Include a search box.
• Use horizontal navigation links above the fold and place them in the header, footer, and sidebar section of the internship web pages.

11. Monitor Broken Links

Earlier, I reviewed the points of how it is necessary to use internal links for your articles. Suppose suddenly one of your guests is engaged in your material to the degree where he/she finds out there is a link with extended information. Oh, they click it only to get a 404, page not found error on their screen.

They’re likely to lose some of the interests into the content and may even close the screen. If used as a tool that will help you drive visitors to your website, broken links can ensure that your visitors are disappointed, the time spent in your website session is reduced, bounce rate is experienced, and your conversion rate will drop.

12. Improve Site Speed

Another important strategy to take into account for extending the average time users stay online is enhancing the site speed. Quicker page loading time as a result the user is enabled to stay longer on the site hence there are low chances that the user will be CBD due to irresistible or untimely waiting time.

Strategies like image reformats, including actual files on the server, enabling browser cache, and reducing use of JavaScript and CSS files can enhance the site performance to great extent.

By freshening up the content that is on the website you will engage the customers on the web and also ensure that the website has a high rate of traffic to ensure it meets the criteria set by the search engines leading to organic traffic and a high level of satisfaction.

13. Include Concise and Eye-catching CTAs

Reducing the bounce rates implies having quick loading pages, nice and brief Calls to Action (CTAs). This CTAs must be straightforward, unambiguous and placed into the content’s contextual flows, pointing users to more material. Whether it is “Learn More”, “Read Our Blog”, or “Sign Up Now”, an optimal call to action button will imply action from the user and keep them on your website longer. Through the proper positioning of these CTAs and also guaranteed proper design of the same you are set to boost the interaction and engagement levels of your users.

Here are some tips to help you optimize your CTAs:

• Avoid being elaborate – While there are cases when a CTA is composed of many words, it is more effective to have it short. In essence, what it means is that the amount of text which is to be generated should be concise. That will be ideal if it comprised of not more than four words. Temporary and catchy phrases that would come to ones mind include “enroll free,” “explore more,” and “buy now. ”
• Make a sense of desperation – Invoke the time factor by using such phrases as “limited offer”, “while the stock lasts,” and or “limited editions. ” 
• Contrast them with the other elements placed on your website – your CTAs should easily be distinguished from the rest of the content on your website.
• Design CTAs buttons – Instead of conventional hyperlinks, consider using CTA buttons to further attract the reader’s attention.

14. Use strategic Pop-ups

Exit-intent pop-ups are designed to sense that a viewer wants to close the website and offer her a good reason not to do that. Used appropriately, they can be quite helpful in obtaining lower bounce rate as well as improving the overall conversion rate.

A few ways to apply them:

• You should consider other articles that your visitors may find interesting to peruse through.
• You should persuade them to subscribe to your emails in exchange for an exclusive promotion (maybe, switching the blog into audio or video).
• Encourage them to interact with support officers in case they have further questions to ask or issues to raise.
• Request for their feedback in regards to your product or service in particular.
• You should direct them to share your content or to subscribe to you on any social networks that you may be on.
• Let them know that there is a new product or service available in the market.

Well, why not use OptionAble’s Exit-Intent technology and get the users at the moment when they are just planning to leave your site. You can use it to announce a certain percentage discount for the next few hours, or to ask them to subscribe to your newsletter etc. , or learn more about some features that they might have never noticed earlier.

If you aim squarely at the abandoning visitor in particular, you can encourage him to come back – and therefore diminish your site’s bounce rate tremendously.

Why You Need To Increase Average Time Spent on a Website

Increasing the average time spent on a website is crucial for several reasons:

1. Enhances User Engagement: It is clear to see that the longer a user spends on your site finding information, the more interested he or she becomes in the information. This increases brand loyalty because the users are likely to make more visits to your brand in the future.
2. Improves SEO Rankings: Google, for instance, will assign dwell time as one of the criteria for ranking websites. When your average time on site is higher, search engines understand your content is important and relevant to the users; this will help improve your search engine standing.
3. Higher Conversion Rates: Any visitor with substantial time on site has a better chance of going through your products or services and is, therefore, more likely to convert. A couple of things can be adapted in a website to increase conversion rates: making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or giving information on a contact form; more time, more chance.
4. Reduces Bounce Rate: Websites with increased average time indicate visitors are not quickly moving off your pages. This, in a way, means that your content pays attention to grievances and keeps their attention, and in most cases, it will help lower the bounce rate and improve the site score.
5. Builds Trust and Credibility: Making it easy for visitors to find the information they seek with informative and engaging material forms a positive first impression and sets up the basis of a relationship marked by trust. When the users read information on your site that they deem relevant and useful, it is likely to leave a positive impression about your brand within the market.

How Do You Calculate the Average Time Spent on a Website?

Measuring average activity time on a specific website entails the following basic steps to minimize errors in calculation and attain desirable outcomes.

Below is a detailed breakdown:

Gather Data

First, you have to gather comprehensive information about the user’s sessions. This can be done using tools which are available online as examples being Google analytics. These tools can maintain the record that how long a user takes, each time he or she logs in.

Define the Time Frame

Decide how long you need to find the average, for instance, monthly average, weekly average, annual average or whatever time duration you want. This can be daily, weekly, monthly or any other periods that the user may wish to use analysis the results.

Total Time Spent

Find the total time during which users of the website has spent an amount of time as analysed in the fixed time frame. Make sure that the data covers all active connections for users to avoid a skewed picture.

Number of Sessions

Determine the number of user-sessions that occurred during the same period as the above-mentioned parameters. All the visits made to your site are recorded so that each visit constitutes a single session.

Calculate the Average

If the total hours taken is calculated then divide the total hours with the number of sessions. The formula is:

Average Time Spent = Total Time Spent / Number of Sessions

Example Calculation

If users have collectively spent 10,000 minutes on your website over 1,000 sessions, the average time spent per session would be:

Average Time Spent = 10,000 minutes / 1,000 sessions = 10 minutes per session

Considerations

• Bounce Rate: These factors work together in the sense that high bounce rates are likely to influence the average time as visitors that only spend a short amount of time are likely to depress the average time.
• Session Duration Threshold: Some tools can strengthen this system by letting you exclude certain sessions based on a minimum and maximum session length.

By using the above method, you will be in a good position to calculate the average time taken by users on the website, and get to understand if it’s too long or too short; this will assist you in making the correct decisions in a bid to try and improve the experiences of the users.