Improve Your Site with Dwell Time and Bounce Rate

Hello everyone! If you are reading this post, you probably have a website, a blog, an online business, or simply want to better understand how Google works and why certain sites always rank at the top of searches.

Today we discuss two very important concepts in the SEO world: Dwell Time Bounce Rate

Imagine your site as a physical store. Google is the big billboard that tells passersby where you are. The customers who enter are the users who click on your link in the search results.

- If they enter, look for 5 seconds, and leave → Google thinks: "This store is not appealing, I won't recommend it anymore" - If they enter, browse, look at the products, maybe buy something → Google thinks: "Great place, let's send more people!"

Dwell time and bounce rate measure this behavior.

1.

What is Dwell Time?

Dwell Time is the time that passes between these two moments:

1. The user sees your result on Google and clicks on it 2. The user goes back to the Google search results page (the SERP)

Basically, Google asks itself:

"After I sent you this user, how long did they stay with you before going back to check other results?"

Concrete examples

- Search for "easy carbonara recipe" - Click on your site - Reads the recipe, looks at the photos, copies the ingredients, stays for 4 minutes → High dwell time → Google is happy: "This site satisfied the user"

- Clicks on your site - Sees that the page is full of ads, loads very slowly, or there is no recipe - Goes back after 8 seconds → Low dwell time → Google thinks: "Maybe I sent the person to the wrong place"

This behavior is called pogo-sticking (bouncing from one result to another like a pogo stick) and is one of the most negative signals for Google in recent years.

General rule 2025-2026 - < 15-20 seconds → almost always bad - 1-2 minutes → decent - 2-4 minutes → very good for most informational content - > 5-6 minutes → excellent (long articles, in-depth guides, videos, interactive tools...)

Google does not officially communicate that dwell time is a ranking factor, but the statistical correlations are very strong: sites with medium-high dwell time tend to rise in rankings.

2.

What is Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate is the percentage of people who arrive on a page of your site and then leave without visiting other pages and without taking significant actions (clicking buttons, filling out forms, scrolling a lot, etc.).

In simple terms:

"How many people enter, look at only one page, and leave?"

Example: if out of 100 visitors, 70 only see the landing page and then exit → bounce rate 70%.

Important note: A high bounce rate is NOT always negative! It depends on the type of page.

Cases where a high bounce rate is normal (even excellent)

- Page with a phone number or address → the user finds the number, calls, and leaves happy (bounce 90-100% → perfect!) - Landing page with a clear and quick offer - Article that answers the question exactly in 30 seconds

Cases where a high bounce rate is bad

- The user arrives, sees that it has nothing to do with them, and leaves immediately - Misleading title (clickbait) - Page loads very slowly or is unattractive on mobile

Main differences between Dwell Time and Bounce Rate

Dwell time and bounce rate are similar, but they look at different things. Dwell time considers only traffic coming from Google search and measures how long the user stays on the page before returning to the search results: the longer they stay, the better (almost always). Bounce rate, on the other hand, looks at all traffic (social, email, ads, direct access...) and counts how many people leave the site after viewing only one page, regardless of whether they return to Google or not.

Another important point: for dwell time, the "exit" means returning to the Google search results page, while for bounce rate it simply means leaving the site in any way (closing the tab, going to another site, etc.). For this reason, a high dwell time is almost always a great signal, while a high bounce rate can be positive or negative depending on the context: if the user finds the phone number right away and calls, the bounce rate will be very high, but the behavior is excellent; if they leave because the page has nothing to do with them, it's a problem.

Situation: User clicks from the Google result → arrives on your page → instead of going back, clicks on an internal link and goes to another page of your site.

What happens

Dwell Time → Great signal The user does not return to the SERP. This means they found value, continued browsing, and did not need to search elsewhere. Google interprets this as a very positive long click → it greatly helps positioning.

Bounce Rate → Improves significantly The session becomes multi-page → it is no longer a bounce. In Google Analytics, this visit will be counted as "non-bounce" → lowering the site's average percentage.

In summary When the user navigates to multiple pages of your site after arriving from the search: - Dwell Time → considered high/positive (no quick return to the SERP) - Bounce Rate → low (multi-page session) - Google → very happy

Here is the concept expressed in a linear, clear, and "manual-ready" way, with precise indications on where to find the metrics.

---

Google measures dwell time internally, but does not make it directly available in its tools. For this reason, it is necessary to rely on indirect indicators.

The most reliable is the Average Engagement Time in Google Analytics 4. This metric measures the time the user is actually engaged on the page: scrolling, clicking, interacting, and remaining active on the tab. It is not just about simple "time on page", but about real engagement.

In GA4, the metric can be found by following this path: Reports → Engagement → Pages and screens. Within the table, there is a column for "Average engagement time", visible for each individual page or comparable across multiple URLs.

If a page shows an average engagement time of over 90–120 seconds, it is very unlikely that the user will return to Google immediately after clicking. This indicates that the content correctly meets the search intent and that, consequently, the dwell time is good.

In summary, even if dwell time is not directly measurable, the Average Engagement Time in GA4 represents the most solid proxy for assessing whether users stay, read, and truly engage with the content.

The goal today (2026) is not to chase a magic bounce rate number, but to create content that:

- matches exactly what the user wants - answers the question immediately - keeps the person interested for as long as possible (naturally)

If you can do this, high dwell time and a "healthy" bounce rate will come naturally.