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Average time spent on site????

by brit16
9 replies
Thanks to the help of some warriors I finally have google analytics set up. It has been tracking my site for a few days now, and since I am a math teacher I can't help but analyze every single stat. I am wondering what "normal" is for average time spent on an informational site? I know that there is not a specific answer for this question, but I would like some ideas. Trying to find out if my site is giving people what they want or not. Thanks!
#average #site #spent #time
  • Profile picture of the author Chris The Traffic Blogger
    Look at your bounce rate and your time spent on site.

    If you can get your time spent on the site above one minute than you are at least captivating the attention of your audience. Most people will skim read your work, so if you manage to get it to 2 minutes than you are doing a pretty good job for an information site.

    Your bounce rate will be high if you are a news site, as people will check the latest news and then bounce. Try to get it to below 70%, maybe even 50% if possible.

    Don't get bogged down by metrics however, learn to use them and move on. I would advise checking once a month or maybe once a week.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Sammut
      Originally Posted by Chris The Traffic Blogger View Post

      Look at your bounce rate and your time spent on site.

      If you can get your time spent on the site above one minute than you are at least captivating the attention of your audience. Most people will skim read your work, so if you manage to get it to 2 minutes than you are doing a pretty good job for an information site.

      Your bounce rate will be high if you are a news site, as people will check the latest news and then bounce. Try to get it to below 70%, maybe even 50% if possible.

      Don't get bogged down by metrics however, learn to use them and move on. I would advise checking once a month or maybe once a week.

      good post, checking stats once a week is fine, you do not want to overdo it
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      • Profile picture of the author brit16
        Thanks everyone, glad to hear that bounce rate is not too important on a blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author mandark
    It depends on the amount of content on your site. If your site has one paragraph of content, people will stay for much less time than if it has lots of information on topics of interest. If you have people only staying for one minute or less, that's a bit low. Above that it really depends on the type of site.
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  • Profile picture of the author BenSalez
    The average varies by market.

    My bread and butter site has a bounce rate of 88%. This seems crazy high, but this has actually been reduced from 93% with extensive testing. Due to the fact that it is a long form sales letter and other market variables... I am happy with it as it generates about 50k a year

    While some may be appalled with a 90% bounce rate.... I am ecstatic. So, it really varies by market and what the design of your site is.
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  • Profile picture of the author hotseochick
    Yea, it really depends on what you site is about, if the traffic is targeted toward the right people, etc. I've had bounce rates vary from 20% up to the high 80's. Since your site is informational and you are seeing a high bounce rate, it could be due to a number of factors including the keywords you are ranking for, your relevancy, even your website design could be affecting bounce rate. It's hard to tell which could be causing yours without further investigation.
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    • Profile picture of the author brit16
      Thanks for the responses. My average time spent on site is right under a minute, so I guess I have some work to do. Also, I read somewhere that bounce rate doesn't mean much on a blog, is that true? My bounce rate is 80% but I was not too concerned because it is a blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author pyrotechno
    I don't think 80% bounce rate is cause for concern for a blog
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    • Profile picture of the author donsean
      Hmmm thanks for the analysis on stats I guess for my new site I'm doing fairly well. Below %70 bounce rate and average time spent on site is above too. I'm happy
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