Does time spent on site effect SERPS?

[S Isaac]

Does the time someone spends on my site effect the SERPS?

The overall aim of my site is to generate a phone call. If people click my site, call us and then leave the site, it's achieved what I want it to, but could this be bad for my SERPS?

Would removing analytics from my site stop Google knowing how long someone stays there for? If so, are there other options to gain analytics type data for my site, without it having to be Google's analytics?

 

[Usman Ahmed]

Yes google does take into account 'dwell time'... which is how long a visitor stayed on your site. Obviously if a lot of people visit your site and leave immediately then it will result in you moving down the SERPS, but if they visit you, look around your site, like the look of what you have to offer you and then make a phonecall... after which they leave then that isn't going to be an issue. So don't worry about it.

Again don't worry too much about this. As long as your website is serving its purpose to the visitors that come and giving them what they need then you've got nothing to worry about.

If you are really concerned then a good alternative to Google analytics is clicky analytics which you can find at clickyDOTcom

 

[StevePoster]

Does the time someone spends on my site effect the SERPS?
If so, are there other options to gain analytics type data for my site, without it having to be Google's analytics?

Engagement of the users affects the performance of the site to the web. As of now Google analytics is the best tool for website's traffic. While there are other tools like Piwik but you need to code the channels before you can customize the behavior of the site.

 

[Emu]

Its probably such a low weighted factor at the moment that it is not something to even think about, lots of sites dont have google analytics or any other analytics on them which means google cannot tell how long the person was on your site for. In this instance the only way they can tell if somone engaged with your site and the extent to which they did would be if they used the back button to go back to the search results page shortly after they hit the site...... A little underhanded but I often disable the browser back button or use JS to redirect the visitor to another page on the site at random faking engagement (for other non SEO related reason I need to show engagemnt on some of my sites) but Id stay away from all that stuff unless you have a good reason to get into it

 

[boring-friday]

They've said they don't in the past for the reasons you've listed.

Its really not worth worrying about anyway, they always spout about there being 300 ranking factors but 4 or 5 of them account for 90% of it.

Worrying about stuff like that is like finding out you have a date with Angelina Jolie in 6 months and spending your time deciding what socks to wear rather than smashing the gym,getting rich,visiting plastic surgeons and maybe adopting an Ethiopian

 

[boring-friday]

Yes google does take into account 'dwell time'... which is how long a visitor stayed on your site. Obviously if a lot of people visit your site and leave immediately then it will result in you moving down the SERPS, but if they visit you, look around your site, like the look of what you have to offer you and then make a phonecall... after which they leave then that isn't going to be an issue. So don't worry about it.

Again don't worry too much about this. As long as your website is serving its purpose to the visitors that come and giving them what they need then you've got nothing to worry about.

If you are really concerned then a good alternative to Google analytics is clicky analytics which you can find at clickyDOTcom

So just to confirm google now hide in a bush to check to see if people have picked up the phone and then knock on the door and ask for opinions on whether they enjoyed their user experience on issac.com?

OPs website probably has 1 main page and its purpose is he wants people to phone him, all google can see is people clicking off the site

 

[fisicx]

Obviously if a lot of people visit your site and leave immediately then it will result in you moving down the SERPS

No it won't.

 

[Tom_Dwan]

Google is getting smarter and smarter as we know, so they also bear in mind the purpose your site serves. I mean there are plenty of websites which people don't have to stay a long time to be happy with their choice. For example, if you are looking for an answer of a pretty straight-forward question, you click the result go there, press ctrl+f [if needed] find what you are looking for and click the big X button. Sometimes this will happen in matters of seconds and user will leave but they will be still satisfied. So, really there is nothing to worry about.