Last year Google announced that RankBrain was their third most important ranking factor:

RankBrain is a machine learning system that helps Google sort their search results.

RankBrain focuses on two things:

1. How long someone spends on your page (Dwell Time)
2. The percentage of people that click on your result (Click Through Rate)

Here are 8 great techniques to increase dwell time:

Truthful titles and meta descriptions

One of the main reasons why people leave a website shortly after reaching it is because the title promised them something else. Don’t ever mislead your visitors!

Say goodbye to aggressive ads

Upon reaching a website, visitors may be littered with popups and ads before even seeing a line of text. This is something that will agitate your readers in no time and they will likely never return.

Ideal content format

As mentioned, excessively long format no longer converts that well. Short format will also have a negative impact on your dwell time. Ideally, your articles should be up to 1500-2000 words long while videos should be around 3-5 minutes. Having a video on your page can significantly increase your average time spent on page as many users will view it and wait till it ends.

Comment section

It’s shocking that some websites do not have a comment section. Comments allow your visitors to interact, help each other and share their opinions. Ideally, a comment section should be easy to use without intricate registration procedure. A really good w yet simple way to increase average time spent on page.

Share buttons

Similar to having a comment section, adding share buttons are something that can increase interaction and force reader to spend a little more time on your pages.

Promote browsing

Your content shouldn’t be too long yet, you require long dwell time. Best way to do it is by promoting and linking to your other articles and videos (a.k.a. interlinking). Call to action is another good method that will promote longer browsing.

Easy navigation

If you already wish to promote other web pages, make sure your visitors can easily find them. Create big menus, categories and filters positioned in a visible place. Your audience will appreciate this.

Responsive website

Lastly, your site needs to be responsive, fast and mobile friendly allowing pleasant UX.

To sum it up, your website has to be good.

Bloggers also have to find a perfect balance between promotion and positive user experience.

Visitors have to do things which they like while feeling good as they do them.

When able, use small tricks (such as videos, share buttons and comment section) to increase user’s time on site. https://www.impression.co.uk/blog/4004/dwell-time/

https://niksto.com/dwell-time/