The average amount of time visitors spend on a specific page (time on page) or across an entire visit (session duration) before navigating away.
Why it matters
Time on page is a useful, if imperfect, proxy for engagement and content quality — a long average time can indicate genuinely engaged reading, though it can also reflect confusion (a visitor struggling to find what they need) rather than interest, which is why it's best read alongside other signals like scroll depth or conversion rate.
In a sentence
"Average time on page for the guide was much longer than our typical blog post, which we took as a good sign people were actually reading it in depth rather than skimming and leaving."
Related terms
- Synonyms: Dwell time.