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These data are not being interpreted correctly. Analytics calculates time-on-page based on the time between loads of the google JS embedded in your pages. Any v

These data are not being interpreted correctly. Analytics calculates time-on-page based on the time between loads of the google JS embedded in your pages. Any visitor who 'bounces' - that is, only visits a single page - only loads the JS once, so their time-on-page is recorded as 0 seconds, regardless of how long they actually spent on the page.

ramykhuffash 13y ago
Exactly what I came here to say. Those people could have spent 10 hours really absorbing that one article and their time would have still been recorded as 0 seconds.
plam 13y ago
I apologise for my naive misunderstanding of the Analytics metric. I've updated the post to point this out at the top of my post. Thanks for the explanation!
stopcyring 13y ago
what if i told you they use the onUnload event?
- tehwebguy 13y ago
  Do they?
- plam 13y ago
  do they?
- stopcyring 13y ago
  they track heatmaps might as well count that + 100 other hacks.
_mpf 13y ago
I`ve checked how it works with "Real-Time" option of the Google Analytics. When i closed a tab Google Analytics knew that i stopped reading the page (the on-line user counter was updated -1). Maybe it works different with a standard report (i didn`t read the code), but maybe not? They could use javascript browser events detection and i don`t think such a bug would remain unseen.
MasterScrat 13y ago
> Analytics calculates time-on-page based on the time between loads of the google JS embedded in your pages. Source? They may be using JavaScript to track that more accurately.
rickdale 13y ago
Are you absolutely sure this is how it works? I have a 1 page website where the average time is 1:36, shouldn't it stay at 0 since the users are not clicking to other pageS?
- gabipurcaru 13y ago
  My guess is that a small percentage of users refresh the page after a while (if the traffic is small, maybe you're weighing in on that yourself)
  - jfoster 13y ago
    But does anyone actually know? I can see from this thread that plenty of people thought they knew, but it seems nearly half thought it worked one way, and nearly half thought it worked the other way.
- lenazegher 13y ago
  Reasonably sure, unless I'm misinterpreting something: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en
  - _mpf 13y ago
    I`ve read that doc, and it looks like you are right. Now i`m even more courious how they measure single hit reading time.
    - jonknee 13y ago
      What is your pages per visit number?
      - rickdale 13y ago
        Before changing the site to a multiple page site, I was averaging 1.2 pages/visit. Again with a 1 page site, but I would develop on the server so I figured GA was picking that up. Since changing to a multiple page site my pages/vist is 2.55 and my average time on site has increased by like 20 seconds, which seems a lot. Maybe people are on 56k, haha.
mikek 13y ago
The time on site is calculated as the time on the last page hit (or engagement hit) minus the time of the first page hit. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en

ramykhuffash 13y ago

Exactly what I came here to say. Those people could have spent 10 hours really absorbing that one article and their time would have still been recorded as 0 seconds.

plam 13y ago

I apologise for my naive misunderstanding of the Analytics metric. I've updated the post to point this out at the top of my post. Thanks for the explanation!

stopcyring 13y ago

what if i told you they use the onUnload event?

tehwebguy 13y ago
Do they?
plam 13y ago
do they?
stopcyring 13y ago
they track heatmaps might as well count that + 100 other hacks.

_mpf 13y ago

I`ve checked how it works with "Real-Time" option of the Google Analytics. When i closed a tab Google Analytics knew that i stopped reading the page (the on-line user counter was updated -1). Maybe it works different with a standard report (i didn`t read the code), but maybe not? They could use javascript browser events detection and i don`t think such a bug would remain unseen.

MasterScrat 13y ago

> Analytics calculates time-on-page based on the time between loads of the google JS embedded in your pages. Source? They may be using JavaScript to track that more accurately.

rickdale 13y ago

Are you absolutely sure this is how it works? I have a 1 page website where the average time is 1:36, shouldn't it stay at 0 since the users are not clicking to other pageS?

gabipurcaru 13y ago
My guess is that a small percentage of users refresh the page after a while (if the traffic is small, maybe you're weighing in on that yourself)
- jfoster 13y ago
  But does anyone actually know? I can see from this thread that plenty of people thought they knew, but it seems nearly half thought it worked one way, and nearly half thought it worked the other way.
lenazegher 13y ago
Reasonably sure, unless I'm misinterpreting something: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en
- _mpf 13y ago
  I`ve read that doc, and it looks like you are right. Now i`m even more courious how they measure single hit reading time.
  - jonknee 13y ago
    What is your pages per visit number?
    - rickdale 13y ago
      Before changing the site to a multiple page site, I was averaging 1.2 pages/visit. Again with a 1 page site, but I would develop on the server so I figured GA was picking that up. Since changing to a multiple page site my pages/vist is 2.55 and my average time on site has increased by like 20 seconds, which seems a lot. Maybe people are on 56k, haha.

mikek 13y ago

The time on site is calculated as the time on the last page hit (or engagement hit) minus the time of the first page hit. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en