: Google Analytics: Why is Avg Time on Site lower than Avg time on Page? I have the following Custom Report set up in Google Analytics: Metrics: Avg Time on Page Avg Time on Site Dimensions:

@Angela700

See how avgTimeOnPage is calculated: developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/dimsmets/pagetracking#ga:avgTimeOnPage
A simple example


5 visitors spend exactly 5 minutes reading /your-article
4 of them close their tab after reading.
1 of them visits /another-article,
spends another 5 minutes reading, then closes the tab.


Average time on page = 5 minutes


Total time spent on page / (page views - exits)
5 / (5 - 4)


Average time on site = 1 minute


Total time spent on site / number of visitors
0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 5 / 5

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@Sarah324

There is something confusing in your article:
here is your example: Average time on page = 5 minutes
5 visitors spend exactly 5 minutes reading /your-article
4 of them close their tab after reading.
1 of them visits /another-article, spends another 5 minutes reading, then closes the tab.

if 4 of them close their tab after reading (bounce), time = 0 minutes and not 5 minutes
so the calculation for Average time site or average time page would be (0+0+0+0+5)

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@Harper822

Google Analytics counts bounces (where only one page was viewed by the visitor) as having a "time on site" of 0. But it still counts the full time on page for that visit. [Source.]

If a site has lots of bounces – where many people view a single article you've written and then leave, for example – this will skew the average time on site downwards. This makes it possible for "Avg Time on Site" to be lower than "Avg Time on Page".

A simple example


5 visitors spend exactly 5 minutes reading /your-article
4 of them close their tab after reading.
1 of them visits /another-article, spends another 5 minutes reading, then closes the tab.


Average time on page = 5 minutes

Total time spent on page / number of visitors
5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 / 5


Average time on site = 2 minutes

Total time spent on site / number of visitors
0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 10 / 5


The key is that the bounced visitors count as 0 towards the total time on site, but as 5
towards the total time on page. Google doesn't discount the zeroes – they still contribute to the average.

(Aside: in my opinion, Google should consider using the time on page as time on site for single-page visits, which might give a better representation of average time on site. In the example above, average time on site would then be 6 minutes, which is the truthful average, bigger than the average time on page, and far less confusing.)

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