Compete logo

Search PRO Help

Category: Average Stay Metric

Average Stay is used as an engagement metric. Historically, site engagement was measured exclusively by page views; however, with the introduction of new technologies, such as AJAX and online video, sites are able to reduce the number of clicks a visitor needs to make to obtain the information they are seeking.

Recommendation: Average Stay can be interpreted through different lenses. For instance, a content site like facebook.com will strive to keep people on their site as long as possible per visit. In contrast, a search engine like Google will want to help their users find the best results as fast as possible and may consider long Average Stays concerning. Keep in mind, in the Category Summary report, you are looking at the collective Average Stay for all sites within the category.