Time on site is one of my least favorite metrics because of its fuzzy calculation. Recently, I had to restate time on site on some old reports that I was working on. I thought it was just a simple mistake in copying the data, but it turns out this was a system wide math change by Google Analytics. Oh, the wonders of denominators…
“Previously, the Average Time on Site had been calculated as the total time on site for all visits divided by the total number of visits. Both the total time on site and total number of visits included bounces.
As of July 20, 2007, we began reporting the Average Time on Site as the total time on site for all visits (excluding bounces) divided by the total number of visits (excluding bounces). This change also affected data from earlier dates, not just newer data.
Because bounces have been removed from this calculation, you may notice a significant increase in the average amount of time spent on your site. Please be assured that we have in no way changed your data, only the way that the Average Time on Site is being calculated.”
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/16342.asp
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Digital Alex is a blog about interactive marketing strategies, web analytics, conversion and more.
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How does Google Analytics treat RSS feeders? I read most of my blogs through Google Reader, and only actual visit the site to post or read comments. Is that recognized as “time on site”?
Google Analytics doesn’t aggregate content interaction anywhere except on the site. However, Google did buy Feedburner and I fully expect that they will eventually integrate that into Google Analytics.
I get my subscriber stats from Feedburner, which also shows how people are subscribing to the content and interacting with it (views in the reader).