Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Average Session duration has dropped on May 12th and not recovered
-
Hello,
On May 12th my average session duration within Google Analytics went from 1.12 seconds to 10 seconds. Every month since then it has had an average session duration of around 10 seconds.
My traffic over this time has increased. I am concerned that the website is being attacked by bots. What should I be looking out for to work out what is happening?
Many thanks for your help.
-
Sounds like you might have a problem with multiple instances of Google's Google Analytics tracking code on your site. Check that first.
-
I agree. You should get with your host and review your websites server stats. This will give you more detailed information about where the traffic is coming from. Hopefully not bots!!
In the event that it is, this would explain why the average visit duration has dropped so drastically.
Also keep in mind that if there is actual new traffic coming to your site (not bots), this could also be contributing to the drop in visit duration as new site visitors tend to spend less time than a returning visitor.
Hope this helps!!!
-
Check with your hosting provider. They should be able to tell you if your website is being accessed unnaturally.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
50% Drop in ALL Traffic Post June Update
We've had 50% drop in Google and Direct traffic post June Google update. Why would direct suddenly plummet as well? Could it be something with Google tag manager or our new cookie policy and cookie management system? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am a disabled person and trying to figure out what is going on with our site
Reporting & Analytics | | inhouseninja0 -
Branded terms CTR drop
Moz Hivemind, I'm working with an ecom beauty brand and retailer who re-platformed their website at the end of August last year. Their CTR dropped from 70% plus for branded terms to 50% over night and has steadily declined ever since, down to the low 30s as an average the last few months. Their rankings for branded terms have remained in the number 1 position, despite a slight blip at launch, which is to be expected. They admit that some new distribution deals with major retailers have added some competition to the mix, but much later in the year. I could totally understand a rankings drop and an initial hit, but has anyone seen anything like this before, is there something on the new site that could impact CTR like this, either in the SERPs or perhaps a reporting issue? As the click itself is taking place in the SERP and their rankings are solid, other than the meta description, which they swear was unchanged the first few months after launch, any ideas what could be happening here? Thanks so much.
Reporting & Analytics | | Algorhythm_jT1 -
Impressions clicks and traffic drop
Hello,
Reporting & Analytics | | SharonEKG
So something weird is going on, i run a few websites for clients, few different CMS. there has been a constant increase in traffic and ranking on one wordpress website and now the squarespace website is climbing up in rankings in the past few months. both has GTM installed for months, which has been optimized regularly.
for the wordpress website, in the past 2 weeks, starting June 4th, on google search console the clicks and impressions has started going down to the point that i lost 90% of clicks and impressions and traffic on analytics has started dropping a few days later, now at about 60% less traffic. for the Squarespace website, exactly the same thing, started June 7th and drop in clicks/impressions (though ranking increase) and then traffic drop. checked both GTM for recent changes incase of wrong code implement, no changes, no new major issues.
different hostings different CMS, no link between them. i just cant put my finger what is going on. anyone got any idea what is going on?0 -
Google Analytics Question - Impressions & Queries Up, Sessions Down
I'm working with a client who, according to the Google Query report, impressions and sessions are up since we've started work with them about 6 months ago, but Google sessions are down. In moz, we're seeing a gradual, but steady increase in search visibility specifically with Google. Note: this is all organic. From when we started tracking queries, the first month we were tracking there were 43,581 impressions and 690 click throughs for the month. This past month there were 98,293 queries and 1015 clicks throughs for the month (granted not year over year data) - of these 1,015 clicks, 995 of them were from web. However, for those same time periods, sessions from Google are down over 30% - 1,750 vs. 1,189. I'm not sure how to interpret this. I realize that clicks and sessions are not a straightforward comparison, but I would think that if clicks were up according to the query report that sessions would also be up. Is it that some of these clicks are bouncing and therefore not being tracked as a session? Is there a potential issue with how data is being tracked?
Reporting & Analytics | | Corporate_Communications0 -
Google Analytics - Average Position
Hi Just trying to get some clarity on Google Analytics Average Positions in "Aquistions/Search Engine Optimisation". For a very competitive keyword Google Analytics is saying i am on average position of 6. Is this Page 6? I am assuming position six would be 1.6?
Reporting & Analytics | | Cocoonfxmedia0 -
Google Search Console - Why is my average mobile position better than my average desktop position?
I'm wondering why my average mobile position is much better than my average desktop position. I'm wondering if Google is comparing the same queries for both mobile vs desktop or if they're only showing me the top ranked for each type of search. Is it example 1 or 2? Example 1: Desktop may have 5,000 ranking queries that average to 21.6
Reporting & Analytics | | Pauly_Gigs
Mobile may have 1,500 ranking queries that average to 8.5 OR Example 2: example.com has 5,000 total ranking keywords, those queries' average ranking in a desktop search 21.6 and mobile search 8.5. I'm curious to know exactly what I'm seeing in Google's Search Console. https://08875344305734164866.googlegroups.com/attach/777ae98664ed418f/Mobile%20VS%20Desktop.png?part=0.1&view=1&vt=ANaJVrEHOjRLlPH43i00NnC8PxaG3ct7bsHum_TWnUoa7xVamCpRp8jrvRQJL-gz4n7Q0otqKcKxcAJA5z1VySs2naQU_Zy5tDps6bJhUSZsLRQq4uU-tJQ0 -
A/B Tests: How To Verify Difference In Average Order Value?
Hi there! When the data from an A/B test shows a difference in AOV between the variants, how do you determine if this difference is statistically probable or not? Best Regards, Martin
Reporting & Analytics | | TalkInThePark0 -
Has Anyone Else Noticed A Jump In Google Analytics Traffic Since Session Parameters Were Changed?
Ever since Google Analytics changed their session parameters August 12th I have seen a 20% jump in organic traffic & bounce rates along with a decline in pages/visit and conversion rate. To be clear, I don't put a whole heck of a lot of stock in these metrics as stand-alone indications of how my site is performing. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this blip. I noticed some other people mentioned a similar phenomenon in other SEO forums and blog comments, but nobody seems to be talking about this here at SEOMoz (unless I just haven't looked in the right place). I'm not saying the change I noticed has anything to do with the session update, I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar so that I can either cross it off the list of possible causes or explore further.
Reporting & Analytics | | eTundra0