In information retrieval, dwell time denotes the time which a user spends viewing a document after clicking a link on a search engine results page (SERP). Dwell time is the duration between when a user clicks on a search engine result, and when the user returns from that result, or is otherwise seen to have left the result. It is a

relevance Relevance is the concept of one topic being connected to another topic in a way that makes it useful to consider the second topic when considering the first. The concept of relevance is studied in many different fields, including cognitive sci ...

indicator of the search result correctly satisfying the

intent Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...

of the user. Short dwell times indicate the user's query intent was not satisfied by viewing the result. Long dwell times indicate the user's query intent was satisfied.

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

has used dwell time in page ranking.

References

Information retrieval evaluation Internet search engines {{web-software-stub