Understanding user engagement on your website is crucial, but discrepancies in metrics can lead to confusion. This article explores why the "Time On Site" reported by Ezoic often differs from the data shown in Google Analytics. By delving into the methodologies used by both platforms, we aim to provide clarity on how each measures user activity. You'll learn about the limitations of Google Analytics' tracking and how Ezoic offers a more comprehensive view of your visitors' time on site. Let's uncover the reasons behind these differences and help you make more informed decisions based on accurate data.

Google Analytics has a known limitation in its measurement of "time on site" as it does not account for the time spent on the last page viewed by a user. This can lead to significant underreporting of user engagement. For instance:

Example 1:

• A user lands on your website, clicks on a link within 5 seconds, then spends 5 minutes on the next page before navigating away via a new browser search.

Google Analytics would only report the time on the first page (5 seconds), disregarding the 5 minutes spent on the second page. 

Ezoic, on the other hand, measures time on site more accurately by tracking in 15-second intervals. In the first example, Ezoic would count the total time spent on both pages (5 minutes and 5 seconds).

Example 2:

• A user lands on your website, finds the page they landed on to be exactly what they are looking for, and spends 5 minutes reading it.

If the user navigates away using the back button, Google Analytics would report the duration of this visit as 0 seconds.

Ezoic would report the visit duration as the actual 5 minutes.

Google details its own flawed approach here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en