Do Dwell Time and Pogo-Sticking Affect Rankings?

Not in the way the SEO terms suggest. Google has denied using "dwell time," "pogo-sticking," or click-through rate as ranking signals, with Gary Illyes of Google calling dwell time and CTR "made up crap" in 2019. But records from the US search antitrust case and a 2024 leak of Google's internal documents show click behavior does feed a system called Navboost. The behaviors are real; the SEO metric names are not Google's.

What are dwell time and pogo-sticking?

Dwell time and pogo-sticking are SEO-community terms for how a searcher behaves after clicking your result. Google has never published a metric with either name.

Dwell time means how long someone stays on your page before returning to the search results. Pogo-sticking means clicking your result, bouncing straight back to Google, and clicking a different one. Both are read as signs that a page did or did not satisfy the searcher. Both also sit among the SEO myths where a plausible behavior gets mistaken for a documented dial.

Neither is the same as bounce rate, which is an analytics measure on your own site. Dwell time and pogo-sticking describe behavior back on Google's results page, which is why people assume Google must be watching it.

Has Google said it uses these signals?

Google has repeatedly denied using dwell time, pogo-sticking, or CTR as direct ranking signals. The denials are on the record and blunt.

In a February 2019 Reddit AMA, Google's Gary Illyes was blunt about these signals. Dwell time and CTR, he said, are "generally made up crap" (reported by Search Engine Roundtable, February 2019). He added that search is simpler than people think. Google's spokespeople have held that line for years, much as they have on social media signals.

The reasoning behind the denial is sound. Raw click metrics are trivial to fake with bots or a click farm, so a system that ranked pages on click-through rate directly would be easy to game. That is the honest case against the simple version of the myth.

So why do SEOs still believe it? The Navboost evidence

SEOs keep believing it because two disclosures, from the US antitrust case and a 2024 leak, showed Google does use click behavior, just not as the named metrics. The picture is more nuanced than either "yes" or "no."

In the US search antitrust case, a court exhibit posted by the Justice Department summarizes a January 2025 call with Google engineer Pandu Nayak. It describes Navboost as "a measure of how frequently users (subset by location and device type) click on a particular document for a particular query". The same notes say it uses the most recent 13 months of data.

Separately, in May 2024, about 2,500 internal Google Search documents leaked. Google confirmed to The Verge the documents were genuine, while cautioning against "inaccurate assumptions" from "out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information".

The leak named specific click fields.

Leaked click field	What the name suggests (our reading)
goodClicks	a click that satisfied the searcher
badClicks	a click that did not, such as the quick return SEOs call pogo-sticking
lastLongestClicks	the result the searcher clicked last and stayed on longest

Field names as reported in SparkToro's leak report, 27 May 2024. The right column is our reading of each name, not Google's definition.

So click behavior clearly matters, through Navboost, one of the systems described in Google's ranking machinery. What is not confirmed is a live "dwell time" timer or a CTR dial you can push page by page.

What should you actually do about it?

Serve the click, do not chase the metric. The winning move is the same whether or not Navboost is watching: be the result that answers the query so well the searcher stops looking.

That means a fast page, a headline that matches the query, and the answer near the top so nobody pogo-sticks away. Trying to inflate clicks with bots or misleading titles works against you, since a mismatch between the promise and the page is exactly what a "bad click" records.

In our experience, when a Malaysian SME worries about bounce and dwell numbers, the real fix sits elsewhere. We have traced ranking drops to slow or neglected sites, so that is where we look first.

A faster, clearer page usually settles the behavior on its own. This is also a common entry in why rankings drop.

A loading screen is no substitute for that speed. A preloader on a fast page adds a wait rather than filling one. Nielsen Norman Group's research shows a delay under one second keeps a visitor's flow of thought.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google use dwell time as a ranking factor?

No, Google does not use a metric it calls "dwell time" as a ranking factor. Gary Illyes dismissed dwell time and CTR as "made up crap" in 2019. US antitrust-case records and the 2024 leak do show click behavior feeding a system called Navboost, so how users click matters. But there is no confirmed page-level dwell timer you can optimize toward directly.

Is pogo-sticking bad for SEO?

It reflects something bad, rather than causing a penalty on its own. Pogo-sticking means searchers bounce back to Google and pick a rival, which the leaked badClicks field appears to record. The harm is the mismatch behind it: a slow page, a misleading title, or a weak answer. Fix the cause, and the behavior settles; there is no separate pogo-sticking penalty to appease.

What is Navboost?

Navboost is a Google ranking signal built from click data. Notes posted in the US antitrust case describe it as measuring how often users click a result for a query. It uses the most recent 13 months of data. It is the strongest public evidence that click behavior influences ranking. It works on aggregate patterns across many searches, not a live meter on any single visit to your page.

Does click-through rate (CTR) affect rankings?

Not directly, in the way the myth claims. Google has denied ranking pages by CTR, and raw CTR would be easy to fake. The Navboost evidence shows clicks matter in aggregate, but you cannot lift a page by manufacturing clicks. A better title that honestly earns more clicks helps traffic regardless, so write for the searcher, not for a rate.

How do I improve how users interact with my result?

Match the query and answer it fast. Write a title and description that honestly describe the page, put the core answer near the top, and make the page load quickly on mobile. When the click gets what it promised, the searcher stays instead of returning to Google. That is the outcome every click signal is trying to detect, so serving it beats gaming it.

Serve the searcher, not the signal

Storming Solutions runs SEO, AEO, and GEO for Malaysian businesses from Kuala Lumpur, and we build pages that answer the query rather than pages that chase engagement scores. We will not sell you a dwell-time trick, because the honest evidence does not support one.

Wondering why a page that ranks still loses visitors back to Google? Ask us through the contact page, or read whether readability affects rankings next. Our SEO, AEO and GEO service is built on making the result worth staying on.