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Depending on the type of site, higher Average Visit Duration and Pages Per Visit may not be desirable.
For most Web metrics, it is clear which direction you want the trends to point towards. A higher number of visitors is nearly always a positive indicator, a higher bounce rate nearly always negative.
Average Visit Duration and Pages Per Visit, however, require more interpretation. For a news and education site, an upward trend for these metrics would probably be desirable, as they would suggest a higher level of user engagement.
On an e-commerce or lead generation site, however, these metrics could represent user confusion as much as user engagement – especially if your conversion rates and revenues are declining.
Before placing great emphasis on the high-level metrics that Google Analytics provides, make sure to understand what they really mean for your type of website, and evaluate them in the context of other less ambiguous metrics.
