Same topic: the competitor’s article averages 3 minutes of dwell time, your readers leave after 40 seconds. The difference usually isn’t writing skill — it’s whether the piece has images, tables, and videos that make people stop and look twice.
Here’s the bottom line: images lower the barrier to understanding, tables handle side-by-side comparison, videos demonstrate the hands-on details. Assign media by paragraph intent rather than stuffing by count; get the mix right and dwell time and finish rate climb together.
First understand what dwell time actually measures
Dwell time isn’t a direct input to rankings, but it’s a magnifying glass for whether content aligns with search intent. Readers staying usually means they found the answer they wanted on the page, and opened the second and third paragraphs along the way.
In GA4, the matching metrics are “average engagement time” and “engaged sessions rate”, found under Reports → Engagement → Pages and screens. To learn where readers actually stop on a screen, add a heatmap tool (for example Microsoft Clarity) to look at scroll-depth distribution — far more useful than staring at the average.
- Low engagement time and low scroll depth: the first screen didn’t catch the intent; the problem is the opening
- Low engagement time but high scroll depth: readers are speed-scanning, missing anchors that make them stop
- High engagement time but low conversion: content is good enough; the CTA position or bait is wrong
The three situations call for three different fixes — don’t add videos site-wide up front. First sort articles into the three groups using a month of data, then patch media by group, and you’ll save most of the work.
Images: used to replace a whole paragraph
Whether an image keeps people depends on how much text it replaces. Purely decorative images contribute almost nothing to dwell time; the three types below actually do the work.
Flowcharts
Open multi-step operations with a flowchart so readers build a mental map first, then reading the details doesn’t make them lost. For tutorials with more than four steps, an overview image at the start is almost a guaranteed win.
Annotated screenshots
Backend-operation content must include screenshots with a red box circling the button to click. The most time-consuming part for readers is “finding the entry point”; circling it removes that chunk of drop-off outright.
Comparison charts and infographics
Plot data points as bar charts or four-quadrant charts and readers’ dwell lengthens noticeably; they’re also more likely to be screenshot and shared to communities, bringing a round of secondary traffic.
Technically, hold three lines: keep single images under 200KB, convert everything to WebP, and lazy-load everything beyond the first screen. Images slowing the load directly cancel out the dwell gains they bring — the specifics follow the image, cache, and CDN optimization trio.
Tables: highest information density for side-by-side comparison
When the reader’s task is “compare”, a table always beats paragraphs. Use tables for plan comparison, price comparison, and spec comparison — they compress what would be three paragraphs into one screen of reading.
| Comparison dimension | Plan A | Plan B |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | ¥99 | ¥129 |
| Export formats | 3 | 8 |
| Collaborators | 5 people | Unlimited |
| API calls | Not supported | 10,000/month |
Tables have a few hard rules: headers use noun phrases, cells hold concrete values rather than long sentences; keep columns to four or fewer, split into two tables if more; give the table container horizontal scroll on mobile so it doesn’t get squeezed into a squished block.
Video: positioned right, or nobody clicks
Video suits operations that “text can’t explain and hands tremble at” — software configuration, parameter adjustment, hardware installation. Embed it after the relevant step’s paragraph instead of piling it at the top of the article — readers who haven’t reached that step yet have no motivation to click.
| Content type | Recommended media mix | Placement |
|---|---|---|
| How-to tutorial | Annotated screenshots + short video | After each step paragraph |
| Product review | Spec table + real photos | Before the conclusion section |
| Long-form methodology | Flowchart + quadrant chart | Overview at start and section wrap-ups |
Keep single demos to 60–90 seconds; past that, readers jump away. Pick a cover frame with actual visual content manually instead of the default black screen; burn subtitles into key steps — many people watch muted.
If you self-host video, be careful not to drag down the first screen: set preload="none" on the video tag, use a static image as the cover, and lazy-load the player script. Iframes from third-party platforms deserve lazy loading too — one video can stretch LCP by more than a second otherwise.
Worked example: how one tutorial is arranged
String the three media types along the reading flow: an overview flowchart at the start, annotated screenshots per step in the middle with a comparison table at decision points, then an 80-second demo video plus a text recap at the end. Preview on mobile once you’re done, confirming no big image fills the first screen, tables can swipe horizontally, and videos don’t autoplay.
- Opening: overview flowchart, helps readers build the mental map
- Middle: per-step screenshots + comparison table at decision points
- Ending: demo video + three-point text recap
Write the media mix into team standards, or everyone stacks a different density. Land it together with the content style guide and review process, turning “step articles need at least one flowchart” into a hard pre-publish check.
Re-arranging media is itself an old-post update, so run through the title, internal links, and stale data at the same time, following the old post update checklist — one change, two wins.
When it comes to execution, the moves are concentrated: export the 10 articles with the lowest average engagement time from GA4’s Pages and screens report; pick 3 step-type posts and re-arrange them as “overview + step screenshots + comparison table + demo video”; convert all images to WebP under 200KB and lazy-load everything beyond the first screen; add horizontal scroll containers to mobile tables and check each cell for squeezing; two weeks later revisit the 3 posts’ engagement time and scroll depth, and roll out site-wide only after confirming it works.
FAQ
How do I measure dwell time?
Look at “average engagement time” and “engaged sessions rate” in GA4, plus a heatmap tool for scroll depth. Both low engagement time and low scroll depth mean the problem is in the opening first screen.
Do images improve dwell time?
Yes, but only images that replace a whole paragraph: an overview flowchart for multi-step operations, red-boxed annotated screenshots for backend operations, data drawn as comparison charts. Purely decorative images contribute nothing.
What content suits video?
Operations that text can’t explain and hands tremble at — software configuration, parameter adjustment, hardware installation. Embed after the relevant step, 60–90 seconds per segment, not piled at the top.
When should I use tables?
When the reader’s task is “compare” — plan, price, and spec comparisons all fit. Use noun-phrase headers, only concrete values, keep columns to four or fewer, and add horizontal swipe on mobile.
Will adding media slow down loading?
It can, so control the cost. Compress single images under 200KB and convert to WebP, lazy-load beyond the first screen; set videos to preload=none with a static cover — otherwise the media gains get dragged down by loading.
Figure: Multimedia content for longer dwell time — how to use images, tables, and video (compiled by Operations GO)
