Engagement metrics help you understand how visitors interact with your site beyond just loading it. These signals reveal how effectively your content captures attention, encourages interaction, and keep users involved.
What is a U-turn?
A U-turn occurs when a user lands on a page, stays for five seconds or less, doesn’t interact (no clicks, scrolls, or inputs), and then navigates back to the previous page. It’s a signal that something didn’t resonate - or possibly didn’t load properly.
How is it measured?
We detect U-turns by combining three signals: short time on page (≤5s), lack of user interaction, and immediate backward navigation in the session flow. This typically happens when users click a link, don’t find what they expected, and quickly retreat to where they came from - like returning to a product list from a disappointing product detail page.
Why it matters?
A high U-turn rate often indicates that the page failed to meet user expectations—due to misleading links, weak content, or poor visual hierarchy. It can also be caused by performance issues, like slow page rendering or layout shifts that frustrate users. By monitoring U-turns, you can identify problematic entry points and optimize both content relevance and loading experience to keep users moving forward, not bouncing back.