How does Google calculate time on page?

The key to understanding Google Analytics time calculations is understanding the data that is sent to Google. We affectionately refer to these data as HITS. I know, that’s a terrible term to use when talking about analytics. But they really are hits.

Data hits are the image requests sent to Google Analytics. Three are six different types of data hits in Google Analytics:

Pageview hits
Event hits
Ecommerce transaction hits
Ecommerce transaction item hits
User defined hits (this is the predecessor of custom variables)
Social plugin hits
 
Google puts a time stamp whenever any user lands on a particular page then it compares the time stamp of one page with the other. E.g. Any user enters the site on Page A and moves to Page B then lands to Page C and finally leaves the site. In this case, a time stamp is put on Page A suppose its 10:10, when the user moves to Page B, another time stamp is placed on Page B, suppose its 10:20 and then when the user lands on Page C, another time stamp is placed, lets say 10:30. Now to calculate time on Page A, Google will subtract the time stamp on Page B with that of A. In this case, 10:20-10:10 which will come to 10 minutes for Page A.
 
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