Different between GA avg time on page vs. avg visit duration

Question

I'm newer to using Google Analytics, and I have a question about a page in my website I'm looking at.

For a specific page in my website, the avg. time on page is 1:08. But, when I find this page under Content > Site Content > Landing page, the avg. visit duration is 0:26.

Can someone explain the difference between these two metrics? I think I understand how avg time on page is calculated, but I don't see how it's different to avg visit duration.

If someone was to ask me how long does a user typical stay on this page before leaving to go somewhere else (whether to a different website or somewhere else within our own website), what would I say?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Average Time on Page is calculated as the average difference between the request timestamp for that page and the request timestamp for the next pageview that occurred within your site. If only a single page is viewed during a visit, that pageview does not figure into Average Time on Page, since there is no second timestamp to subtract from.

Similarly, Average Visit Duration is calculated based on the timestamp difference between the first and final pageviews that occurred during a visit. Since the duration of the final pageview cannot be calculated, Average Visit Duration as reported in GA is always somewhat shorter than in actuality. - Taken from http://gatipoftheday.com/average-time-on-page-average-visit-duration-and-browser-timestamps/

If you wanted to figure out how much time the user spent on the page you'd look at the Avg. time on page.