The metrics for websites are flawed. For instance, time-on-site. If a user spends more time on a site before clicking back, maybe that site is more useful. Or maybe that site has made it purposely difficult to find the key information, such as recipe websites that place lots of unnecessary text and ads before to actual recipe. But that strategy gets the site better search engine rankings, which in turn ranks them higher and drives more traffic, which drives more ad revenue.
When I encounter a site where the first thing I see is a pop up to subscribe, or prompt about opting out of cookies, or 60 second ad to watch a 30 second video, I just leave the site.
When I encounter a site where the first thing I see is a pop up to subscribe, or prompt about opting out of cookies, or 60 second ad to watch a 30 second video, I just leave the site.