Bounce Rate
Understanding & Improving

Bounce Rate

“You’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression.” -Will Rogers

Understanding Bounce Rate!

What is Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate is the percentage of people who land on a single page of your website, and leave without any type of interaction. The best way to track bounce rate is by using Google Analytics.

Bounce Rate is measured not only by how people interacted with your page, such as continuing to another page, also known as an event. There is another option in Google Analytics to track non-interactions events as well which would be scrolling for example. 

Where Can You Find Bounce Rate in Google Analytics?

There are three different spots where you can find bounce rate information in Google Analytics.

  1. Audience Overview Report: This will show you the overall bounce rate for your entire website.
Bounce Rate
Audience Overview Report
  1. Channels Report: Provides bounce rate for each channel grouping
Bounce Rate
Channels Report
  1. All Traffic Report: Provides the bounce rate for each source / medium pair
Bounce Rate
All Traffic Report
  1. All Pages Report: This will show you the bounce rate for a specific page.
Bounce Rate
All Pages Report

Low vs High Bounce Rate

When looking at bounce rate the lower the better. A low bounce rate means people use your site. If you had 1,000 people click a search result for your page but only 100 of them interacted with the page, and the other 900 hit their browsers back button right away. You’d have a bounce rate of 90%!

Optimal Bounce Rate On Google Analytics
2024 Bounce Rate on google analytics

There is not an overall ideal bounce rate. If your bounce rate is decreasing overtime though that is a good sign. It means the updates and improvements you are making to your page are working because more people are finding the page useful.

Average Bounce Rates
2024 Bounce Rate on google analytics

Why is Bounce Rate Important?

First it is a known part of Google’s Ranking. First page search results are known to have a low bounce rate. Due to a low bounce rate reflecting on how relevant the information is on your page.

Secondly it’s a great way for you to understand which pages of your site need improving. By a process of trial and error you’ll figure out what keeps people on your page and encourages them to interact with more of your site.

Understanding Bounce Rate allows you to ask yourself questions such as:

  • How are people reacting to your landing page?
  • What pages are driving visitors away?
  • What pages are making people stay, pulling them in, leading to more clicks further into your site?

How to Improve Bounce Rate

These are 7 ways we have found that will improve your bounce rate. In the case of bounce rate, improve means to lower that actual metric. It will take trial and error, as well as patience, but in the end is worth it!

1. Content Presentation

The average attention span of a human is 8 seconds. Which is less than a goldfish whose attention span is 10 seconds. We are telling you that because how you present information and content on your page matters more than anything else when it comes to bounce rate. If your page is an endless list of text, you will scare people off.

You want to keep information and content broken up into smaller, easily digestible bits. There are several ways you can easily do this.

  • Have a table of contents on your page. It is especially helpful if you have more than one topic on a particular page. It’s an easy way for someone to jump right to the information they need without having to scroll. It’s a click which helps your bounce rate.
  • Make sure you are breaking up text content with headings and using shorter paragraphs so that it is easily skimmable.
  • If you can put something into a table, list or chart, DO IT! Viewers are more likely to view a chart or table then read a paragraph containing the same information.
  • Last but NOT least, try to use images and videos! People don’t like to read anymore. Use visual stimulation to keep their attention. One thing to keep in mind if adding a video to the page, is to make sure you don’t have it set to auto play. A video that starts automatically when someone clicks on to your page is proven to increase bounce and that is NOT what we are trying to accomplish here. 

2. Updating

Don’t judge a book by its cover does not apply when it comes to bounce rate.

You want to not only keep your content updated on your page, but you also want to keep the over aesthetic of your page updated as well.  You can have award winning information on your page, but if it looks like it was built in 1988 they won’t stay. They will automatically assume the information on your page is just as outdated.

What is even worse then someone landing on a page that is outdated, is there not being a page at all! Always make sure your page is free of technical errors. 

Improve Bounce Rate
2024 Bounce Rate on google analytics

3. Above The Fold Content

Content that is above the fold is everything a viewer can see after a page loads without scrolling. The goal is to encourage them to continue scrolling them. 

The phrase above the fold dates back to when the newspaper first started. It referred to what people saw on the top half of the front page. This needed to be bold, attention grabbing, and compel them to purchase a paper.

A great thing to keep above the fold on your page is images and video. It draws people in. A great way to use video on a page is to create a video that is under two minutes long, that summarizes the information on your page.

Improve Bounce Rate
2024 Bounce Rate on google analytics

4. Device Friendly

It is 2024 and people have access to the internet 24/7. Whether it’s a cell phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop. So you want to make sure your site looks great across all devices and browsers. You don’t want it lto work and look flawless on someone’s laptop in Google Chrome, but look terrible on the iPhone in safari. 

Anytime you are creating or updating your site just simply test out the page and open it on several devices and try different browsers as well.

5. Optimize Meta Data

Meta data is data that gives information on other data.

It’s what you see when you type something into Google and get search results. Each result is showing you the Meta Title and Meta Description.

Bounce Rate
Meta Title
Improve Bounce Rate
Meta Description

Make sure that both are relevant to the information on your page. If they aren’t someone will leave the page very quickly. That’s what known as click bait. You can find more about Meta Data by >> Clicking HERE! <<

6. Call to Action

Call to Action is a prompt on your page that urges the user to take some action. Common calls to actions are to sign up for a newsletter, share on social media, read related articles, add to cart, check, etc.

It encourages people to continue interacting with your site.

Improve Bounce Rate
2024 Bounce Rate on google analytics

If you look to the right of this page, we have several call to action buttons!

When using call to actions make sure that they aren’t obnoxious. People don’t like pop ups or anything that feels invasive. You don’t want your content being blocked by a massive subscribe to email pop up. In short, avoid anything that makes your page feel like a sleazy car salesman designed it. If someone wants to sign up for say a newsletter, place a call to action near your best bit of information on a page, but don’t allow it to block the actual content.

7. Page Speed

If your site is slow you are in trouble. Having access to the internet 24/7 means people want information and they want it NOW! Every second your page takes to load costs you 7% of your site traffic.

All the content you have on your page you want to make sure is optimized. 

— With images make sure they are compressed into the smaller file size so that they load faster.

— Same with videos. Which is another reason you don’t want a video to auto play. It will slow down your overall page speed.

Use a tool such as, PageSpeed Insights, to test your page. It’s completely free to use!

There are two things you should pay attention to:

  • Pay attention to Largest Contentful Paint which is how long it takes the main content of your page to load.
  • Also pay attention to Cumulative Layout shift is the visual stability of a page. You don’t want someone to start scrolling and all of a sudden it takes a few seconds for the next bit of content to load. Remember, people want everything NOW!
Improve Bounce Rate
2024 Bounce Rate on google analytics

What is a good bounce rate?

As a general guideline, a bounce rate between 26% to 40% is considered excellent, indicating that a significant portion of your audience is engaging with your content. A bounce rate between 41% to 55% is average, while anything above 70% typically warrants concern and suggests that adjustments to your website’s content or user experience may be necessary. It’s essential to analyze bounce rate in conjunction with other metrics and factors to gain a comprehensive understanding of your website’s performance and to make informed decisions to improve user engagement and conversion rates.

Q1: What is Bounce Rate in website analytics?

Bounce Rate in website analytics is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that visitors are not engaging with your content.

Q2: How can I reduce the Bounce Rate on my website?

To reduce the Bounce Rate on your website, consider improving page load times, creating engaging and relevant content, improving navigation, and ensuring a mobile-friendly design.

Q3: Why is a low Bounce Rate important for website success?

A low Bounce Rate is important for website success because it indicates that visitors are engaging with your content, exploring your site, and potentially converting into customers. It can lead to improved rankings and user satisfaction.

Q4: What is considered a good bounce rate?

A good bounce rate typically falls between 26% and 40%. However, what constitutes a good bounce rate can vary depending on the type of website and its goals. It’s essential to analyze your specific industry and objectives to determine an ideal bounce rate.

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