Bounce rate – what is it and what does it mean?

Google Analytics calculates the bounce rate using the formula:

sessions where the user has performed only one interaction / whole session

Of course, the rule is that the lower the bounce rate, the better – low bounce rate means that most users interact with the site, which should be important to every website owner. However, it does not have to play a very important role for every website.

High bounce rate – is this a cause for concern?

Certainly, the opinion that a session with a single subpage means that “the user entered the site, threw up and left”, which can sometimes be found on the Internet, should be approached with a great distance. For natural reasons, the bounce rate analysis will not work very well if the website is a so-called onepage, i.e. there are no subpages. Expert blogs are often characterized by a fairly high bounce rate – a user usually comes to such a blog in search of an article containing specific information on a specific topic, and after obtaining it, he leaves the site. A similar “problem” occurs in the case of online dictionaries, culinary websites or websites with research aids, and it does not necessarily mean that the websites are of little value to users – it is simply dictated by the specificity of the content.

Certainly, a high bounce rate should be very alarming for the e-commerce industry, especially when it is accompanied by a low conversion rate. The specific value in most cases can only be interpreted after taking into account the user group and the customs prevailing in a given industry, as well as – if possible – the results of competing parties.

When it comes to traffic sources, sessions obtained from display ads and social media typically generate the highest bounce rates. Users who access the site from these sources often return to the previous site quickly. In the case of display ads, you should definitely take into account “missclicki”, i.e. incidental clicks on the image with the advertisement, especially if the entries were generated by pop-ups that were difficult to close, or other forms of “clever” provoking not entirely intentional interaction.

Is bounce rate a ranking factor in SEO?

As is often the case with the Google algorithm, opinions are divided. Google itself claims that the bounce rate is not a factor that directly affects a website’s position in search results. On the other hand, a large number of positioners believe that the search engine is able to conclude that a given page is optimized for a given phrase, and users do not find information on it, which must have some impact on SEO.

A high bounce rate can also be related to other factors that are included in Google’s official webmaster guidelines. In this case, the bounce rate will be an indicator of other website optimization problems that will definitely affect positioning. A high value may, for example, result from a long loading of a given subpage, which makes an impatient user decide to switch to another site. Another reason may be poorly optimized text, which makes it difficult to absorb the content, the website is not adapted to mobile devices, a large number of annoying ads or the lack of an SSL certificate.

How to reduce your bounce rate?

Improve UX (user experience) on the website
Underdeveloped UX is usually the main reason for a high bounce rate. For some reason (or more often reasons), the site simply does not encourage the user to interact. This may be due to hundreds of factors, from the archaic structure of the website itself, through the choice of an insufficiently fast server, to errors that hinder browsing the content.

UX is a multi-faceted, complex issue – a valuable first step may be to commission a full UX audit to specialists.

Optimize your content
Proper optimization of the content is in many respects a UX element – division into paragraphs, alignment of the text in paragraphs to the left, choosing a font that is pleasing to the eye or adapting the content to different resolutions. However, not only the form, but also the content is of great importance – sometimes redrafting a given text can significantly minimize the bounce rate. Analyze whether there is a lack of appropriate call to action, whether the text is read lightly or rather clumsy. Even seemingly small changes can have a noticeable effect.

If a subpage generates a lot of organic traffic and at the same time its bounce rate is very high, perhaps the keywords used do not correspond to the actual content, collecting low-value inputs from the owner’s perspective.

Link internally and send suggestions to users
If there is an article on your website with a high bounce rate, offer the user other subpages that are related to the topic – you can do it in the form of a link directly in the text, with an appropriate CTA or a panel that will automatically display suggestions for similar subpages in within your website. In online stores, you can suggest other products from a given category that will probably meet the customer’s requirements.

Check the correctness of the Google Analytics implementation
Suspiciously high or low bounce rates can also be the result of incorrectly pasting the Google Analytics code. In this case, the system will misinterpret the given page entry, which will result in falsified data. A related issue will also be the lack or improper setting of events – the session with the launch of the movie on the website should not be included in the rejected sessions – although the user has not visited other subpages, he has performed a specific action on the website.

Bounce rate – what is it?

Bounce rate is the percentage of people who visited your website and left it after seeing only one page. They do not click on any internal links or react to any call to action.

In short, the visitor “bounces” from the page and does not pay too much attention to it. Although the definition itself is simple, the reasons behind this phenomenon may be more advanced. Let’s take a look at five tried and tested ways to help you reduce this value.

1. Accelerate the page load time

Many people assume that the cause of the high bounce rate is the content problems of the site. In fact, in many cases visitors do not read the page content at all, because they leave it too quickly. Long-term charging time is one of the worst problems a website can encounter. No matter how good the content is, if nobody reads it.

47% of Internet users expect the site to load in 2 seconds or less!

Some tips on how to speed up the charging time:
– Optimize graphics depending on the type of page.
– Optimize the page code.
– Choose better hosting – problems can be caused by a weak server.

2. Actually use side panels and widgets

It is difficult to find a blog that does not have any elements in the side panel – we usually find there navigation elements or links to other content.

Repackaging, however, the margin of your site with unrelated ads, rewards, badges and other unnecessary things can overwhelm the visitor and make him leave the page. If you want to emphasize some content in the side panel, do it so that it actually brings an additional benefit. Include links to related articles that broaden the topic. In this way you will attract readers to your website for longer. Similarly, if you place prizes, certificates and decorations there, let them come from the most reputable sources to actually serve their purpose.

As for the pop-ups, they obviously have their place. Properly used, they can be very effective. At the same time, however, they can distract and irritate the visitor. Give time to visitors to get acquainted with the site before you offer them to subscribe to the newsletter. Do not press too hard or too hard.

3. Improve the readability of content

A truly good user experience takes place when the content on the site is clear and easy to receive. Badly formatted content and large blocks of text effectively discourage reading. Of course, a large amount of text has a positive effect on positioning, but it is always worth keeping in mind the so-called “the Golden mean”. The preferred length of text on a given site always depends on the specificity of the text.

It’s good to adhere to the following practices when building content:

– Use headings often to divide thematically
– Use bulleted lists when calculating benefits or giving short tips
– Where possible, post photos, charts and quotes from industry experts
– Bold some keywords and important fragments

Blog entries end with the heading “summary”. In this way, you encourage the reader to read the text to the end and nicely fix the whole buckle.

4. Use internal linking

Internal linking is a strategy that can effectively help eliminate a high bounce rate. An example can be websites written in the form of encyclopaedias, in which we find a lot of internal links. Of course, encyclopedic websites are governed by their own laws. The high density of links on a typical website can deter readers.

Links should be used strategically – put links to other useful articles or to the offer, if it is related to what moves the text. It is also good to place links at the end of the article – in this way, after reading the whole, the visitor will not leave the page altogether, but will be ready for the next portion of the content.

Of course, the page type is also important. On the landing page type, any links that are not call to action can harm the conversion. In this situation, it is better to get rid of them to help the reader concentrate on one activity and stay within one site.

5. Adjust pages 404

Page 404 appears when the visitor clicks the link leading to the broken and unpunched subpage within your site. It’s a good idea to customize the page so that instead of the default text, internal links and the content search tool will appear there. Generally, the site is to help the visitor find what they are really looking for or redirect to another interesting content.

Summary

The above tips can help you eliminate the high bounce rate. Remember that the more time visitors spend on your site, the greater the chance that a conversion will take place.