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Bounce Rate: What Is It and What Is a Good Number?

  13 Dec 2022

Users visit your website for a variety of reasons and from a variety of different sources. So they all have different intents to come to your site. And if the search intent is not met, they will simply leave the site. Imagine yourself looking for information on how to cook Pasta but you are getting the recipe for noodles. Will you continue on that site?

As simple as that.

The number of visitors who leave your website is known to have bounced. And the rate of bouncing differs. Not to mention different businesses, target audiences, and other factors that affect bounces.

What is bounce rate?

Bounce rate is the proportion of visitors who land on a page but then exit without taking any action. For instance, staying for a specified amount of time, clicking a link, making a purchase, or completing a form.

Remember that the bounce rate and the exit rate are distinct. Bounce rate is a measurement of "one-and-done" visits, i.e., those in which visitors arrive at your website and leave without navigating to another page.

In contrast, exit rates are rather more complicated. They contain the percentage of visitors who leave your website from a particular page, but it is not necessarily the only page they visited. It's possible that the page they left was the final in a long series of pages they viewed. Therefore, the exit rate is not always as concerning as the bounce rate.

Bounce Rate formula

The bounce rate is measured by dividing the total number of visits to a particular page by the total number of visits to the website.

If 100 individuals visit your website and 10 of them only view a single page, your bounce rate is 10%. This number is likely to fluctuate over time, thus it is advantageous to use an analytics service to track all the changes and determine what is influencing your bounce rate.

What is considered a good bounce rate?

If you've lately examined your website's bounce rate, you may have been disheartened by the number. But if you decide to aim for a bounce rate of zero, you will likely get even more disheartened. The recommended range for bounce rate is between 26% and 70%, with the average rate falling between 26% and 70%. If your data indicates a chance of less than 20%, you might want to reevaluate your assumptions. Inaccurately reported bounce rates might stem from duplicate code, improperly implemented tracking, and third-party add-ons.

The average bounce rate can also vary based on the device used by the viewer. For example, mobile devices have the highest bounce rate of all industries at 51%. Whereas the average desktop bounce rate is 43% and the average tablet bounce rate is 45%. Consider the source of your site's traffic when determining the site's bounce rate.

What is a high bounce rate?

A bounce rate greater than 70% is above average, although it is not necessarily high until it reaches 56%. If it's over 90%, that's a huge cause for concern, but it's typically easy to reduce because there's a specific factor that's causing everyone to be reluctant. Bad design, problems in your tracking code, an excessive number of bots, or browser incompatibility may be the blame. Also be mindful that strong social media or paid ad traffic, as well as a large number of mobile visitors, can increase your bounce rate.

Is bounce rate a factor in SEO ranking?

Google has not confirmed that bounce rate is a ranking element. It is merely a metric. And one Google has stated multiple times does not directly impact rankings.

However, you should make every effort to reduce your bounce rate.

And the reason is high bounce rate shows the deficiencies in other SEO parameters in your website such as:

  • ● Sluggish loading time
  • ● Unprofessional website design
  • ● A contradiction between content and keywords
  • ● Poor mobile optimization

Moreover, a low bounce rate indicates that your website is worth the time visitors spend on it and content and material is interesting enough to hook them. And Google exactly looks for it.

How can you reduce a high bounce rate on your website?

Ensure your site is compatible with mobile devices

Mobile users account for roughly half of the worldwide online traffic. It is vital not only to deliver a mobile-friendly experience but also to ensure that it is interesting. How frustrating is it to visit a mobile site and have to zoom in to read the content? A responsive website is no longer sufficient; the mobile version must also be dynamic and user-friendly.

Accelerate your website loading speed

Page speed is one of the key criteria to check SEO. Slow page loading is one reason why most users will leave your site, leading to a high bounce rate. That is why maintaining a fast site speed should remain at the very top of your SEO to-do list. Check for new compression, optimization, and acceleration techniques.

Help people get where they want to be faster

Want to encourage additional site exploration? Make things simple for them.

  • ● Utilize predictive search and an optimized "no results found" page for on-site search.
  • ● Rework your navigation menu and ensure to provide simple drop-down menus for easy navigation.
  • ● Include a TOC (Table of Contents) in your lengthy blog articles with anchor links leading directly to the desired part.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that bounce rates are only one statistic. A high bounce rate is not always the end of the world for your website. It is acceptable for some well-designed, effective websites to have high bounce rates.

However, that does not mean you can take the bounce rate lightly. Since bounce rates can be an indicator of your website's performance, you should find out ways to reduce them.

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