What is Bounce Rate? (Google’s Most Misunderstood Metric)

December 31, 2021

Ron Cierniakoski Senior Project Analyst

Key Points

If you’ve spent immoderate clip successful Google Analytics, you’ve undoubtedly seen the “Bounce Rate” metric that accompanies each leafage of your website.

If you don’t cognize exactly what bounce complaint means, oregon however to usage it, you aren’t alone. It’s 1 of the astir misunderstood metrics successful SEO.

Before you tin amended it, you request to cognize what factors lend to a precocious oregon debased bounce rate. While it isn’t a ranking origin successful Google’s algorithm for galore antithetic reasons, it tin beryllium a bully gauge to assistance amended tract contented and usability. As a result, you’ll amended rankings overall.

What is bounce rate?

Bounce Rate

Definition

Bounce complaint is simply a web analytics metric that measures the ratio betwixt single-page sessions and each sessions.

When idiosyncratic visits your website and lone views a azygous leafage wrong a specified clip period, that is simply a “bounce”. So, if your homepage has a full of 1,000 sessions and 500 of those sessions are azygous leafage visits, your bounce complaint is 50%.

I screen respective antithetic examples of what a bounced league looks similar aboriginal successful the article, truthful don’t bounce conscionable yet ;)

Bounce complaint vs exit rate

Exit complaint (also known arsenic driblet disconnected rate) is often confused with bounce complaint due to the fact that they some measurement the percent of sessions that ended connected a web page. The cardinal difference, however, is that exit complaint applies to some single-page and multi-page sessions. Let’s look astatine the quality betwixt the bounce complaint explanation vs exit rate:

• Exit Rate represents the percent of each leafage views that were the past successful the session.
• Bounce Rate represents the percent of sessions successful which the entranceway leafage was the lone pageview of the session.

Unfortunately, that explanation of bounce complaint is beauteous broad, which is precisely wherefore it’s specified a wide misunderstood metric.

What’s more, sometimes users are expected to bounce. Think astir assets sites similar Wikipedia oregon WebMD. The bounce complaint for informational sites is as precocious arsenic 90%. But, that doesn’t mean those sites are a usability disaster. As agelong arsenic the visitant leaves satisfied, the leafage has served its purpose.

Why is bounce complaint important?

Bounce complaint is an important seo metric due to the fact that it measures however engaging your contented is. A precocious bounce complaint mightiness mean that radical aren’t uncovering what they privation connected your website. Or, it whitethorn beryllium a motion that you request to amended your contented oregon the user experience connected your website. Whatever the reason, it usually means you’re missing retired connected conversion opportunities.

A elaborate investigation of your bounce complaint helps you amended a fig of usability elements connected your website, specified arsenic navigation, telephone to enactment (CTA) placement, and contented quality. 

It’s peculiarly adjuvant erstwhile comparing antithetic pages connected your tract against 1 other. For example, if a circumstantial taxable has an unusually debased oregon precocious bounce rate, it whitethorn bespeak that your assemblage prefers oregon dislikes that topic.

Bounce complaint is besides a utile instrumentality for comparing segments of postulation against 1 another. Does 1 integer selling transmission execute amended than others? Does integrated hunt postulation person a amended bounce complaint than Facebook? A/B investigating channels against each different tin assistance you find which channels you should absorption on.

How to cipher bounce rate?

To cipher the bounce complaint for a web page, disagreement the full single-page sessions by the full sessions for the page. Then, multiply by 100 to get the percentage.

Google bounce complaint calculation = (Single leafage sessions / Total sessions) * 100

Example: (500 / 1,000 = 0.5) X 100 = 50%

It’s important to retrieve that a page’s bounce complaint tin alteration importantly depending upon the postulation root arsenic good arsenic the clip play you take to view.

We specify bounce complaint metrics astatine the leafage level, but each leafage besides affects the wide bounce complaint for a website. To amended a website’s bounce complaint it is important to recognize however each idiosyncratic leafage is doing.

What is simply a bully bounce rate?

Generally speaking, the little the bounce complaint of your website, the better. However, there’s nary modular benchmark for a “good bounce rate” versus a “bad” one. The metric is simply excessively adaptable based connected the industry, benignant of content, hunt intent and landing page. It is much effectual to absorption connected different metrics similar clip connected leafage and conversion rates to recognize however your website performs.

When evaluating bounce rates connected your site, it’s astir adjuvant to comparison yours against the manufacture average. 

What is an mean bounce complaint by industry

In their 2021 integer acquisition benchmark report, Contentsquare recovered that the mean bounce complaint was 47%. 

The mean bounce complaint by manufacture is:

Take vantage of the Benchmarking tool successful Google Analytics to find retired however your website compares to the manufacture standard. Set your manufacture first. Google Analytics volition connection its ain manufacture benchmarks to spot if your website has a mean bounce rate.

Is a precocious bounce complaint bad?

Because it has specified a wide definition, you should beryllium cautious erstwhile asking wide questions like: “what is simply a atrocious bounce rate?” After all, antithetic types of contented volition person antithetic bounce rates — adjacent wrong the aforesaid industry.

So, deliberation of the hunt intent down idiosyncratic pages erstwhile you analyse the metric.

For example, your homepage astir apt receives a batch of branded hunt traffic, nonstop visits, and referrals. As a result, users often request to excavation deeper to larn much astir what you do.

However, blog posts are much informationtional. Because longform contented allows you to screen topics much completely, they usually person much azygous leafage sessions.

But, wrong the satellite of ecommerce SEO, a precocious bounce complaint affects conversions. For instance, if your ecommerce tract has mediocre prime images, excessively small information, oregon dilatory load times, users whitethorn caput backmost to the Google SERP for thing better.

Behavioral quality tools similar Decibel and Mouseflow tin uncover however visitors usage circumstantial pages. By signaling idiosyncratic interactions, you tin find the nonstop constituent connected a leafage wherever visitors bounce.

Additionally, these tools archer you precisely however agelong users walk connected a page. So, if a leafage has a 95% bounce rate, but the mean signaling clip is six minutes, it’s a harmless stake that users find the leafage useful.

Why visitors bounce (good reasons)

In the scenarios below, a precocious bounce complaint whitethorn not needfully beryllium a atrocious thing. These reasons bash not bespeak issues with usability of your website, but are a earthy portion of the hunt process.

You solved their problem

If you lick a visitor’s problem, they don’t request to further research your tract and are apt to bounce. This is precise communal with informational sites similar Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, etc. The bully quality is that adjacent though the visitant bounced, they’re overmuch much apt to instrumentality to your tract successful the aboriginal since you solved their occupation close away. 

They’re conscionable doing research

Users whitethorn bounce from your leafage aft viewing it due to the fact that they are successful the probe signifier of the buying process. They analyse the contents of your leafage and past spell backmost to the hunt results to bash much research. This is the quality of the buying process and shouldn’t needfully beryllium seen arsenic a problem.

This is particularly existent for blog content. Users similar to consult galore sources of information, and journalists whitethorn beryllium sourcing contented for articles of their own.

They’re model shopping

It’s besides imaginable for visitors to bounce from your tract due to the fact that they’re conscionable model shopping. Having an “add to privation list” fastener connected your tract tin beryllium an effectual mode to yet person the model shoppers to buyers. 

Why visitors bounce (bad reasons)

Unfortunately, determination are besides atrocious reasons wherefore a idiosyncratic mightiness bounce from your website. Most of them are centered astir mediocre idiosyncratic experience.

Identifying and addressing these problems tin importantly amended idiosyncratic engagement connected your site. 

Misaligned hunt intent

Visitors mightiness bounce from your tract due to the fact that the contented is misaligned with hunt intent. In different words, the contents of the leafage don’t align with what the idiosyncratic was really searching for. 

For example, if idiosyncratic searches for “best way moving shoes” and your leafage is simply a database of the champion moving shoes of each types, that’s not what they want. They lone privation to comparison way moving shoes and don’t privation to wade done different types of shoes. 

If you privation to support radical from bouncing, it’s captious the leafage contented align with the intent down the hunt keywords. This tin besides see penning a wide rubric tag and meta statement truthful a searcher tin cognize precisely what they volition find connected your page.

It’s not capable to conscionable bash keyword research, you besides request to analyse rival results successful the SERPs and recognize the intent down those keywords. This process volition assistance summation the percent of qualified visitors from organic search, which tin amended conversions and engagement.

Slow loading pages

With wide entree to broadband net and mobile devices moving connected 5G cellular data, radical expect web pages to load fast. If the page load time is excessively slow, radical volition bounce earlier they adjacent spot the contented of the page. 

You tin optimize your leafage velocity done a fig of actions:

• Remove immoderate unnecessarily third-party scripts
• Upgrade to a faster web host
• Set up lazy loading truthful that images lone load arsenic a idiosyncratic scrolls down the page
• Remove ample leafage elements that instrumentality much clip to load (images, GIFs, etc.)
• Remove non-essential third-party scripts that person to load earlier a idiosyncratic tin interact with your tract (heat maps, analytics, etc.)
• Implement browser caching, which stores definite elements successful a user’s browser truthful that they don’t person to reloaded each time

All things equal, a higher leafage velocity leads to a little bounce rate.

Too galore disruptive ads

Your users volition deed the backmost fastener connected your leafage arsenic soon arsenic it loads if it’s packed with excessively galore ads.

Having aggregate ads connected a leafage that disrupt the idiosyncratic acquisition and summation leafage load clip is frustrating for website visitors and tin alteration spot successful a brand. Ads tin besides origin the layout of a leafage to abruptly shift, making it hard for users to navigate the page. Not lone does this annoy users, it tin besides wounded your hunt motor rankings since Google takes leafage shifts into relationship arsenic portion of the Page Experience ranking factor. 

This does not use to conscionable blogs, but ecommerce websites arsenic well. Popups for ads astir income oregon for a mailing database are conscionable arsenic overwhelming to users.

If your website contains ads, marque definite that they don’t disrupt the idiosyncratic experience. 

Low prime content

If your pages diagnostic retired of date, thin content, your visitors person nary crushed to instrumentality around. After all, wherefore would they privation to further research your tract erstwhile their archetypal acquisition is bad?

If you privation to support visitors from bouncing, you request high-value, high-quality contented that demonstrates your expertise and thoroughly covers the taxable successful question.

A well-defined contented strategy is 1 of the champion ways to support visitors engaged with your brand. Blog posts should thoroughly screen applicable topics, reply cardinal questions passim the idiosyncratic journey, and intelligibly specify adjacent steps done interior links.

Website plan is untrustworthy

If you privation to support much visitors connected your site, it needs to look trustworthy and reputable.

This means having a nonrecreational design, high-quality images, societal impervious (testimonials, reviews, etc.), and an casual to navigate menu. To further spot with visitors, see each interaction information, arsenic good arsenic elaborate accusation astir your marque and those down it. 

Additionally, see immoderate applicable spot seals, specified arsenic Better Business Bureau accreditation oregon the Norton SSL badge.

Add the credentials of your contented authors, arsenic well. All of this helps your tract fulfill Google E-A-T (Expertise – Authority – Trustworthiness) guidelines, which are progressively important ranking factors.

How to accurately measure bounce rates

Analyzing your website bounce complaint isn’t peculiarly adjuvant since radical bounce from pages for a assortment of reasons. You tin get immoderate utile insights by evaluating the bounce complaint of a azygous leafage but you inactive don’t get the afloat representation regarding wherefore visitors mightiness beryllium bouncing from the page. 

To augment the information you stitchery from azygous pages, present are 3 further ways to measure bounce rates:

Segments

Segmenting your assemblage is an fantabulous mode to measurement bounce rates. It gives you penetration into however antithetic groups of radical prosecute with pages connected your website. 

There are galore ways you tin conception your audience:

• Age
• Income
• Occupation
• Purchase history
• Location
• Device
• Interests

Analyze however each radical interacts with antithetic pages connected your site. Do immoderate segments similar circumstantial types of contented and enactment connected your tract longer than different segments? Do immoderate segments person overmuch higher oregon little bounce rates compared to different subjects? By knowing however antithetic groups of radical interact with your website, you tin marque changes to the pages that are astir apt to effect successful a bounce.

Source

It’s besides adjuvant to analyse bounce complaint by the root of the traffic. For example, you mightiness find that visitors from a peculiar root similar societal media person the highest bounce rate. 

Alternatively, you mightiness find that integrated hunt postulation has a importantly little bounce rate. 

For sources with a higher bounce rate, you tin either alteration the mode you usage that source, trim the magnitude you usage it, oregon wantonness it altogether. Traffic sources with a debased bounce complaint are a imaginable maturation opportunity. Consider investing much successful those peculiar channels. 

Content

You tin besides analyse bounce rates by contented type. This gives you penetration into which types of contented are much oregon little engaging to visitors. Do visitors similar blog posts oregon videos? Are determination peculiar merchandise pages that get much oregon little engagement?

Analyzing bounce complaint by contented tin assistance you find what types of contented to absorption connected and which aren’t worthy the effort. 

Another bully mode to usage Google Analytics to decently measure your bounce complaint from integrated postulation is to spell to Behavior > Landing Pages and use the Organic Sessions filter. 

This volition let you to spot the bounce complaint conscionable from integrated visitors and tin beryllium a bully indicator of however good your website is doing. 

The adjacent measurement to your occurrence volition beryllium to instrumentality bounce complaint improvements based connected everything you person learned above.

Bounce Rate FAQs