Why Bounce Rate is taken into consideration?

Bounce Rates: Everything You Need to Know

Bounce rate is a term used in web traffic analysis. The percentage represents the number of people visiting the site and leaving instead of simply checking out other pages of the same website. User bounce gets counted when they:

  • Close the site immediately or just exit the browser window.
  • Move over to another URL that’s not related to the website.
  • Click the back button to go back to the previous page, such as the SERP.
  • Click on an outbound link as soon as they land on the webpage.

The bounce rate can be a scary number. High bounce is bad for your site, and a low bounce rate is good for your site.

The website bounce rate shows the percentage of visitors bouncing off the site. Google considers a user to have interacted with the website if they visit at least an extra page on the website.

However, different pages on a website might have a different bounce rate. The blog posts on your website might have a different bounce than the product page.

The Benchmark for a Good Bounce Rate and Reasons for a High Bounce Rate

What Is A Good Website Bounce Rate?

Different variables contribute to what is a good website bounce rate. Your business type, country, industry, and visitors influence what a good average bounce rate will be for your site.

However, you can take the help of Google Analytics to find out what is a good bounce rate for your website. It will show the average bounce rate of what it considers to be your site’s business niche. Google Analytics shows the site-wide bounce rate. However, you can also drill down to check the bounce rate of specific pages.

A good bounce rate varies with every site. It can also be different for each page on the site. So, it is better to focus on the bounce rate trends over time. It’s important to use the metric to find the site’s weaknesses. Usually, the bounce rate falls between 26% and 70%. Here are a few reasons the website bounce rate is high:

Poor Content

People open different websites to learn more about a specific product or service. So, if a website’s content doesn’t cater to their needs, they will not stick around. The viewers will start looking for a competitor site in search of better content.

So, you need to understand your business and do your best to opt for a competing website. Your website’s content needs to answer the questions the audiences have and solve their problems. If the site only contains incorrect and boring content, the website bounce rate will be high.

Bad User Experience

Ultimately, it is the visitors who decide if they want to stay on the site for a few more minutes or not.

In case your site’s layout isn’t easy to navigate, or the colors are not pleasing, visitors will click the back button and look for some other sites. It’s necessary to be lean when it comes to user experience. Make sure the website has an attractive and eye-pleasing design. The navigation menu should be easy to find. In case the site has some irrelevant images, the bounce rate is likely to increase.

Technical Mistakes

In case the bounce rate is exceptionally high, it might be that the visitors have hit a roadblock related to a technical error. The site’s JavaScript might not be working adequately, or the plugin might have faltered. The errors might be there on the site, and you might not even know about them. So, if the page’s bounce rate is high, check the page from the perspective of a viewer. If there are some errors like these, it has to be taken care of immediately. Check if the:

  • Design is easy on the eyes.
  • Content is lean enough for enticing conversion.
  • No technical mistakes like “404 Page Not Found Error” else the viewers will leave immediately.

Site Performance Issues

Check if the website is loading immediately. If it is taking more than 3 seconds to load, it is far too long. The viewers will get impatient and leave the site immediately.

Various tools like GTMetrix and Pingdom will tell you about the website speed. In case the site is loading too slowly, it will tell you how to fix the problem. Slow loading speed is one of the major reasons behind the high bounce rate. So, make sure you take care of it.

How to Reduce Bounce Rate?

After coming to terms with the fact that the site has a high bounce rate, it is time to fix it. Given below are a few tips that will help in fixing it.

  • Improve Page Load Time Some marketers feel that if a site has a high bounce rate, there is some issue with the content. However, the page load time can be a serious problem. In fact, 47% of the users expect a website to load in just 2 seconds or less. So, page optimization is important if you have to reduce the bounce rate.
  • Use Smart Formatting to Make Content Accessible Users tend to get intimidated when they come across a whole block of text. So, even if the content is unique and valuable, it doesn’t matter because it is scaring off the readers. So, format the pages to make them more accessible and welcoming. This is the best way to reduce the bounce rate. Use images or infographics to keep them engaged.
  • Use Spare Promotions and Sidebar Widgets Some of the pages are ideal for providing relevant offers, content, and other materials to the visitors. One of the primary examples is a blog post. There is hardly any blog post that does not have anything in the sidebar. Nevertheless, if you cram up the website with ads, awards emblems, and offers, it can overwhelm the visitors and tempt them to leave the site.

So, to keep relevant content in the sidebar, keep offers that provide additional value to the readers. If you are using trust signals, make sure they are from trustworthy websites. This ensures it serves the actual purpose.

>Analyzing bounce rate and then working to improving it might seem a little daunting, but it will improve audience engagement. This will lead to more conversions. Keep a check on the bounce rate. If you see a page or the whole website having a high bounce rate, optimize it for the readers. However, you should keep in mind that there is no magic number. Your primary goal is to keep improving and providing the customers with a more engaging and better experience at the site.