It’s time to bust some long-standing misconceptions about website bounce rates.
I’m going to reveal why you can’t just look at your overall site’s bounce rate and declare it “good” or “bad” based on a single number. (A big thanks to my friend, Ms. LaLa for asking about this and providing inspiration for this post.)
For the record, a bounce means a person left your site after viewing the entry page. So if you go to Google Analytics and see your site’s bounce rate is 80%, that means only 20% of your visitors are clicking to other pages.
But did you know that a high bounce rate doesn’t always mean something is wrong? And it’s important to dissect this stat so you can understand what’s really going on.
Let’s get to it!
One Page Can Drastically Skew Your Site’s Bounce Rate
Here is why you MUST break down your bounce rate by page instead of using a more holistic view of the stat.
I have a hex color generator on this site and it’s one of my top 3 pages in terms of monthly visits. This page has a 90% bounce rate. I’ll explain why I’m OK with that in a sec.
So because this is one of my most popular pages, that 90% bounce rate is going to skew my ENTIRE site’s BR. If I didn’t have that page, my overall site BR would be a lot better.
This is why you have to look at the bigger picture. One or two pages with a high or low bounce rate can greatly influence your entire site’s BR, especially if you get a lot of traffic to these pages.
To view your bounce rate by page in Google Analytics, go to Behavior>>Site Content>>All Pages.
Some Searches Yield High Bounce Rates — Period
Think about the last time you searched Google for something that required a quick, cut and dry answer.
You eventually found a site that gave you what you needed, and you probably closed the browser or hit the BACK button after you finished reading.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the content was bad or poorly organized. You found your answer and left. So even though you bounced, you got what you came for.
Well guess what? That’s exactly what often happens with your site. Due to the nature of the search, some pages are always going to yield higher bounce rates than others — just like my hex color page.
I used to stress myself out over the poor bounce rate on that page and tried everything under the sun to improve it.
Then I put myself in my visitor’s shoes and realized this is one of those reference pages that will yield a high bounce rate simply because of the visitor’s goal.
They are coming to this page to get a code and will likely go right back to their site to use it. They’re on a mission and there’s no need to explore the site any further at this point.
The result: They bounce.
External Links
Obviously if you are sending people to other sites, that’s going to negatively impact your bounce rate. So if you have a bunch of affiliate links on your pages then of course more people will leave.
If the goal of a certain page is to get more affiliate commissions, you actually want people to click off, right?
Why Your Homepage Bounce Rate is Probably Better Than Secondary Pages
When I check Google Analytics, I notice that visitors who go to my homepage directly have a much lower (better) bounce rate than people who enter the secondary pages on my site from an external source.
Think about it. Most homepage visits are a result of…
- People either typed in the address or bookmarked it so they are already familiar and looking for something specific
- They were referred from a related keyword search in Google which automatically makes them a targeted visitor
- They were referred from a relevant website or social profile, which will also lead to more targeted visitors
And since this is the entrance to your website, you would expect people to stick around a lot longer.
Of course this isn’t always the case, but for the most part you would expect and HOPE your homepage has a much better bounce rate than many other pages on your site because it is the gateway to the rest of your content.
And with regards to secondary pages often having higher bounce rates, remember people may have found what they are looking for and they leave. And as I’ve already stated, secondary pages often have more external links (shopping, affiliate, etc.) that you actually WANT people to click.
Checking Bounce Rates by Traffic Type
If you go to Acquisition >> All Traffic >> Channels in your Google Analytics reports, you will see a breakdown of your bounce rate by traffic source.
Don’t just take these numbers at face value. Click through and examine what is affecting the bounce rate for each category.
For example, my Direct Traffic bounce rates are higher because this stat is highly influenced by that hex color page I referenced above.
So people are entering on this page from their bookmarks (hence the direct traffic category), getting their hex color and leaving. When a page has a 90% bounce rate, that is going to skew things a lot.
What is a Good Bounce Rate?
A “good” bounce rate is relative so you shouldn’t use other people’s stats as benchmarks for your site. But in general, here’s the breakdown by site type…
- 40-60% Content websites
- 30-50% Lead generation sites
- 70-98% Blogs
- 20-40% Retail sites
- 10-30% Service sites
- 70-90% Landing pages
[source: Blastam.com]
Notice that content websites and blogs are grouped separately. The lines are a bit blurred here because most people have both static content and blog-like content on their sites.
Here’s what this means…
If your site is mostly laid out in a blog-like format, meaning you only have links to categories and your latest blog posts, then your bounce rate may be higher than a site that has more static content (landing pages) that are interlinked and organized more logically.
I am a firm believer in making use of more static pages to guide people through your site instead of just relying on a recent post layout only. Use your menus to link to static landing pages and interlink your pages when relevant.
I discuss this topic in episode #2 of my podcast.
Bounce Rates and SEO
You have probably heard that Google now uses bounce rates even more to help determine a page’s rank. In fact, a recent video posted on Matthew Woodward’s site revealed Google split tests sites to see which ones perform best, and bounce rate is something they’re using to measure relevancy.
So does that mean if your page has an 80% bounce rate it will never rank in the top 10?
Nope!
Bounce rates are often relative. As I already pointed out, some pages simply have higher bounce rates by nature, so it’s very likely the pages ranked in the top 10 also have a similar bounce rate.
BUT if you happen to find a way to drastically improve your bounce rate (more engaging content, great video, etc.) then that could positively impact your ranking if your page performs better than other sites ranked near you.
How Important are Bounce Rates?
I am by NO MEANS suggesting that your bounce rate is not important. It most certainly is — especially when you get traffic from relevant keywords and you want people to click through to high-converting pages.
I’m just trying to get you to understand that you need to consider certain factors like…
- How people arrive (visits to homepage often yield better bounce rates because it is an entry page, search engine referrals, etc.)
- The nature of the search (some searches naturally yield higher bounce rates)
- Your desired page goal (if you want people to click your affiliate links, then a high bounce rate is not always bad)
Now here’s where you should be concerned…
If your homepage gets a lot of traffic from the search phrase “how to build a wagon” and that page links to a getting-started article, but your bounce rate on that homepage is 80% — that’s a sign something is wrong.
Why aren’t most people clicking over to this all-important page? Is it too far down the page? Is your homepage loading too slowly? Is it too busy?
But if you get traffic from the keyword “where to buy wagon parts” and you have a page with a bunch of external links that show people where to shop, obviously that page is going to have a high bounce rate because you are sending people away.
My point is high bounce rates aren’t always bad. You have to put things into perspective and dissect these stats in order to understand how your site is performing. Otherwise you end up trying to fix something that isn’t necessarily broken.
Tips for Improving Bounce Rate
Even though high bounce rates aren’t always bad, there are certain instances where you DON’T want people to bounce. Here are some tips that will help people stick around longer…
- Break up your content into smaller paragraphs that are well-spaced
- Use larger fonts for easier scanning/reading
- Use bullets to highlight key points
- Improve page loading times
- Use more images to break up lots of text
- Conduct a Content Experiment with Google Analytics to test variations of your pages
- Be sure your content addresses the keywords you are getting found for
Bounce rate is very big factor, In my thinking, but many just don’t look towards factors like this, which can hugely effect a website. A very high Bounce rate means, Visitors are not getting what they want (not always, but in most cases) and are leaving website to find more content, which also be called as Pogo sticking, if those visitors click on other search results in Google. Indirectly, We may lose our authority as Google will consider our content as worthless and will take down rankings. So, Bounce rate has lot do, no matter, which niche we are working on, from Blogging to eCommerce, this factors needs to be focused on, if we are really looking to provide good user experience.
My bounce rate was almost 90%. I got hit by a load of referrer spam, making my analytics useless. I use info on google to filter it, now it is around 30% again. pfew. I don’t get why they do that.
Hi Lisa, thank you for such nice tutorials and useful articles . I like you articles because they are simple and easy to understand
My website has a 97% bounce rate,most from social media.What can I do?Thank you
That’s actually not surprising at all and probably average. Most people browse social media with mobile devices and they are usually going to read an article that was shared. Most just read the article and leave. I rarely stick around to search the site after I read an article posted on social media. That’s a great example of something that looks broken but it’s not. I bet if you surveyed most bloggers they’d have a similar stat. Sometimes understanding the habits of surfing the web offers great understanding into your bounce rates.
My website is http://imgup.io and most of the traffic comes from social media
Great write-up and I highly agree with the points you’ve made to decrease bounce rate. It’s often best to put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and analyze how easy it is to navigate things on your website. Sometimes, comparisons of your site & your competitors is an initial starting point.
Cheers
I think bob rate itself is not the issue yet the blend with low harp time on the page – the mix is the thing that sends a negative sign. Anyhow, if the skip rate is high and abide time is high then the sign stays positive.
first time I got to read a different view on this. Always knew a lower bounce rage to be a good thing, but after reading this post, now I know better. both have their good sides. good thing you shared this, twas worth spending time to go through it
my site is giving the bounce rate of 70% it is about whatsapp status, so what do you think it is because they are getting what they wanted, or is there any problem with my site.
Hi lisa
My website http://www.theredrose24.com and my bounce rate is 40-45% is it bad or good?
Is it will affect search result on Google? Is it harmful for find my site in Google first page?
Lisa, this may be an anomaly but bounce rate does not seem to be effecting my rank….my bounce rate consistently stays around 70% to 80% or higher yet my sites rank on the first page consistently and my bottom line is pretty decent….
I used to anaylze and re-analyze…then I just started testing stuff to see what results I got…stuff like….if I had X amount of backlinks what would happen….or….if I had X amount of quality backlinks what would happen….and other stuff that I just tried to see what would happen and from that I got good and bad results….but more important I have a nice picture of what is working for me…
I stopped over analyzing…I’m not saying anybody is doing that, but I was…
surprisingly I went to webmaster tools and I started reading and following what some of the suggestions were….
I actually set my self up for some classes that webmaster tools were offering for free…and took the step by step classes…who better to tell me what to do than Google….
I’m not saying I followed everything but I did get some good stuff to try….
anyway I haven’t been to your site in a while and you always have some good stuff….
I think I have evolved to a point where I think I know what I’m doing….but that’s only until Google makes their next algo change….then I’ll be in the dark again….lol…nice post Lisa….
I can definitely see how that would be. What’s probably happening is that other sites around you have a similar bounce rate and/or there are other signals that are stronger. With over 200 ranking signals/factors, it would be difficult to say how much one factor like bounce rate has overall. It is one piece of the pie but not the whole pie and I believe it’s relative.
I used to stress over all the numbers and Webmaster Tools reports too but stopped about 2-3 years ago. And a lot of that is because I get traffic from other places like my list, podcasting, youtube, etc. So it feels good not to completely rely on Google.
Good to see you here again and glad your site is doing well.
Hi Lisa, Thanks for these bounce rate tips. These are awesome.
Hello Lisa my bounce rate is now 36% . check it out on alexa http://trade.adahor.com/
nice one,i am happy to find out my bounce rate of my website is 45% so all i have to do is keep the good rolling because it can be better. here this the website
http://trade.adahor.com/
As always, your posts are really helpful Liza. More powers to you.
Dear Lisa, thank you for such nice tutorials and useful articles . I like you articles because they are simple and easy to understand. Lisa your mostly articles and video tutorials are based on wordpress, but i wanna learn the blogger from top to bottom. (I am not telling you to teach me, but) If their is any site or book you suggest me i will be very thankful to you’ thank you.
Thanks for the explanation. I used to think my 60% bounce rate will affect my ranking and have been trying all my best to solve the problem but all in vain. After reading this, I think I can now have a good rest.
keyword does a wield impact in bounce rate of a website . But agree that bounce rates don’t tell the whole story about a web site.
Mindblowing very insightful, being an SEO I was not aware of such things so far. Thanks a lot for letting me know of these. Now I can write blogs on significance of bounce rates.
Its great i always think high bounce rates always be harmful for my website. But after reading your blog i am feeling good. thanks for sharing such a informative information.
I must say thanks for these tips Lisa. I have never looked at the bounce rate of my blog like that.
Normally I see bounce rate as a big thing and think that it is no good for my blog. I also never thought about the different pages on the blog, I always think of the entire blog’s bounce rate.
I’ve never paid much attention to my bounce rates, honestly. Some pages will naturally retain your visitors longer than others. And Lisa, you’re right on the money by realizing that the reason some pages have higher bounce rates is because the user found what they were looking for. One page on my site is visited heavily by people who are looking for that content SPECIFICALLY, and most of that traffic is organic so I know that they’ve come looking for that particular content. The bounce rate on that page is astronomical, but it means nothing since I’ve given the visitor what they came for. Keep up the good work, Lisa!
Heart relieving post,Lisa!.
I hope you can review my site as i prepare to apply for adsense. http://www.techandapps.com
I gave up worrying about bounce rate a long time ago on my movie review site as by nature people come to it for info on one movie they want to watch and leave. I also know that others who have movie review sites have found the same thing with the usual bounce rate being between 75% and 84% for this type of site.
Exactly. See this is about you already knowing and understanding what is acceptable in your industry. Makes perfect sense.
Great article Lisa!
Bounce rates use to drive me crazy. But I later learned what you expressed in this article. For some pages it makes sense that the bounce rate is high because I want people to get the hell on to my affiliate link. lol
So it’s definitely relative. Your next article should be time spent on site and page views. I’m sure those numbers are driving people crazy too!
Eddy
Whassup Eddy with a “Y” (lol!) I really should have added something in here about time spent on page. You’re the 2nd person to bring this up and I agree … overall much more important and it should be studied in addition to bounce rates to get a better picture.
Hey Lisa,
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that thought those other measurements should be in the discussion. Either way you’ve provided some great info that will school folks!
I build a lot of websites for brick and mortar companies. I continuously preach how people use the Internet as a phone book or map. Many of my websites will have both of these on the home page at times.
Throw in a responsive style and cell phone users find what they want right there. A bounce is someitmes a grand slam if they tap teh phone number, contact us button or drive to the door. Especially if it is done right.
Thanks for the article and website. I like to bounce in and out and see what’s happening.
Thank you for this article Lisa. I have always had a bit of confusion about bounce rate, and whether the figures are good or bad.
Now i understand it much better. One thing i need to work on for starters though is adding extra engaging content like videos and images, but judging from what i’ve read, mine is not too bad across most of my sites. A range between 34% and 86%
Once again, thanks.
I have to agree bounce rates don’t tell the whole story about a web site. One other aspect to consider is the amount of time the viewer spends on landing page. This will tell if they found something of interest and stayed around to read the content or if they didn’t like what they saw and left right away. So, if you have a page where folks are on it for a few seconds, that says volumes that something needs improvement. Whereas, if someone spends 1, 2, 3 or more minutes on a page, it tells us that they found something of interest and want to stick around to get more or a better understanding.
One thing I found out about folks on the internet is that many have a reading ability of a 7th or 8th grade level. So you want to keep your content down at that level of understanding and using the active voice. Keep sentences and paragraphs short and sweet and to the point. Have lots of white space on the page. All of this will help to improve your bounce rate some.
My bounce rate has increased lately, and few pages are responsible for it.
I noticed after reading your post that I need to try using larger font and using short paragraph to see if it can help better the bounce rate.
thanks for sharing
My bounce rate is only 3.58%. It’s been sitting around here for a few years now.
The bulk of my website is made up of tutorial pages and a forum.
Peter brought up a good point, Lisa. In fact, I always thought Bounce meant Dwell Time! I have so much more to worry about than bounce rates, though: I can’t even wrap my head around Google Analytics to begin to analyze anything!
Cheers,
Mitch
LOL, I hear ya. And they keep changing Analytics so I’m constantly having to re-learn everything.
Yep they are two different stats. You could have a high bounce rate but high “on page” time if the person stays to read the one page for a long time but then exits.
See, I didn’t know that. But that is par for the course for Google, judging by how often they change things like Gmail, Google Drive, etc.
Possibly, when I first learned about bounce, the person I read the information from misinformed me, because it was cemented into my head until Peter made the point today 🙂
Cheers,
Mitch
Thanks for this one! But,<<< Yup the almighty "BUT" I was upset at the huge bounce rate and did some looking and much to my surprise, The site I had built for us "old farts" was not being veiwed the the "Old farts" but rather 25 to 34 year old males looking into sports! Go figure…… I am now changing everything about the site to work with the young folk. Hopefully this will start to be a little more of a turnon. Now I am using my 24 year old grand daughter to bounce stuff off of! I had her look at the sight and said be honest, she did and I'm changing it! Taking it from the horses mouth, so to speak………… 🙂
Interesting, Allan! Well that’s great you’ve got your granddaughter to steer you in the right direction since she is in the demographic of your viewers.
Hi Lisa!
I use to feel unhappy when my bounce rate are higher in my Google Analytic but this incredibly awesome post is eye opening.
Thanks a million.
I wish there was nothing called bounce rate. I cannot agree more that people sometimes leave websites without wandering if they get right on that page what they came for. Thank you Lisa, haven’t seen any big fish in the industry talking much about Bounce rate. Well Done. 🙂
Thank you Thank you So Much for this! I just checked my Google analytics today and was Shell shocked at my Bounce rate Then I read this and I have No need to be Shell Shocked I fall right in the guidelines. Thank you So much for this post!!
I think bounce rate itself is not the issue but the combination with low dwell time on the page – the combination is what sends a negative signal. But, if the bounce rate is high and dwell time is high then the signal remains positive.
What are your thoughts on this?
Yes I look at both stats. And what’s interesting I often here people complaining about their bounce rates but never mention time spent on page. They don’t always and necessarily correlate, but you are right — they often go hand in hand.
Hi Lisa, Great topic. Bounce rate is something we need to pay attention to but not stress over. Look at it this way – Google is sending traffic to your hex color generator even though that page has a high bounce rate – so they must be taking other factor into consideration.
Thanks for the post!
Exactly! I mean, Google looks at over 200 factors for ranking, and while bounce rate is on the list, it’s a mixed bag for sure. Great to see you here, Ileane.
Well there may be misleading things about bounce rate, one thing is sure – a high bounce rate (in case where users found what they are looking for) is bad for site that uses pay per click programs as far as monetization is concerned.
Hi Lisa,
So whats in a name, right? What we call a high bounce rate might be” just getting what they searched for” for the second.
I like your post and throughly enjoyed because it had something new, a different perspective on what is told of bounce rates. Atleast I had not read about this aspect of the coin.
I am now surely going to hit the Analytics dashboard and find how it is and how to work on.
Will definitely be testing and disturbing youin case I need assistance.
As of now mine is a blog with bounce rate of 30-35% . Is it good? 😕
That is EXCELLENT and way above average! Keep up the great work.
Wish this article were done as a podcast so I could listen vs. reading. So many distractions when self-employed (not complaining) LOL
Thx for all your do Sista Lisa 🙂
Shai