What is bounce rate? Why it should be top of mind.
What is Bounce Rate? It’s a question that is top of mind for website admins and business owners, as it should be. Bounce rate is one of the most important metrics to track when measuring the success of your website – whether you’re focusing on SEO or PPC campaigns. In this blog post, we’ll define what bounce rate is, describe its significance to website owners and share some tips on how to improve your bounce rate. Stay tuned!
What is bounce rate and why is it important?
Bounce rate is a metric that measures the percentage of visitors to your website who leave after viewing only one page. In other words, it’s the percentage of people who “bounce” off your site after visiting just one page. So, why should you care about your bounce rate?
There are a few key reasons:
– Bounce rate is a key indicator of how successful your website is. A high bounce rate generally means that your website isn’t providing what visitors are looking for, which can have a negative impact on your SEO and PPC campaigns.
– Google takes bounce rate into account when ranking websites. If your bounce rate is high, Google may rank your website lower in search results, which can have a negative impact on your SEO and PPC campaigns.
– A high bounce rate is bad for pay per click (PPC) campaigns because you’re paying for what essentially amounts to wasted clicks that don’t result in conversions.
While bounce rate as a whole for a website is calculated wholistically. There are things you can specifically focus on when it comes to both on-page SEO and PPC campaigns to improve your overall website’s bounce rate performance.
Bounce rate for on-page SEO – Solution, Focus on Intent
When it comes to on-page SEO, your focus should be on providing what visitors are looking for. What questions are they asking that you can answer with content on your website? What solutions can you provide that will help them solve a problem?
If you can provide the answers to these questions and help visitors find what they’re looking for on your website, you’ll see a decrease in bounce rate.
Bounce rate – PPC Campaigns
When it comes to PPC campaigns, your focus should be on refining your keywords and ad copy to match what visitors are looking for. If you’re not sure what those keywords and phrases are, use Google AdWords Keyword Planner to find out. You can also use the search terms that people are already using to find your website as a starting point for your PPC campaigns.
If you can refine what visitors are looking for and what they’re typing into search engines, you’ll see an increase in click-through rate (CTR) and a decrease in bounce rate.
Additionally, by utilizing some common features in google AdWords such as, “exclude keywords,” features you can immediately stop or pause your ad being shown for keywords causing a high bounce rate. This is most obvious when reviewing the PPC keywords breakdown. After all, the bounce rate for PPC is generally caused by either poor audience targeting or mismatched keyword intent.
Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate
What’s the difference?
There is a lot of confusion about what bounce rate and exit rate are, so let’s clear that up here.
While both metrics measure how often people leave your website after viewing just one page, there is a key difference between them. Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who visit only one page and then leave, while exit rate measures what percentage of traffic leaves from a specific page.
For example, let’s say that you have five pages on your website: Home (A), About Us (B), Products & Services (C), Contact Us(D) and Blog (E). If someone visits Pages A, B and C in that order, their bounce rate would be calculated as the percentage of visitors who only visited those three pages. However, their exit rate from Page C (the products and services page) would be 100%, since all of the traffic that left from that page did so from that specific page.
In general, you should focus on decreasing your bounce rate rather than your exit rate, as the bounce rate is a more accurate measure of how successful your website is. However, it’s important to track both metrics so that you can identify which pages are causing people to leave your website and make changes accordingly.
5 Pro Tips for Reducing Your Bounce Rate
Now that you know what bounce rate is, what it means and why it’s important to track, let’s go over what you can do to reduce your website’s bounce rate.
Here are five pro tips for reducing your website’s bounce rate:
Pro Tip #01 – Make Sure Your Website Loads Quickly
If your website takes too long to load, visitors will leave before they have a chance to see your content. This is why it’s important to make sure that your website loads quickly – ideally in three seconds or less. You can use the free tool Google PageSpeed Insights to test your website and get suggestions for how to improve its loading time.
Pro Tip #02 – Use Engaging, High-Quality Images
Images are what draw visitors in and keep them on your website. That’s why it’s important to use engaging, high-quality images that will make visitors want to stay on your site and read what you have to say. Make sure that the images you choose are relevant to your content and that they add value, rather than just taking up space. You can use free tools like Unsplash or Death to the Stock Photo to find high-quality images that you can use on your website.
Pro Tip #03 – Write Engaging, Useful Content
If your content isn’t engaging or useful, visitors will leave your website without reading it. That’s why it’s important to write engaging, useful content that will keep visitors on your site. Make sure that your content is well-written and relevant to your target audience, and use tools like the Hemingway App to make sure that it’s easy to read. This is what we mean by matching keywords with the correct intent.
Pro Tip #04 – Use Engaging Headlines
Headlines are what draw visitors in and make them want to read your content. That’s why it’s important to use engaging headlines that will entice people to stay on your website and keep reading what you have to say. Make sure that your headline is informative, relevant and easy-to-read so that people will know what to expect from your content.
Pro Tip #05 – Use Calls to Action
Calls to action are a great way to encourage visitors to stay on your website and take action. They tell visitors what you want them to do, whether it’s signing up for your newsletter, downloading a white paper or buying a product. Make sure that your calls to action are clear, concise and relevant to your content, and use buttons or links to make them easy to find.
FAQs about bounce rate in Google Analytics
What is a good bounce rate?
There is no definitive answer to this question, as the “correct” bounce rate will vary depending on your website and its target audience. However, a good bounce rate ranges from 30-40%, so if your bounce rate is higher than that, you may want to consider making some changes.
What does a high bounce rate mean?
A high bounce rate means that people are leaving your website without viewing any other pages. This could be because your content isn’t engaging, the images you’re using aren’t relevant or the layout of your website is confusing and difficult to navigate. It’s important to track what percentage of people leave after visiting just one page so that you can make changes to improve your site and keep visitors on it longer.
Why is it important to track Google Analytics bounces?
It’s important to track Google Analytics bounces because they can tell you what percentage of people are leaving your website without viewing any other pages. This information can help you make changes to improve your site and keep visitors on it longer, which will ultimately increase sales and revenue for your business.
What is your website’s bounce rate? Need some advice?
Digital marketing experts at Lane Digital Marketing in Fort Worth, TX are ready to take a look at your website! If you have a campaign that isn’t bringing results or more importantly the revenue you expect… Let us take a look! Sometimes an extra set of eyes can share what’s holding your website and campaign back from maximizing ad spend, by improving bounce rate, decreasing average cost per click and tracking success through CTR. After all, winners keep score. Contact us today!