Perhaps you’ve heard a bit about the so-called bounce rate before? This is indeed an important concept within online marketing and web analytics.
In my digital dictionary, I have briefly touched on this term, as well as many other useful concepts, but in this post, we will dig a little deeper and take a look at the factors that have a direct impact on a website’s bounce rate.
What does bounce rate mean?
Bounce rate can be translated as “exit rate.”
This refers to the percentage of people who click into a website and then click out again without interacting with the website any further.
In other words, the user exits the website quickly after clicking into it.
For most websites, this action is not desirable. The purpose of users clicking into a website is for them to find interest in what the site offers and to navigate around the page, eventually leading to a conversion.
The relevance of your website
For many websites, there will be a certain bounce rate associated with each individual page, and in a web analysis, it will be relevant to evaluate these metrics.
The bounce rate can often indicate how relevant your website’s content is to the users who click into it.
In other words, how effective is your website at communicating relevant messages that encourage users to convert?
Criteria for analyzing bounce rate
Bounce rate is typically measured as a percentage.
These percentages, representing the number of users who leave your website without further interaction, can be analyzed in a web analysis based on different criteria:
- Keywords – do the expectations for a keyword align with the content you offer, or does the bounce rate indicate a lack of relevance at the keyword level?
- Channel – what is the bounce rate in relation to the channel from which the users come? (social media, organic results, etc.)
- Subpages – does the website’s content meet users’ expectations, or do they quickly click away from the subpage?
Is a high bounce rate always negative?
One cannot simply conclude that a high bounce rate is negative. Many different factors come into play here.
A high bounce rate can also indicate that your website provides all the necessary information on the page that users click into.
It is important to view the percentage of users who leave in context.
For example, if it’s a blog or another type of information page, it can be positive if users find all the information they need with just one click.
On the other hand, if your website sells products or services, it would be relevant to look into what factors contribute to a high bounce rate in that context.
Reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate naturally depend on the specific website and the context of users’ visits.
However, in general, there are several factors that can contribute to why many users leave after a short time.
For instance, if there is a complicated design on a website without a clear CTA, users will undoubtedly become confused and will not navigate further on the site.
This will also be evident if there is a lack of good structure. The menu should be easy to navigate, and if you want users to take the time to visit more than one subpage, it can be beneficial to cross-reference with internal links where it makes sense.
Finally, there will often be a high bounce rate associated with discrepancy between keywords or meta description and the website’s content.
If users are promised something in the organic results as well as in the paid ads but experience something entirely different on the actual website, this will naturally lead to a certain bounce rate.
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