Bounce rate
Bounce rate is a term from web analytics in online marketing. The bounce rate is expressed as a percentage and indicates the number of visitors who leave a website after a short time. According to Google Analytics, this is the case when only one subpage is called up and only one request is triggered to the analysis server.
The English term bounce rate is also often used for the bounce rate.
Possible values and their meaning
The bounce rate rating depends on the content and goals of a website. As a rule of thumb for commercial offers, the rate should be at least 50 %.
Well-known brand and institution pages usually have a lower bounce rate, as the user specifically enters an address here.
Google Ads landing pages, on the other hand, often have higher bounce rates than other pages because users can usually quickly assess whether an ad is relevant to their search query.
What does a high bounce rate mean
There can be various reasons for a high bounce rate. It is not necessarily a problem if the user only uses the website for a short time or does not interact with the website. It may be that the user was looking for specific information and found it directly on the subpage accessed. In this case, the bounce rate does not represent a deterioration of the page quality.
One example is a search for company contact data that leads to a phone call or a visit to a branch office. But it could also be that a user just wants to quickly subscribe to a newsletter. For this, he only visits a single page and leaves the website again. In many other cases, however, site operators want to keep interested parties on their own website for as long as possible. In this respect, a high bounce rate is negative.
Bounce rate and length of stay
The question of whether a short session duration is negative depends on the context. With landing pages, in contrast to purely informational pages, long dwell times are desired. After all, reading this page should increase the company's sales.
Event tracking is a good way to have a particular impact on dwell time and bounce rate. By sending interaction events, data can be sent to Google Analytics. The tool then evaluates whether and how a visitor has used the website. This includes conversions such as sharing the page content or making contact.
Improve Bounce Rate?
The bounce rate is influenced by various factors. The following options are available to achieve a low bounce rate:
- Improve page load time
- Reduce the number of advertisements
- Revise website design
- Check page title and keywords
- Simplify navigation and orientation
- Provide more relevant content
Difference between bounce rate and exit rate
The exit rate (exit page) means that a user leaves the website after visiting at least one other page. Unlike the bounce rate, the user has clicked at least one internal link before leaving. Thanks to the exit rate, publishers can track where prospects leave their website based on the subpages.
High exit rates do not always indicate that subpages need to be optimized, as some pages are logical exit points. If the exit rate on certain pages is particularly high, but this has nothing to do with conversions or leads, these pages need to be touched up.
How high should the bounce rate be?
Depending on the type of website, certain bounce rates may be considered normal.
- 40-60% for content websites that do not belong to the e-commerce sector
- 60-90% for landing pages
- 20-45% for B2C e-commerce websites
- 10-40% for retail websites
- 70-98% for pages with blog posts
- 25-55% for B2B websites
- 65-90% for dictionaries and news sites
Does the bounce rate influence search engine optimization?
It is questionable whether the bounce rate has a direct influence on the Google ranking. The SERP return rate is often cited as a more important criterion. This period in which Internet users return to the search engine after calling up the search results is considered more reliable and better measurable. The user experience has a direct influence on the bounce rate and on the SERP Return Rate. Therefore, user experience must be a central component of a SEO Strategy be
Nevertheless, the bounce rate can provide information about how user-friendly a website is and how well it matches certain search queries. After all, people are more likely to visit additional pages of a domain if they feel that their questions are answered after visiting the first page.
Are you having trouble with your bounce rate? Contact us! As SEO Agency in Munich we will gladly help you and get to the bottom of the cause.
