Updated April 9, 2020
One of the key aspects of managing a website is knowing your site’s analytics. The analytics tell you how your visitors perceive your site. When you are trying to view how effective your site is, you will need to know how many people are visiting your site, but also how many immediately leave. It is important that you understand what a bounce rate is and why it matters to your site.
What is a Bounce Rate?
The bounce rate is a percentage that tells you the number of people who have come to your site and left without visiting a second page. It also looks for visitors who have stayed on your site for less than five seconds.It is recommended that you watch your bounce rate and work to keep it under 50-percent. It is not likely to disappear completely; especially if the blog is in a niche where users find the information they need quickly and then go to another site.
How to Reduce the Bounce Rate
One of the best
ways to reduce your bounce rate is to offer your readers other articles they may find interesting based on the article they are currently reading. This will lengthen the amount of time they are on your page, as well as get them to visit more pages.You also need to review your site as a whole to see where improvements can be made.
Where to Begin
When you are looking to lower the bounce rate on your site, start with the Audience Overview on Google Analytics. You will immediately see a generic overview of how your site is doing. From here, you will want to look at the bounce rate of your individual pages to see where edits should be made. Remember that the lower the bounce rate – the better.On your overview, you will see what pages have been extremely popular. If you are
blogging regularly, you will find your most popular posts show up. These are the pages you should consider recommending when people are on other pages. You can also use your popular pages as a widget on your site so people know immediately what others are finding useful.
Where Does Your Traffic Come From?
It is also important when looking at your bounce rate to know where your traffic comes from. The Acquisition category of Google Analytics will let you know how much of your site is visited from direct links, organic search, referral links or from social media.If you are trying to draw in traffic from organic searches, this section will help you see how successful your campaigns are. You may discover that the bounce rate from referral sites or social media is higher than organic searches. This is because people who search are looking for something specific and may stay on your website for longer while people coming from social media may be browsing without a specific purpose.
Social Media Struggles
Social media can be a blessing and a curse to a website. While many people will visit a blog post that drives a lot of attention, they may not necessarily stay on the site to visit other pages. Analytics will help you see which platforms people used to reach your site, and then what the percentage of them “bounced” after reading a page. Improving the content on those pages or offering them alternatives is a good way to improve your bounce rate.
What is a Good Bounce Rate
You bounce rate will vary based on the number of views you have overall on your page. A good bounce rate depends on the age of the site and what your goals are with the site. Most companies look to have a bounce rate between 25-percent and 45-percent, while others are okay with less than 55-percent.For you to determine what works for you, you need to know what you want people to get from your site. If you only have a blog, then a higher bounce rate is not a problem. However, if you are a business offering goods or services, you will want a lower bounce rate.
In Conclusion
The bounce rate is only one part of seeing how your site is doing overall with your desired audience. It is something you should care about if you want to drive more traffic online. However, if you only want them to see specific content, then your bounce rate may not be as vital.To determine if changes need to be made, you want to consider your audience. Make sure you
meet their needs and they are satisfied with what they are getting from your site. If you engage with them, they are more likely to stay on the page longer to comment.
