If you’ve delved into online marketing, SEO performance and Google Analytics, you’ll come across an odd little percentage called ‘Bounce Rate’. This score seems to get happier as the percentage score gets lower! Totally counter-intuitive, right? It goes against our instincts to want to get a lower score in anything, but in this case that’s what we want.

What is the bounce rate?

When a user visits a website and doesn’t interact with it in anyway, that’s called a bounce. For example, the user lands on your website, but does not click any more links, they do not fill in a form, or navigate around.

What is a good bounce rate?

We commonly see good bounce rates at around 40% – 50%. The bounce rate is a great indication of how users are perceiving your site, whether they’re finding it engaging and easy to use, or whether they’re not interested. Typically if you have a bounce rate for 70% or higher, then there is room for improvement.

So, the lower bounce rate the better, right?

Not quite. The bounce rate can be a good indicator that there’s something wrong with your website also. There will always be a natural amount of bouncing going on. If your rate is too low, then usually this means you have a problem with your analytics / SEO / web design. The usual cause of a really low bounce rate is an incorrect setup of Google Analytics. Check that you haven’t installed your Analytics Tracking code twice.

How do I improve (reduce) my bounce rate?

Sorry to be ‘that person’, but there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this, but there are some key methods to look at and ways to test.

Landing Page Layout

Take a look at your bounce rate in conjunction with the page that they’re landing on. Is there a common page that has a higher bounce rate? We will then know which page we need to focus on. Is the page design confusing or does it lack purpose? Perhaps your visitor doesn’t know where to go for what they need.

A/B Testing

If you’re able to do so, A/B testing is a good way of working out whether there’s a better way to display your information. Your visitors will be shown either layout A or layout B and from there you can check out engagement and see which is most successful in keeping users on your site and interested.

Website Speed

If your website is slow, your visitors will be frustrated. Nowadays people like to see a site load in under 2 seconds. If your site is still loading and the user isn’t able to interact with the page quickly, then your visitor is already frustrated! Try to run some speed tests on your website and implement some optimisation techniques.

Implement a clear and easy search bar

Many people just like to search for what they need straight away. By having a clear search bar, this shows your visitor that you’re able to provide them with answers quickly, without spending time navigating to what they need.

Overall, the bounce rate is a great indication of the success or the problems in your website, but should always be looked at inconjunction with pages visited, with time on site and with other key metrics, that way you’ll be much more targeted in your approach.

We’ll revisit the bounce rate, A/B testing an speed improvements in more depth in future articles.