Bounce rate indicators can be very important in understanding user behavior towards a website. When it comes to website analytics, bounce rate is part of a metric should be taken seriously in assessing website performance. It may be a bit confusing when you first stumble upon it, but it can really be helpful in understanding how much visitors are retained on a website. It actually gives a good insight into how the content on a website helps address the needs of visitors.

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A lot of questions pop into your head. Is a bounce rate close to 100% good, or bad? Is it at all like a bounced email? Is it a fluffy metric that I should ignore? And if I want to fix it, what should I do?

Luckily, you’re not alone. Many marketers have asked those questions and might not have found a solid answer yet. We’re here to shed some light on the elusive bounce rate. We’ve put together a quick overview of what constitutes a bounce rate — and what doesn’t — and help you find some ways to fix it.

What Is Bounce Rate?

Bounce rate is a reflection of how your website serve the expectation of your visitors. When people leave your website without moving on to another page it indicates that they did not get what they were looking for or the information they got on your website did not satisfy their needs. Google have a way of measuring this trend and the higher it becomes, the more likely it is that your website is not serving useful content to visitors. With greater focus on user experience you are not likely to get higher ranking if your bounce rate continues to be high because your website quality will be affected by your high bounce rate. High bounce rate ordinarily demonstrates that the landing page or the internal pages are neither attractive and containing the expectations of visitors and therefore forces them to explore towards another site.

Bounce Rate is Different From Exit Rate

Your website bounce rate is not the same as your exit rate or email bounce rate. Your website’s bounce rate is the percentage of people who land on a page on your website, then leave. They don’t click on anything else. They just get to one of your pages, hang out for a bit, then leave.

While bounce rates only measure one-and-done; visits — the ones in which people arrive and leave your website without navigating away from a single page, Exit rates, on the other hand, are a little more complicated. They include the percentage of people who leave your website from a certain page — but, that’s not necessarily the only page they’ve visited on your website. The page from which they exited could be the last in a long sequence of page visits. That’s why the exit rate isn’t always as troubling as bounce rates.

Also read: An SEO Guide on the Top 3 Factors That Guarantee Success For Every Website

Bounce Rate Scenarios

1: A guest burned through 1 hour on a solitary page and after he is fulfilled, he shuts the page. This is dealt with as bounce by Google Analytics on the grounds that he didn’t see another page in the site.

2: A guest burned through 30 seconds on a site by going to two unique pages in a steady progression. His visit won’t be viewed as a bounced in light of the fact that he went by more than 1 page on your site

3: A guest arrived on a site page where he saw a video for around 30 minutes and afterward left without going to another post, then it is likewise regarded as bounced.

Also read: Useful URL Structuring Tips That Will Help Higher Ranking

How to Reduce High Bounce Rates

Now you know what a bounce rate is. But what can you actually do about it?

In general, high bounce rates might indicate that the page is irrelevant or confusing to site visitors. But don’t jump into drastic actions like deleting a page or undertaking a redesign right away. There are some important steps you need to take before you figure out which action to take.

Remember: Bounce rates really only tell you that someone landed on a web page and left it without visiting any other page on your website. It doesn’t tell you how someone interacted with your page. That’s why it’s important to take practical steps to examine other metrics and pieces of your web presence to see what might be behind the bounce rates. We’ve outlined these steps below.

1) Ensure your website is mobile-friendly.

There are now more searches and traffic coming from mobile devices than desktops. That makes it crucial, not only provide a mobile-ready experience, but to make sure that experience is engaging. How annoying is it when you arrive at a mobile site, only to have to zoom-in to read its content? Having a responsive site is no longer enough — engagement with the mobile version has to be user-friendly and interactive.

Video is one particularly engaging type of content. It can often explain complex topics more concisely than text, which might be why 4X as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. But when it comes to mobile usage, long videos require a significant amount of data and might therefore slow the user experience — causing the visitor to bounce. For that reason, it is good eliminating these longer videos from your mobile site, or creating more concise versions that still address the most important points.

This kind of improvement, however, isn’t limited to video. Take a holistic approach to evaluating your mobile experience, and consider how you”ll address contingencies like these.

Also read:: Benchmarking for Website Performance on Search Engines

2) Look at your bounce rate based on different sources.

Sometimes, the sources directing traffic to a given page might have something to do with its bounce rate. Let’s say your bounce rate is particularly high for visitors coming from social media — take a close look at the message you’re using to accompany the content you're distributing.

Does it truly match what the content is about? Would a visitor clicking on that link in Twitter, or Facebook expect to see the headline, and initial image? If the answer to either of those questions is “no”, your promotion strategy might need some work.

When you’re distributing your website’s content, make sure the messaging actually matches the page to which you’re directing visitors. You have to clearly meet the expectations of the visitor — regardless of source.

3) Avoid other disruptions that might hurt the user experience.

We’ve already discussed the importance of a good mobile user experience — but that actually goes for all platforms. Things like full-screen pop-ups, for example, are not only annoying, but given Google’s recent algorithm update, they can also result in search penalties.

But the key thing to consider is the user. You want visitors to be drawn into your page and stay for as long as needed to convert. While some pop-ups are good — like well-crafted inbound messages that add context to a site — avoid any that significantly disrupt the user experience in a way that might cause visitors to leave.

4) Determine which keywords this page ranks for — and if your content sufficiently covers those topics.

Remember how we cautioned against misleading visitors about your site’s content in social distribution? The same goes for keyword rankings. Matching keyword intent to your content is important to ensure organic visitors get the content they expect.

Let’s say someone is searching for marketing automation software solutions — it’s likely that this person is looking for software to help nurture leads into customers. But if someone is using the query, What is marketing automation? she’s probably not at a stage where she’s looking to buy a product. Rather, this person is looking for content that’s more informative than anything else.

So when you evaluate the keywords for which you’re page is ranking, make sure they’re aligned with the actual content. Once you’ve done that, try looking at a topic-cluster framework — the kind that groups your site’s pages into clusters according to subject — to help attract organic traffic to the right pages.

When you’re investigating bounce rates, make sure you’re looking at the full picture. Take a look at the time people spend on your site, where they’re coming from, and what device they’re using — and if your content and experience are aligned with all of those factors. You might uncover patterns that show how you can fix the bounce rate problem.

Think of bounce rates like your car check engine light. When it goes on, you know there might be a problem — but you need to check all of the car’s systems to accurately diagnose the issue. There’s no one-size-fits-all fix for bounce rates, but knowing what they are and how they can inform your marketing strategy can help ensure your website’s success.

5) Page load Time

Improve your website page speed. In the event that your site sets aside more opportunity to load, clients may get exhausted and may close the tab in a flash and move to another website page. Caching and minimal use of well optimized images have been found to help load time.

6) Write Intriguing Content

Write fascinating themes for the purpose of the clients and in addition for internet searchers.

7) Length of Article

This is another vital element that reduces bounce rate. Keep in mind that all clients won’t have enough time to peruse such long stories. So make it straightforward. Pass on what you need to say in a straightforward and short way (in such cases, a 500 word article is all that could possibly be needed until unless you’re composing some itemized instructional exercise lie the one you are reading).

8) List the Popular Posts

Use most well known posts plugin which helps clients to see the most prevalent pages on your site. Commonly called most popular posts or most read, this is a working system to moves guests on your site to move to additional pages. Blogger clients can essentially go to Layout > Add a Gadget > Choose Prevalent Posts

9) Clean Advertisements

Try not to stuff ads here and there which make the client get confounded? Continuously attempt to set the advertisements properly with clean format. The advertisements ought to stay beside the substance, so that the client can tap the promotions if by chance he loves it.

10) Avoid Keyword stuffing

Don’t exaggerate keywords. This does not just get your site punished via web crawlers, additionally the clients feel it irritating while reading.

11) Use Colors Wisely

It is a very serious error to mix-up numerous colors. Understand color combinations and and use them wisely.

12) Make Navigation Easy

Link to your inward pages from each post appropriately. Furthermore utilize the related posts highlight. So at whatever point, the client won’t find it hard to locate relevant links.

What is the Suggested Bounce Rate Percentage?

The recommended rate ought to be half or less yet it differs in view of the kind of your specialty.

Last Words

Remember that a convincing content is primarily what will keep people on your site. Ensure convincing content as it itself make the clients to stay additional time on your site.

Do you have some more suggestions that will help improve bounce rate records for a site, Share your view in the comments box.