Is Bounce Rate Important? What it means, When It Matters and 5 Ways to Reduce Your Bounce Rates
Andy Crestodina
Co-Founder and CMO at Orbit Media | SEO, Analytics, AI, Content Strategy and Website Optimization
It’s one of the most talked-about metrics in digital marketing. Everyone hates bounces and everyone wants to reduce their bounce rate. Because bounces are bad, right?
But since most marketers have access to just one Analytics account, there isn’t much to compare it to. Is my bounce rate too high or too low?
So here’s a look at the famous bounce. We’ll explain what it really means and how it’s calculated. When it matters most and when it’s way off. And finally, we’ll share a list of ways you can lower your bounce rate. Because that’s never a bad thing.
What are bounce rates in Google Analytics?
Let’s start with the definition. Because it’s not obvious what bounce rate means. There’s what people think it is…
– A bounce is a one-page visit
And here’s what it really is…
– A bounce is a one-hit session
A session is a visit. Same thing. So that part is just semantics. But what’s a hit? And how is a hit different from a visit?
A hit is an interaction that causes data to be sent to Analytics. Pageviews are hits, but so are most events. Later in this post, you’ll see how issues with Javascript and use of events can really screw up your bounce rate.
Note about Analytics terminology: the words session and visit are interchangeable. Same thing.
So the true definition of a bounce is a one-hit visit. That’s the same as a one-page visit if there are no events set up on the page. Events are a way to track interactions on websites, other than pages loading, such as video play button clicks. And those events affect bounce rates we’ll see later on.
So the definition of bounce rate is the percentage of visits that were one-page visits. How are bounce rates calculated: Here’s the calculation: the number of one-page visits divided by the total number of visits.
Is bounce rate important?
Not necessarily. Here comes the debate:
Experienced writer and content marketing consultant working with B2B companies to help them acquire, retain and create loyal customers. Writing | Content Marketing | RFP | Marketing Consulting | SEO
4yThanks for sharing this.
I've Learned a Bit About SEO, Web Development, Email/Digital Marketing, and Entrepreneurship Over the past 20 Years Now I'm a full-time reseller on 6 social platforms and our own website.
4yHelp » Tips 'n tricks » How Clicky is different from other trackers » Bounce rate The bounce rate tells you how engaged your visitors are with your site, on a general level. Clicky's bounce rate is much different from any other service - in a good way. All other services define a bounce as simply any visitor who viewed only a single page. With Clicky, though, our tracking code will continue to ping our servers while a visitor sits on a single page. This gives us a much more accurate picture of how long the visitor was actually on your site. Our bounce rate takes this into account. A visitor will only count as a bounce on Clicky if they only view a single page and they were on your web site for less than 30 seconds. We figure, if someone is there for at least 30 seconds, they were at least mildly engaged and should not count as a bounce.
Passionate for understanding the audience and ultimately, helping others. 💬 Storyteller, writer, editor. Creative problem-solver. 🎨 Visual communicator, digital content manager. 📊 Analysis for improved messaging.
4yI agree and am so happy to hear someone else say this. It depends so much on the source of the click, and what the goal is!
Director of Sales at Plymouth Tube Company
4yMost talked about in meetings where marketers are educating non-marketers. Thanks for sharing.