• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

The Social Media Hat

Always On Top Of Social

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Digital Marketing
    • Social Media Articles
      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      • LinkedIn
      • Pinterest
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
    • Social Media Tools
    • Virtual Events
  • Marketing Resources
    • Newsletter
    • The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast
    • Marketing Hyperdrive Podcast
  • GET HELP
    • Virtual Event VIP Strategy Day
    • Social Media Planner
  • About
  • Search
  • Home
  • Articles
    • Digital Marketing
    • Social Media Articles
      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      • LinkedIn
      • Pinterest
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
    • Social Media Tools
    • Virtual Events
  • Marketing Resources
    • Newsletter
    • The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast
    • Marketing Hyperdrive Podcast
  • GET HELP
    • Virtual Event VIP Strategy Day
    • Social Media Planner
  • About
  • Search

Bounce Rate. What is it, and why is it important?

Reading Time: 2 minutes Bounce Rate is a measure of visit quality and a high Bounce Rate generally indicates that site pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. But there’s more to it than that.

You are here: Home / Digital Marketing / Bounce Rate. What is it, and why is it important?

August 27, 2012 //  by Mike Allton

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Bounce Rate is a term that you may have seen on your website’s Google Analytics report, or heard about from your web designer when talking about search engine optimization. The importance of bounce rate as a measurement of how effective your website and marketing materials are cannot be understated. It’s important enough that we will review what bounce rate is and what you can do to improve your site’s “stickiness” for better SEO and more traffic conversion.

According to Google Analytics, Bounce Rate is the percentage of bounced visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce Rate is a measure of visit quality and a high Bounce Rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. Bounce Rate is different from Exit Rate, which refers to visitors who leave your site from a particular page when coming to that page from somewhere else within our site.

So, an example would be a visitor to your home page who clicks the Back button and leaves your site immediately. That visit counts against your Bounce Rate. If the same visitor decided to click on your Services page and THEN leaves your site, that counts against your Exit Rate.

It should be noted that both Bounce Rate and Exit Rate are key indicators for Google when determining a site’s overall ranking.

The Bounce Rate equation is fairly predictable. The total number of visits viewing one page only is divided by the total number of entries to that page.

In addition to clicking the Back button, there are a number of actions that a visitor can take which will count against your Bounce Rate. If they click on a link to another website, that will count. If the visitor closes the window or the tab, that counts too. Typing in a new URL will count, as well as if the session times out. One action that may surprise you is if the visitor goes to a sub domain, that will count as a Bounce as well.

What is a good Bounce Rate?

Every website and industry is different, so there is not one single rate or metric to look at. Instead, businesses should compare their sites with other similar sites and industries.

  • Retail Sites – 20-40% Bounce Rate
  • Simple Landing Pages – 70-90% Bounce Rate
  • Portals – 10-30% Bounce Rate
  • Service Sites – 10-30% Bounce Rate
  • Content Sites – 40-60% Bounce Rate
  • Lead Generation – 30-50% Bounce Rate

So, depending on where your kind of website falls within that spectrum, you should target that range of Bounce Rate (or better).

How do we improve our Bounce Rate?

There are a lot of things you can do to try to improve your Bounce Rate, but let’s first focus on some things that you should NOT do which may be hurting your Bounce Rate.

Negative Factors

  1. Pop-up ads, surveys, music, or streaming video
  2. Landing page design
  3. Ad and landing page messages
  4. Load time of pages
  5. Links to external sites
  6. Purpose of the page

Improvement Techniques

  1. Provide relevant content
  2. Build a clear navigation path / menu
  3. Link to a glossary page that defines industry terms
  4. Speed up page load
  5. Get rid of pop-up ads
  6. Reduce external links or have them open in a new window

The bottom line is that you will be best served by targeting keywords for which you are able to provide quality, relevant content. Search engines will deliver the traffic and the better your content is, the more likely the visitors will be to spend more time on your site. This will result in an increased number of sales and conversions.

For more ideas and ongoing tracking of your site’s SEO and search performance, sign up for SEMRush.

Related

Category: Digital MarketingTag: Bounce Rate, SEO

About Mike Allton

Mike Allton is a Content Marketing Practitioner – a title he invented to represent his holistic approach to content marketing that leverages blogging, social media, email marketing and SEO to drive traffic, generate leads, and convert those leads into sales. He is an award-winning Blogger, Speaker, and Author, and Head of Strategic Partnerships at Agorapulse.

Mike is a Virtual Event Consultant and has partnered with Jenn Herman, Stephanie Liu, Amanda Robinson and Eric Butow to write Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing published by Entrepreneur Press.

Free Virtual Event Webinar

10 Benefits of Virtual Events for SaaS Brands
Hosted by  Mike Allton
Most people are hesitant to try virtual events because they don’t understand all the benefits. They think it’s just a webinar or a conference call, but there’s so much more that can be done! 10 Benefits of Virtual Events for SaaS Brands is the answer to your questions. In this webinar, Mike Allton will teach you everything you need to know about virtual events. You’ll learn how to make them work for your company and get everyone on board with the idea.

Join The Community!

17 savvy marketers sign up every day to get the latest social media insights and ideas.


Previous Post: « Facebook Releases Facebook 5.0
Next Post: Getting Started in Social Media Series, Part One: Twitter »

Primary Sidebar

LISTEN to The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast

Virtual Event VIP Strategy Day

Meet Mike

Mike Allton is a Virtual Event Strategist, and an award-winning blogger, speaker, and author at The Social Media Hat, where he has been educating businesses and organizations on the best use of content marketing for reaching and converting target audiences. He has spearheaded dozens of live shows and virtual events, reaching tens of thousands of potential customers on behalf of represented brands.

Since 2012, Mike has excelled at helping his community understand the nuance and best practices involved in utilizing social platforms, leveraging social media management tools, and creating 10X content. He has established a reputation for being able to explain complex tools or topics in easy to understand ways, all while bringing a necessary sense of overall brand strategy and business purpose.

Featured Posts

How to Choose a Virtual Event Consultant

February 7, 2022 //  by Mike Allton

Reading Time: 4 minutes A good consultant can provide valuable advice & guidance, while a bad one can cause problems and headaches.

Virtual Event Strategist Podcast background

Virtual Event Strategy: Your Why is Why You’re Unfocused

May 4, 2022 //  by Mike Allton

Reading Time: 6 minutes Season 01 Episode 01 of the Virtual Event Strategist Podcast

Virtual Event Strategist Podcast background

Introducing The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast by Mike Allton

May 4, 2022 //  by Mike Allton

Reading Time: 4 minutes Learn what this podcast is about, and who it’s for!

More Like This

  • Virtual Events As Powerful Customer Discovery Tools
  • Steal This Virtual Event Plan For A Flawless Event
  • Virtual Event Strategy: How To Narrow Focus To Achieve Broader Goals

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Virtual Event Strategy: How To Rally Resources To Help You
  • Virtual Event Planner Options You Need To Consider Today
  • Virtual Event Strategy: Getting Started With Elephantine Events
  • Virtual Events As Powerful Customer Discovery Tools
  • Steal This Virtual Event Plan For A Flawless Event
  • Virtual Event Strategy: How To Narrow Focus To Achieve Broader Goals
  • Virtual Event Strategy: Your Why is Why You’re Unfocused
  • Introducing The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast by Mike Allton

Key Topics

Agorapulse Bing Blab Blogging Buffer Business Canva Content Marketing Easil Email Marketing Evernote Facebook Google+ Holidays Hootsuite Influencer Marketing Infograph Instagram Klout LinkedIn Live Video Marketing Meerkat Mobile MySpace Pinterest Podcast ROI SEO SnapChat Social Media Marketing Social Pulse Summit Strategy Tailwind Triberr Twitter Video Vine Virtual Event Virtual Event Planning Virtual Event Speakers Virtual Event Strategy Yahoo Yelp YouTube
  • Home
  • Virtual Event Strategy
  • Subscribe
  • About The Social Media Hat
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure

Site Footer

The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast

  • Listen on Apple
  • Listen on Spotify
  • Listen on Amazon
  • Listen on Stitcher
  • Social Media Articles
  • Digital Marketing Articles
  • Social Media Tools & Resources
  • Virtual Events Articles
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 The Social Media Hat · All Rights Reserved