Understanding and Improving Your Bounce Rates
1.12.2022
Understanding and Improving Your Bounce Rates
What does the term bounce rate actually mean? And is a high bounce rate really always associated with poor website performance? Learn more!
Anyone who is concerned with their own website success will inevitably come across the term bounce rate. However, many marketers do not know how to interpret this value correctly or give it the wrong weighting. This is a fatal mistake, as the metric provides information about how well content and design are received by your target group - or not. What makes a good bounce rate? And why should the two values bounce rate and exit rate not be equated under any circumstances? We'll clear up typical misunderstandings for you and help you get the most out of your website!
What do we actually mean by the term "bounce rate"?
If you want to understand the bounce rate, you first need to understand how the value is calculated. Google itself provides information on this as follows:
"A bounce is a visit to a single page on your website. For Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as a session where only a single request is triggered to the Analytics server, such as when a user visits a single page on your website and then leaves the page without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server for that session."
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing visitors to a single page by all sessions and is expressed as a percentage. In summary, the metric is the percentage of all sessions on your website where users visited a page but only triggered a request to the Analytics server. For example, they did not visit another page, click on a call-to-action, or submit a contact form or similar.
From good and bad bounce rates - this is how you evaluate the key figure
As a website operator, it is important to understand what influence the bounce rate can have on your overall online marketing. A poor, i.e. very high, bounce rate can, for example, provide indications of technical errors or SEO potential, such as if the page load time is too long or it cannot be visited well on a mobile device.
Basically, one breaks down bounce rates as follows:
- 56 to 70% - high bounce rate
- 41 to 55% - average bounce rate
- 26 to 40% - low bounce rate
The value can be easily checked using a tracking tool, such as Google Analytics. However, the above values are only generally valid guidelines that may deviate from the norm depending on the individual case. So please consider these numbers only as a rough guideline and re-evaluate the scale for your own online presence.
Is a high bounce rate always an indication of a bad website?
As already mentioned, a high bounce rate, which would generally be described as bad, does not necessarily indicate a technical or content-related problem. If the success of your website is based on the fact that users look at various subpages, i.e. also at detailed product pages and possibly make a purchase, then a high bounce rate should of course be avoided and optimized at all costs. If, on the other hand, your website consists of only one page (one-pager) or if the content speaks for itself and it is not necessary for the user to visit further sub-pages (for example, when searching for information on a blog), high bounce rates are completely normal and no cause for concern. Even the home page usually has a significantly higher bounce rate than many other subpages and landing pages - only this is not designed to provide the user with all the information at a glance, but rather to navigate to the respective content.
Typical reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate are many and vary from website to website. The most common reasons include, for example:
- annoying pop-ups
- Poor usability
- too long loading times
- technical errors (e.g. 404 errors)
- non-responsive/mobile friendly pages
- Content without added value for the reader
What to do to improve the bounce rate?
Those who want to improve the bounce rate of their website have various starting points here. For example, it is possible to test content against each other after a detailed analysis and evaluate the respective results. It can also be helpful to rethink the placement and wording of call-to-actions and to prepare the content of the page in a more user-friendly way, for example by using videos or infographics.
Recheck individual pages with high bounce rate
Before you start your optimization efforts, you should first check which subpages of your website are affected by particularly high bounce rates. In most cases, the culprits can be quickly identified and used as a basis for improvement. You can find the relevant information in the analysis tool of your choice, for example via Analytics. Here you have the option of displaying the bounce rate per subpage or to view the bounce rate by channel. This is also an important indicator, because if, for example, only the users who come via the social media channels have a high bounce rate, it can be assumed that these interested parties simply do not find the information and content on the respective landing page that they expected.
Test and try out
Once you have identified the culprits for your poor bounce rates, the next step is to develop strategies for improving them. A/B tests have proven to be particularly useful for finding out whether content A or content B is better received by the target group. To do this, you simply create two different versions of a single subpage and show version A to one half and version B to the second. The results later speak for themselves as to which version has a more positive effect on the bounce rate.
Make the page reader and mobile friendly
Text block after text block - if you rely on a flood of information on your subpage that is neither appealing in terms of content nor graphics, you will never be able to enjoy low bounce rates. Spaces, subheadings or other structures that break up the text and make it easier to read have a much more inviting effect. Images, videos and the like can also help to keep interest in your page high and encourage users to read on - from all devices, of course! In order to achieve low bounce rates, the content should be easily accessible from smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Our Conclusion: An important value that needs to be understood
As you can see, the bounce rate is a value that should be given sufficient importance, but which must always be considered in the appropriate ratio and evaluated individually. A high bounce rate on a blog is less worrying than too many exits on product pages or landing pages. Here it is a matter of analyzing the problem, running tests and sustainably improving the bounce rate of these sub-pages!
Sources:
https://de.semrush.com/blog/absprungrate-verbessern/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409
Speaker
Results
What does the term bounce rate actually mean? And is a high bounce rate really always associated with poor website performance? Learn more!
Anyone who is concerned with their own website success will inevitably come across the term bounce rate. However, many marketers do not know how to interpret this value correctly or give it the wrong weighting. This is a fatal mistake, as the metric provides information about how well content and design are received by your target group - or not. What makes a good bounce rate? And why should the two values bounce rate and exit rate not be equated under any circumstances? We'll clear up typical misunderstandings for you and help you get the most out of your website!
What do we actually mean by the term "bounce rate"?
If you want to understand the bounce rate, you first need to understand how the value is calculated. Google itself provides information on this as follows:
"A bounce is a visit to a single page on your website. For Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as a session where only a single request is triggered to the Analytics server, such as when a user visits a single page on your website and then leaves the page without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server for that session."
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing visitors to a single page by all sessions and is expressed as a percentage. In summary, the metric is the percentage of all sessions on your website where users visited a page but only triggered a request to the Analytics server. For example, they did not visit another page, click on a call-to-action, or submit a contact form or similar.
From good and bad bounce rates - this is how you evaluate the key figure
As a website operator, it is important to understand what influence the bounce rate can have on your overall online marketing. A poor, i.e. very high, bounce rate can, for example, provide indications of technical errors or SEO potential, such as if the page load time is too long or it cannot be visited well on a mobile device.
Basically, one breaks down bounce rates as follows:
- 56 to 70% - high bounce rate
- 41 to 55% - average bounce rate
- 26 to 40% - low bounce rate
The value can be easily checked using a tracking tool, such as Google Analytics. However, the above values are only generally valid guidelines that may deviate from the norm depending on the individual case. So please consider these numbers only as a rough guideline and re-evaluate the scale for your own online presence.
Is a high bounce rate always an indication of a bad website?
As already mentioned, a high bounce rate, which would generally be described as bad, does not necessarily indicate a technical or content-related problem. If the success of your website is based on the fact that users look at various subpages, i.e. also at detailed product pages and possibly make a purchase, then a high bounce rate should of course be avoided and optimized at all costs. If, on the other hand, your website consists of only one page (one-pager) or if the content speaks for itself and it is not necessary for the user to visit further sub-pages (for example, when searching for information on a blog), high bounce rates are completely normal and no cause for concern. Even the home page usually has a significantly higher bounce rate than many other subpages and landing pages - only this is not designed to provide the user with all the information at a glance, but rather to navigate to the respective content.
Typical reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate are many and vary from website to website. The most common reasons include, for example:
- annoying pop-ups
- Poor usability
- too long loading times
- technical errors (e.g. 404 errors)
- non-responsive/mobile friendly pages
- Content without added value for the reader
What to do to improve the bounce rate?
Those who want to improve the bounce rate of their website have various starting points here. For example, it is possible to test content against each other after a detailed analysis and evaluate the respective results. It can also be helpful to rethink the placement and wording of call-to-actions and to prepare the content of the page in a more user-friendly way, for example by using videos or infographics.
Recheck individual pages with high bounce rate
Before you start your optimization efforts, you should first check which subpages of your website are affected by particularly high bounce rates. In most cases, the culprits can be quickly identified and used as a basis for improvement. You can find the relevant information in the analysis tool of your choice, for example via Analytics. Here you have the option of displaying the bounce rate per subpage or to view the bounce rate by channel. This is also an important indicator, because if, for example, only the users who come via the social media channels have a high bounce rate, it can be assumed that these interested parties simply do not find the information and content on the respective landing page that they expected.
Test and try out
Once you have identified the culprits for your poor bounce rates, the next step is to develop strategies for improving them. A/B tests have proven to be particularly useful for finding out whether content A or content B is better received by the target group. To do this, you simply create two different versions of a single subpage and show version A to one half and version B to the second. The results later speak for themselves as to which version has a more positive effect on the bounce rate.
Make the page reader and mobile friendly
Text block after text block - if you rely on a flood of information on your subpage that is neither appealing in terms of content nor graphics, you will never be able to enjoy low bounce rates. Spaces, subheadings or other structures that break up the text and make it easier to read have a much more inviting effect. Images, videos and the like can also help to keep interest in your page high and encourage users to read on - from all devices, of course! In order to achieve low bounce rates, the content should be easily accessible from smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Our Conclusion: An important value that needs to be understood
As you can see, the bounce rate is a value that should be given sufficient importance, but which must always be considered in the appropriate ratio and evaluated individually. A high bounce rate on a blog is less worrying than too many exits on product pages or landing pages. Here it is a matter of analyzing the problem, running tests and sustainably improving the bounce rate of these sub-pages!
Sources:
https://de.semrush.com/blog/absprungrate-verbessern/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409
What does the term bounce rate actually mean? And is a high bounce rate really always associated with poor website performance? Learn more!
Anyone who is concerned with their own website success will inevitably come across the term bounce rate. However, many marketers do not know how to interpret this value correctly or give it the wrong weighting. This is a fatal mistake, as the metric provides information about how well content and design are received by your target group - or not. What makes a good bounce rate? And why should the two values bounce rate and exit rate not be equated under any circumstances? We'll clear up typical misunderstandings for you and help you get the most out of your website!
What do we actually mean by the term "bounce rate"?
If you want to understand the bounce rate, you first need to understand how the value is calculated. Google itself provides information on this as follows:
"A bounce is a visit to a single page on your website. For Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as a session where only a single request is triggered to the Analytics server, such as when a user visits a single page on your website and then leaves the page without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server for that session."
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing visitors to a single page by all sessions and is expressed as a percentage. In summary, the metric is the percentage of all sessions on your website where users visited a page but only triggered a request to the Analytics server. For example, they did not visit another page, click on a call-to-action, or submit a contact form or similar.
From good and bad bounce rates - this is how you evaluate the key figure
As a website operator, it is important to understand what influence the bounce rate can have on your overall online marketing. A poor, i.e. very high, bounce rate can, for example, provide indications of technical errors or SEO potential, such as if the page load time is too long or it cannot be visited well on a mobile device.
Basically, one breaks down bounce rates as follows:
- 56 to 70% - high bounce rate
- 41 to 55% - average bounce rate
- 26 to 40% - low bounce rate
The value can be easily checked using a tracking tool, such as Google Analytics. However, the above values are only generally valid guidelines that may deviate from the norm depending on the individual case. So please consider these numbers only as a rough guideline and re-evaluate the scale for your own online presence.
Is a high bounce rate always an indication of a bad website?
As already mentioned, a high bounce rate, which would generally be described as bad, does not necessarily indicate a technical or content-related problem. If the success of your website is based on the fact that users look at various subpages, i.e. also at detailed product pages and possibly make a purchase, then a high bounce rate should of course be avoided and optimized at all costs. If, on the other hand, your website consists of only one page (one-pager) or if the content speaks for itself and it is not necessary for the user to visit further sub-pages (for example, when searching for information on a blog), high bounce rates are completely normal and no cause for concern. Even the home page usually has a significantly higher bounce rate than many other subpages and landing pages - only this is not designed to provide the user with all the information at a glance, but rather to navigate to the respective content.
Typical reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate are many and vary from website to website. The most common reasons include, for example:
- annoying pop-ups
- Poor usability
- too long loading times
- technical errors (e.g. 404 errors)
- non-responsive/mobile friendly pages
- Content without added value for the reader
What to do to improve the bounce rate?
Those who want to improve the bounce rate of their website have various starting points here. For example, it is possible to test content against each other after a detailed analysis and evaluate the respective results. It can also be helpful to rethink the placement and wording of call-to-actions and to prepare the content of the page in a more user-friendly way, for example by using videos or infographics.
Recheck individual pages with high bounce rate
Before you start your optimization efforts, you should first check which subpages of your website are affected by particularly high bounce rates. In most cases, the culprits can be quickly identified and used as a basis for improvement. You can find the relevant information in the analysis tool of your choice, for example via Analytics. Here you have the option of displaying the bounce rate per subpage or to view the bounce rate by channel. This is also an important indicator, because if, for example, only the users who come via the social media channels have a high bounce rate, it can be assumed that these interested parties simply do not find the information and content on the respective landing page that they expected.
Test and try out
Once you have identified the culprits for your poor bounce rates, the next step is to develop strategies for improving them. A/B tests have proven to be particularly useful for finding out whether content A or content B is better received by the target group. To do this, you simply create two different versions of a single subpage and show version A to one half and version B to the second. The results later speak for themselves as to which version has a more positive effect on the bounce rate.
Make the page reader and mobile friendly
Text block after text block - if you rely on a flood of information on your subpage that is neither appealing in terms of content nor graphics, you will never be able to enjoy low bounce rates. Spaces, subheadings or other structures that break up the text and make it easier to read have a much more inviting effect. Images, videos and the like can also help to keep interest in your page high and encourage users to read on - from all devices, of course! In order to achieve low bounce rates, the content should be easily accessible from smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Our Conclusion: An important value that needs to be understood
As you can see, the bounce rate is a value that should be given sufficient importance, but which must always be considered in the appropriate ratio and evaluated individually. A high bounce rate on a blog is less worrying than too many exits on product pages or landing pages. Here it is a matter of analyzing the problem, running tests and sustainably improving the bounce rate of these sub-pages!
Sources:
https://de.semrush.com/blog/absprungrate-verbessern/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409
What does the term bounce rate actually mean? And is a high bounce rate really always associated with poor website performance? Learn more!
Anyone who is concerned with their own website success will inevitably come across the term bounce rate. However, many marketers do not know how to interpret this value correctly or give it the wrong weighting. This is a fatal mistake, as the metric provides information about how well content and design are received by your target group - or not. What makes a good bounce rate? And why should the two values bounce rate and exit rate not be equated under any circumstances? We'll clear up typical misunderstandings for you and help you get the most out of your website!
What do we actually mean by the term "bounce rate"?
If you want to understand the bounce rate, you first need to understand how the value is calculated. Google itself provides information on this as follows:
"A bounce is a visit to a single page on your website. For Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as a session where only a single request is triggered to the Analytics server, such as when a user visits a single page on your website and then leaves the page without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server for that session."
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing visitors to a single page by all sessions and is expressed as a percentage. In summary, the metric is the percentage of all sessions on your website where users visited a page but only triggered a request to the Analytics server. For example, they did not visit another page, click on a call-to-action, or submit a contact form or similar.
From good and bad bounce rates - this is how you evaluate the key figure
As a website operator, it is important to understand what influence the bounce rate can have on your overall online marketing. A poor, i.e. very high, bounce rate can, for example, provide indications of technical errors or SEO potential, such as if the page load time is too long or it cannot be visited well on a mobile device.
Basically, one breaks down bounce rates as follows:
- 56 to 70% - high bounce rate
- 41 to 55% - average bounce rate
- 26 to 40% - low bounce rate
The value can be easily checked using a tracking tool, such as Google Analytics. However, the above values are only generally valid guidelines that may deviate from the norm depending on the individual case. So please consider these numbers only as a rough guideline and re-evaluate the scale for your own online presence.
Is a high bounce rate always an indication of a bad website?
As already mentioned, a high bounce rate, which would generally be described as bad, does not necessarily indicate a technical or content-related problem. If the success of your website is based on the fact that users look at various subpages, i.e. also at detailed product pages and possibly make a purchase, then a high bounce rate should of course be avoided and optimized at all costs. If, on the other hand, your website consists of only one page (one-pager) or if the content speaks for itself and it is not necessary for the user to visit further sub-pages (for example, when searching for information on a blog), high bounce rates are completely normal and no cause for concern. Even the home page usually has a significantly higher bounce rate than many other subpages and landing pages - only this is not designed to provide the user with all the information at a glance, but rather to navigate to the respective content.
Typical reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate are many and vary from website to website. The most common reasons include, for example:
- annoying pop-ups
- Poor usability
- too long loading times
- technical errors (e.g. 404 errors)
- non-responsive/mobile friendly pages
- Content without added value for the reader
What to do to improve the bounce rate?
Those who want to improve the bounce rate of their website have various starting points here. For example, it is possible to test content against each other after a detailed analysis and evaluate the respective results. It can also be helpful to rethink the placement and wording of call-to-actions and to prepare the content of the page in a more user-friendly way, for example by using videos or infographics.
Recheck individual pages with high bounce rate
Before you start your optimization efforts, you should first check which subpages of your website are affected by particularly high bounce rates. In most cases, the culprits can be quickly identified and used as a basis for improvement. You can find the relevant information in the analysis tool of your choice, for example via Analytics. Here you have the option of displaying the bounce rate per subpage or to view the bounce rate by channel. This is also an important indicator, because if, for example, only the users who come via the social media channels have a high bounce rate, it can be assumed that these interested parties simply do not find the information and content on the respective landing page that they expected.
Test and try out
Once you have identified the culprits for your poor bounce rates, the next step is to develop strategies for improving them. A/B tests have proven to be particularly useful for finding out whether content A or content B is better received by the target group. To do this, you simply create two different versions of a single subpage and show version A to one half and version B to the second. The results later speak for themselves as to which version has a more positive effect on the bounce rate.
Make the page reader and mobile friendly
Text block after text block - if you rely on a flood of information on your subpage that is neither appealing in terms of content nor graphics, you will never be able to enjoy low bounce rates. Spaces, subheadings or other structures that break up the text and make it easier to read have a much more inviting effect. Images, videos and the like can also help to keep interest in your page high and encourage users to read on - from all devices, of course! In order to achieve low bounce rates, the content should be easily accessible from smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Our Conclusion: An important value that needs to be understood
As you can see, the bounce rate is a value that should be given sufficient importance, but which must always be considered in the appropriate ratio and evaluated individually. A high bounce rate on a blog is less worrying than too many exits on product pages or landing pages. Here it is a matter of analyzing the problem, running tests and sustainably improving the bounce rate of these sub-pages!
Sources:
https://de.semrush.com/blog/absprungrate-verbessern/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409
What does the term bounce rate actually mean? And is a high bounce rate really always associated with poor website performance? Learn more!
Anyone who is concerned with their own website success will inevitably come across the term bounce rate. However, many marketers do not know how to interpret this value correctly or give it the wrong weighting. This is a fatal mistake, as the metric provides information about how well content and design are received by your target group - or not. What makes a good bounce rate? And why should the two values bounce rate and exit rate not be equated under any circumstances? We'll clear up typical misunderstandings for you and help you get the most out of your website!
What do we actually mean by the term "bounce rate"?
If you want to understand the bounce rate, you first need to understand how the value is calculated. Google itself provides information on this as follows:
"A bounce is a visit to a single page on your website. For Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as a session where only a single request is triggered to the Analytics server, such as when a user visits a single page on your website and then leaves the page without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server for that session."
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing visitors to a single page by all sessions and is expressed as a percentage. In summary, the metric is the percentage of all sessions on your website where users visited a page but only triggered a request to the Analytics server. For example, they did not visit another page, click on a call-to-action, or submit a contact form or similar.
From good and bad bounce rates - this is how you evaluate the key figure
As a website operator, it is important to understand what influence the bounce rate can have on your overall online marketing. A poor, i.e. very high, bounce rate can, for example, provide indications of technical errors or SEO potential, such as if the page load time is too long or it cannot be visited well on a mobile device.
Basically, one breaks down bounce rates as follows:
- 56 to 70% - high bounce rate
- 41 to 55% - average bounce rate
- 26 to 40% - low bounce rate
The value can be easily checked using a tracking tool, such as Google Analytics. However, the above values are only generally valid guidelines that may deviate from the norm depending on the individual case. So please consider these numbers only as a rough guideline and re-evaluate the scale for your own online presence.
Is a high bounce rate always an indication of a bad website?
As already mentioned, a high bounce rate, which would generally be described as bad, does not necessarily indicate a technical or content-related problem. If the success of your website is based on the fact that users look at various subpages, i.e. also at detailed product pages and possibly make a purchase, then a high bounce rate should of course be avoided and optimized at all costs. If, on the other hand, your website consists of only one page (one-pager) or if the content speaks for itself and it is not necessary for the user to visit further sub-pages (for example, when searching for information on a blog), high bounce rates are completely normal and no cause for concern. Even the home page usually has a significantly higher bounce rate than many other subpages and landing pages - only this is not designed to provide the user with all the information at a glance, but rather to navigate to the respective content.
Typical reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate are many and vary from website to website. The most common reasons include, for example:
- annoying pop-ups
- Poor usability
- too long loading times
- technical errors (e.g. 404 errors)
- non-responsive/mobile friendly pages
- Content without added value for the reader
What to do to improve the bounce rate?
Those who want to improve the bounce rate of their website have various starting points here. For example, it is possible to test content against each other after a detailed analysis and evaluate the respective results. It can also be helpful to rethink the placement and wording of call-to-actions and to prepare the content of the page in a more user-friendly way, for example by using videos or infographics.
Recheck individual pages with high bounce rate
Before you start your optimization efforts, you should first check which subpages of your website are affected by particularly high bounce rates. In most cases, the culprits can be quickly identified and used as a basis for improvement. You can find the relevant information in the analysis tool of your choice, for example via Analytics. Here you have the option of displaying the bounce rate per subpage or to view the bounce rate by channel. This is also an important indicator, because if, for example, only the users who come via the social media channels have a high bounce rate, it can be assumed that these interested parties simply do not find the information and content on the respective landing page that they expected.
Test and try out
Once you have identified the culprits for your poor bounce rates, the next step is to develop strategies for improving them. A/B tests have proven to be particularly useful for finding out whether content A or content B is better received by the target group. To do this, you simply create two different versions of a single subpage and show version A to one half and version B to the second. The results later speak for themselves as to which version has a more positive effect on the bounce rate.
Make the page reader and mobile friendly
Text block after text block - if you rely on a flood of information on your subpage that is neither appealing in terms of content nor graphics, you will never be able to enjoy low bounce rates. Spaces, subheadings or other structures that break up the text and make it easier to read have a much more inviting effect. Images, videos and the like can also help to keep interest in your page high and encourage users to read on - from all devices, of course! In order to achieve low bounce rates, the content should be easily accessible from smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Our Conclusion: An important value that needs to be understood
As you can see, the bounce rate is a value that should be given sufficient importance, but which must always be considered in the appropriate ratio and evaluated individually. A high bounce rate on a blog is less worrying than too many exits on product pages or landing pages. Here it is a matter of analyzing the problem, running tests and sustainably improving the bounce rate of these sub-pages!
Sources:
https://de.semrush.com/blog/absprungrate-verbessern/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409
Understanding and Improving Your Bounce Rates
What does the term bounce rate actually mean? And is a high bounce rate really always associated with poor website performance? Learn more!
Anyone who is concerned with their own website success will inevitably come across the term bounce rate. However, many marketers do not know how to interpret this value correctly or give it the wrong weighting. This is a fatal mistake, as the metric provides information about how well content and design are received by your target group - or not. What makes a good bounce rate? And why should the two values bounce rate and exit rate not be equated under any circumstances? We'll clear up typical misunderstandings for you and help you get the most out of your website!
What do we actually mean by the term "bounce rate"?
If you want to understand the bounce rate, you first need to understand how the value is calculated. Google itself provides information on this as follows:
"A bounce is a visit to a single page on your website. For Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as a session where only a single request is triggered to the Analytics server, such as when a user visits a single page on your website and then leaves the page without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server for that session."
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing visitors to a single page by all sessions and is expressed as a percentage. In summary, the metric is the percentage of all sessions on your website where users visited a page but only triggered a request to the Analytics server. For example, they did not visit another page, click on a call-to-action, or submit a contact form or similar.
From good and bad bounce rates - this is how you evaluate the key figure
As a website operator, it is important to understand what influence the bounce rate can have on your overall online marketing. A poor, i.e. very high, bounce rate can, for example, provide indications of technical errors or SEO potential, such as if the page load time is too long or it cannot be visited well on a mobile device.
Basically, one breaks down bounce rates as follows:
- 56 to 70% - high bounce rate
- 41 to 55% - average bounce rate
- 26 to 40% - low bounce rate
The value can be easily checked using a tracking tool, such as Google Analytics. However, the above values are only generally valid guidelines that may deviate from the norm depending on the individual case. So please consider these numbers only as a rough guideline and re-evaluate the scale for your own online presence.
Is a high bounce rate always an indication of a bad website?
As already mentioned, a high bounce rate, which would generally be described as bad, does not necessarily indicate a technical or content-related problem. If the success of your website is based on the fact that users look at various subpages, i.e. also at detailed product pages and possibly make a purchase, then a high bounce rate should of course be avoided and optimized at all costs. If, on the other hand, your website consists of only one page (one-pager) or if the content speaks for itself and it is not necessary for the user to visit further sub-pages (for example, when searching for information on a blog), high bounce rates are completely normal and no cause for concern. Even the home page usually has a significantly higher bounce rate than many other subpages and landing pages - only this is not designed to provide the user with all the information at a glance, but rather to navigate to the respective content.
Typical reasons for a high bounce rate
The reasons for a high bounce rate are many and vary from website to website. The most common reasons include, for example:
- annoying pop-ups
- Poor usability
- too long loading times
- technical errors (e.g. 404 errors)
- non-responsive/mobile friendly pages
- Content without added value for the reader
What to do to improve the bounce rate?
Those who want to improve the bounce rate of their website have various starting points here. For example, it is possible to test content against each other after a detailed analysis and evaluate the respective results. It can also be helpful to rethink the placement and wording of call-to-actions and to prepare the content of the page in a more user-friendly way, for example by using videos or infographics.
Recheck individual pages with high bounce rate
Before you start your optimization efforts, you should first check which subpages of your website are affected by particularly high bounce rates. In most cases, the culprits can be quickly identified and used as a basis for improvement. You can find the relevant information in the analysis tool of your choice, for example via Analytics. Here you have the option of displaying the bounce rate per subpage or to view the bounce rate by channel. This is also an important indicator, because if, for example, only the users who come via the social media channels have a high bounce rate, it can be assumed that these interested parties simply do not find the information and content on the respective landing page that they expected.
Test and try out
Once you have identified the culprits for your poor bounce rates, the next step is to develop strategies for improving them. A/B tests have proven to be particularly useful for finding out whether content A or content B is better received by the target group. To do this, you simply create two different versions of a single subpage and show version A to one half and version B to the second. The results later speak for themselves as to which version has a more positive effect on the bounce rate.
Make the page reader and mobile friendly
Text block after text block - if you rely on a flood of information on your subpage that is neither appealing in terms of content nor graphics, you will never be able to enjoy low bounce rates. Spaces, subheadings or other structures that break up the text and make it easier to read have a much more inviting effect. Images, videos and the like can also help to keep interest in your page high and encourage users to read on - from all devices, of course! In order to achieve low bounce rates, the content should be easily accessible from smartphones, tablets and desktops.
Our Conclusion: An important value that needs to be understood
As you can see, the bounce rate is a value that should be given sufficient importance, but which must always be considered in the appropriate ratio and evaluated individually. A high bounce rate on a blog is less worrying than too many exits on product pages or landing pages. Here it is a matter of analyzing the problem, running tests and sustainably improving the bounce rate of these sub-pages!
Sources:
https://de.semrush.com/blog/absprungrate-verbessern/
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409
