If there’s one SEO metric to keep an eye on, it’s the bounce rate. It tells you, in an instant, whether your strategy to gain traffic and conversions is working or not.
But what is a good bounce rate?
Google’s definition of a bounce rate doesn’t show the whole truth. They define it as the percentage of single pageview visitors on a website.
You can say that the real definition is the percentage of visitors that conduct only a single interaction with your website. This is mostly on the initial pageview since they didn’t bother going anywhere else.
You can also define a bounce rate as the percentage of people who enter your site and then leave before clicking on anything or visiting any other page.
What Is a Good Bounce Rate?
This is also tricky because there’s a good type of bounce rate and a bad type. The bad type is the most common – it’s the bounce rate showing how many people came, didn’t find what they wanted, and left before digging in further.
The good type of bounce rate reflects visitors doing all their transactions on the initial page view. If a customer landed on your site and found the information they needed on the same page they entered on, that’s a good bounce rate.
Good Analytics can’t distinguish the good from the bad so there’s no real “good” bounce rate. The one takeaway is that even good bounces are still failures. Visitors still leave without further exploring your site.
On average, you’ll want to aim for a bounce rate between 25% and 30%. That’s the most realistic goal to shoot for. When people ask what is a good bounce rate, that’s the common answer you’ll get.
So how do you get those numbers?
Show Content First
Around 80% of online visitors will only look at the upper content of a webpage. That means only 20% will go below the fold. It’s been this way with newspapers too: most people only read the headlines but never bother to read the whole article.
You can argue that good content will motivate visitors to keep reading below the fold. That’s a whole different topic to discuss. What you should take away here is that most people on the Internet have a short attention span.
To reduce your bounce rate, you need to keep their attention within a short span of time. In the few seconds that they spend on the initial page, you have to show some content. It has to be content they want or else they’ll bounce back out.
Build Internal Links
One good way of keeping people in without shoving gateways they need to click to leave is to build more internal links. These are links leading to other pages of your site. These can lead to further blog posts or product pages.
Don’t get sloppy with this, though. Don’t try to rush it through. Choose the right anchor links and make sure you place internal links only when they fit the content of the page.
With the right internal linking strategy, visitors will keep digging in and discover more content. This can decrease your bounce rate in a significant way.
Minimalist Web Design
When tackling what is a good bounce rate, your visuals will play a large factor in determining the answer.
A cluttered website is ugly to look at. It’s discouraging and it also ruins any sense of navigation. Most visitors won’t find what they want or navigate around your site if it’s too messy to click through.
Focus on a minimalist design that emphasizes the most important elements. Use appropriate text sizes, showcase images of your products or services, and don’t fill every blank corner with ads.
Add Images and Videos
Keeping people’s attention is easier when you use visual stimulation. Images, videos, and audio files are all effective content to engage readers. Breaking up long blocks of text with an image or graph can keep visitors on your site.
Of course, at the end of the good content is the name of the game. A fancy web design and plenty of videos won’t retain visitors if your blog posts and other main content are not enticing.
You can work with a content marketing specialist to ensure your content and the images or videos you add to it complement each other.
Optimize User Experience
Keep in mind that 77% of adults in the US own a smartphone. Most people prefer to browse, shop, and use social media on their mobile devices these days. If your site can’t keep up then your bounce rate will increase.
This means you need to adapt. Implement a responsive website design.
You also need to keep visitors’ attention. Make sure your web pages don’t take too long to load. Always run quality checks to find any broken links or pages that don’t function so you can fix them as soon as possible.
Appropriate Text Size
Since most people use their smartphones nowadays, you need to make sure your site features big text that looks appealing on a small screen. Visitors will bounce right out if they can’t read small text. It makes it hard to find something specific.
There’s no specific formula to figure out the right text size. The only way to determine what works for your website is to experiment. See how your pages look when viewed on a large desktop monitor and on different mobile devices.
Lower Your Bounce Rate Now
What is a good bounce rate? In general, aim below the 40% mark. Go too low, like below 10%, and there might be something fishy going on with your metrics or visitor behavior.
These tips will help you reach those target numbers.
Still confused on where to start? Don’t know if you’re hitting the right bounce rates for the kind of online business you run?
We’re always available when you contact us. We offer top of the line SEO and digital marketing services to suit your needs. Count on us to help you get back on track.
