When it comes to controlling your online business and the different online marketing campaigns that you have launched, it is essential to analyze the metrics. These are the ones that will tell you how your site is working, what effect campaigns have, and how users respond to them. In this article, we are going to explain in a simple way what this bounce rate is, how to interpret it, and the measures you should take to improve it.
What Does Bounce Rate Mean?
Although the name is already indicative enough, let us start by defining the concept. A “bounce” is when a user enters your website and leaves without having visited any other page (without clicking). It is a metric that you will obtain with tools such as Google Analytics and that you must study both at the general level (the average) and on each particular page. If you have a 50% bounce rate, it means that you’re average. If it goes over 60%, you should start investigating. However, be careful, because it is an investigation that could be misleading.
Fixing the Problem
You will never get the 0% rebound. There will always be someone who clicks on your link by mistake and decides to leave the website as soon as they enter. You should improve that rate as much as possible, and correct what seems to be malfunctioning. To figure this out, there are some questions you should ask:
Ask yourself some questions:
Does your page load the same in all browsers? Check the bounce rate from each browser, lest it works great in Explorer and clicks on Safari, or Chrome, or Firefox, or the other way around.
How long does it take to load?
One of the most important reasons why a user leaves a website is due to too long loading times. There are ways to check how long the pages take to load.
Are you putting up other obstacles in navigation?
If a user enters a page and the first thing that comes out is an image that takes time to disappear, they will surely leave. If a user was looking for something on your page and cannot find it at a glance, they can search and search until they find it, but most likely they will also leave. Make your website user-friendly and easy to navigate with no guesswork.
Does your content correspond to user expectations?
If you put an ad promising something, and when they enter your website, what was promised does not exist (or is not seen when entering), do not expect a low bounce rate. They already searched, and with one click they found you. If you make them look, again … they will leave.
Do you guide them through related content?
Internal links are the circulatory system of your website, so you should have a good network of links in the right places with the right anchor text. You have to take that person by the hand and guide them where you want them to go.
Conclusion
Only by answering these questions will you have an approximate idea of why people leave your website, and therefore, know how to improve the bounce rate. However, they are not the only issues to consider. So if you have already tried all of that and your bounce rate is still painfully high, it is best that you go to a professional search engine optimization company to know exactly what the fault is.