Have you ever heard of the term bounce rate? If not, you're missing out on a crucial component of website analytics. No need to worry because we've got your back! In this article, we'll dive into what bounce rate means. When a visitor lands on your website but doesn't interact with it and leaves, that's considered a bounce. We can know the bounce rate when we calculate how many people landed on your website and how many left. Now, let's understand this with the help of an example. Suppose you are searching for eggplant recipes on search engines. 

When you get your results, you click on a link and land on the page. However, for some reason, you didn't find it suitable for you and left the page. So it is called the bounce rate or drop-off rate. It shows that your website is lacking engagement, and not many people are interested in your website. 

Good Bounce Rate

Well, no fixed drop-off rate can be considered good or bad. Studies have shown that drop rates can differ based on the industry and traffic sources. 

_{Source: CXL}

The above picture shows that blog pages have a high drop-off rate while service sites have a low rate. But why? Well, let's take the first example before. 

When you have got a perfect eggplant recipe, what will you do? You read the recipe, try it, and then leave the page. In this case, you don't want to explore further, fill out a form, or do other interactions. 

When you get what you need, you will leave the website. That is why blog pages have a high drop-off rate. 

_{Source: Semrush}

In the picture, you have seen that email marketing has a low drop-off rate while the display of advertisements has a high rate. Hence, we can't claim what bounce rate is good and what is bad. If you have a high drop-off rate, more than 55%, your website is not good enough for engagement. 

Why People Bounce From Your Website?

If you are having a high drop-off rate, then it's important to know why it is so. There can be various reasons readers are not engaging on your page. They are as follows, 

Slow Loading Website 

Put yourself in the shoes of a reader. Would you like to wait forever for a website to load, or would you rather go with a site that opens up instantly? The answer is clear - a site that loads quickly will undoubtedly attract more readers.

Not Mobile Friendly 

Mobile phones work as a little world in our pockets in this era. We can do whatever we want to do from our phones. Whether ordering pizza, shopping online, playing games or anything else you can think of. 

So, if your website is not mobile-friendly and doesn't work properly on phones, no doubt people will leave your site. Knowing this, search engines like Google use mobile-friendliness as a criterion to rank a website. And if your website is not mobile-friendly, it will make your viewers bounce back and lower your ranking. 

Poorly Optimized Content 

As a reader, what will you look for after landing on a web page? That's pretty simple to guess. It's the content. And if your content is not good enough, then it is not difficult to guess what will happen. Your readers will leave your page and go somewhere else. 

Bad Internal Linking Structure 

Another reason why people are not interacting on your website is the bad internal linking structure. Generally, when a person lands on the first page of your website, he may want to explore more. And he can do so by the internal links you have provided. Readers will not interact with your website if your internal links are not good, broken, or disproportionate. 

Broken Links From Another Site 

When a website includes a link to your website on its page, readers can click on it and visit your website. However, visitors may leave your website immediately if the link is outdated or broken. Long Forms 

Some sites ask viewers to fill out a survey form, also considered an interaction. As a reader, would you enjoy reading long-form content? Well, for sure, you don't want to waste your time filing long forms. That's why you won't be able to interact on your website if you provide a long survey form to fill out. 

Can Bounce Rate Affect Your Ranking?

Well, this is not a proven fact, and we can't say that you will have a low ranking if you have a high drop-off rate. Since these two are not directly connected, Google also states that it doesn't use drop-off rates to rank websites. However, it's an important metric, and we can't deny that. 

So, if you have a high drop-off rate and lower ranking on search engines, it always means they are connected. What can cause a lower ranking is the reason behind the high drop-off rate. 

For example, if you have a high drop-off rate because of bad internal linking, low-quality content, or slow website loading speed. Then certainly, they are why you are ranking low on search engine result pages. 

Bounce Rate vs Exit Rate

While discussing the drop-off rate, we should also share a few words on the exit rate. To understand what an exit rate is, let's take an example. Suppose a person landed on your website. Now, through linking, he went to another page by an internal link. After landing on that page, instead of spending time, he left the page. 

This is called the exit rate, and it encompasses various things. First, it is not a bounce because that person landed on your website. It is just that he left another page on your website. So, when he leaves the second page of your website, it will increase the exit rate. 

Bounce Rate Formula 

_{Source: Databox}

Now, how to know your bounce rate and exit rate. Well, there are formulas through which you can calculate both. 

You must divide the single-page visits by the number of people landing on your website to get your drop-off rate. This will tell you the bounce rate of your web pages. To get the exit rate, you need to divide the total visits of a page by the total exits from a page.

How to Improve Your Bounce Rate?

Now we know the bounce rate and why it is important for your website. We have also discussed what are the reasons for your high drop-off rate. Now, we shall discuss how you can fix these issues to improve your drop-off rate. 

Fast Loading Website

If your website is slow, there could be multiple reasons behind it. One of the reasons could be the images not being optimized, too much flash content, or any other issues. Improving your website's loading time is crucial to reduce the drop-off rate. To achieve this, you must identify why your website is slow and take the necessary steps to fix the issue.

Make Mobile-friendly Website 

Above, we have discussed that mobile phones are essential to our lives. Now, almost everyone uses search engines on their phones. If you make your website mobile-friendly and optimize it for mobiles, you can engage more people. 

This will not only improve your drop-off rate but also your rankings on search engines.  

Optimize Your Content 

People often leave a website when they click on a link and find the content different from the keyword used. Additionally, they will likely leave the website if the content is of poor quality. So, optimizing your content and making it high-quality can improve the drop-off rate. 

Improve Internal Linking Structure

To fix the issue of bad internal linking, you need to know which links are bad and which are good. If there is any broken internal link, you need to remove that. 

Also, you can restructure your internal linking structure and then spread your internal links in proportion. 

Fix Broken Links to Other Websites 

If any website has linked to your website long ago, then those links may be broken or old. So now, whenever someone clicks on those broken links, they will see an error on your website and back off. 

This will increase your drop-off rate. You can ask those websites linked to you to add new links or remove the broken ones. 

FAQs

Q. Is 15% a good bounce rate? 

Well, there is not a perfect answer to what is a good bounce rate. It depends on your industry or the traffic source you use to attract your audience. 

Q. How to calculate the bounce rate? 

Calculating the drop-off rate is very easy. There is a formula by which you can calculate the drop-off rate of your website pages. Also, various tools are available to tell you the drop-off rate of your website pages. 

Q. Can I use Google Analytics for Bounce Rate? 

Yes, you can use Google Analytics to calculate drop-off rates. There are two options for using Google Analytics, free and paid, so that you can choose one according to your budget and needs. 

Q. What is a negative bounce rate? 

A negative drop-off rate means many people landed on your site and left it. It also shows the minimum engagement of your website.

Q. What to do in case of a high bounce rate? 

If you have a high drop-off rate, you need to check the reason behind it. Once you know the reason, you can take appropriate measures to fix the issue. 

Q. Does a high bounce rate mean a low conversion rate? 

If a reader lands on your website but does not interact, how can he be converted? So, automatically, a high drop-off rate means a low conversion rate. 

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen what a bounce rate is and how good or bad it is for your website. If you have a low drop-off rate, it's good to indicate that your UX, website design and content are well-optimized. 

On the other hand, a high rate shows that your website is not good enough to engage viewers, and you need to improve it. However, in all cases, viewers not engaging with your website is not bad. We have seen that even if they are not clicking any link on your page or doing anything else, it doesn't mean they are engaged. 

In numerous cases, when people get what they are looking for on a page, they don't need to go to any other page. While it can count as a drop-off rate, it's not bad. Engaging your readers is crucial to your success. You risk losing interest if your writing fails to capture their attention. Take the time to identify and address any issues to ensure your readers stay interested and engaged.