If you monitor your websites performance chances are you have run into the dreaded bounce rate. Bounce Rate is defined as the number of visitors on your website who navigate away from your site after viewing only one page. This could be a good or a bad thing depending on the goals of your website. We get a lot of calls that start off: “Why is the bounce rate so incredibly high? Is my site broken? How can I fix it?” Well the answer is usually “No the site is not broken but let me take a look at it and see if there is anything we can do to drive customers into more of your website.”
What is a healthy bounce rate?
Google says that a bounce rate of 40-60% would be normal for an average website. A 40-60% bounce rate sounds incredibly high, but if you think about the structure of the website and how you present the information on the site. If your goal is to have someone contact you by phone and your phone number is right on the top of the first page then bounce rate won’t be so critical. If you have a site that relies on customers digging into it a bit deeper you may want to rethink a few things.
Not all bounces are bad
1. Visitors to your site aren’t interested in your product or service
This is a common occurrence. There are a lot of people out there surfing for lots of different things, so to think that you’d be able to satisfy everyone’s need for a product or service is somewhat foolish. Visitors will bounce regardless of what you do.
2.Visitors find the info that they need
Some visitors may only need to view one page on your site to find exactly what it is that they’re looking for. They may be looking for a phone number or an address, hours of operation or an employee’s name. Maybe your site is only one page, which makes the bounce rate of your site extremely high, but that’s by design.
3. Visitors can’t find the info that they’re looking for
If visitors can’t find a piece of information or are confused by the site’s navigation or design, they’ll bounce. It today’s world of endless results for any search, visitors can easily move on to the next result and hopefully find what they need.
In Conclusion
If you have any questions about bounce rate or how your website is performing feel free to contact me and I will take a look at your website and make sure you are getting the most out of it or if there are things that can be done to improve it.