Is the bounce rate a critical factor/metric for your website? Do you know what it means? Through my work in SEO this topic has been always presented as an interesting area to explore as I can see there are several and different approaches that can help you to understand the significance and valuable information it provides
I always try to approach this topic from a customer’s perspective and try to understand consumer behaviour; my personal tactic when I do search over the internet tend to be quick, always trying to look for testimonials and basic information about the company and make an informed decision. I do not tend to navigate through the whole website; I look for the relevant information that will help me to make my decisions. So yes I bounce quickly if I do not find what I need or if I find something that I do not trust. Again that is my own approach and is always good to see how people search and tend to make their decision over the internet.
To understand the real meaning of “the bounce rate”, this cannot be taken as an absolute, it is essential to approach this metric from a more realistic standpoint. A very simple way of explaining it, it is the percentage of people who arrive at your website and leave without visiting another page. This metric was design to show you if you are attracting the right type of customers and if you are providing what they are looking for, that is why I think that sometimes there is no need to bring it down if you are acquiring the right customers.
It is also important to know the difference between bounce rate and exit rate, because sometimes this two are often confused. The exit rate is that percentage of people that exit your website what had visited previously other pages, while the bounce rate is leaving your site from the first page they land.
You may need to consider some factors to reduce your bounce rate, but again you need to understand that there are so many aspects that play a role, like industry, consumer behaviour, type of website, and so many more. Below you will see basic elements that can guide your evaluation to see how successful your website can be.
- Speed
- Content
- Design
- Mobile Usage
- Open External Links in new windows
- Navigation Menu
- Color Contrast
- Avoid pop ups
Having this is mind now you are going to be able to determine if you are or aren’t providing a good visitor experience on your website and if you are offering what customer needs when they search your website. Always think from consumer standpoint so you can have a realistic approach and be able to recognize if your website is really offering what it needs to offer.