A common term in the world of SEO is bounce rate. The bounce rate is the percentage of bounced visits to your website. In other words, the percentage of users visiting a website then leave the site instead of continuing to view other pages in the website. For example, bounce rate is when a user goes to the home page and stays there for a couple minutes then leaves. Another example is when someone goes directly to a reference page within a site from a search engine, leaves the page open while using other pages within a web browser, and the session times out.
The Big Question
Many website owners are asking the question: What is a good bounce rate for a high ranking website? This is an important concern and it is a big deal for people looking to improve their websites. Although there is no such thing as a perfect bounce rate there are a few general statistics to determine the success of a website.
- Excellent: 50% or less
- Good: 60-80%
- Fair: 70-80%
- Poor: 80% or higher
Industry Examples
Bounce rate is difficult to measure success. A website may receive half a million hits per week and have a bounce rate of 80%. Websites revolving around entertainment, news, and sports are likely to have a lower bounce rate, while website that have a specific action like weather will have a higher bounce rate.
- Retail Sites: 20-40%
- Simple Landing Pages: 70-90%
- Services or FAQ Sites: 10-30%
- Content Websites: 40-60%
- Lead Generation: 30-50%
Improving Bounce Rate
The Effects on Bounce Rate
- Pop ups, surveys, video streaming
- Pages ranking higher for irrelevant keywords
- Audience type
- Design of landing page
- Ad and landing page messages
- Emails and newsletters
- Load time of page
- Links to external sites
- Purpose of Page
How to Improving Bounce Rate
- Maintain high rankings for branded terms
- Provide relevant content
- Build clear navigation path
- Link to glossary page
- Use search function prominently
- Speed up pageload
- Get rid of pop-up ads
- Minimize external links
Keep in Mind
Bounce rate is not something to worry about unless the percentage suddenly rises. This is a common occurrence if the website is redesigned.