Bounce Rate

[pbryd]

I've just started using googles analytics and noticed the bounce rate %.

I'd imagine the lower the % the better.

Do you guys pay attention to the figures or simply ignore it?

 

[techtimmy]

It is a useful figure yo know. Especially when applied to individual pages. If everyone visits your site via a cetain page and keeps bounces away you know you need to make it a better page

 

[Skinner]

I post an Experiment on the bounce rate of one of my sites, where I got the bounce rate down to under 2-3% I think it was. Traffic was up, time on site was up, bandwidth was up, but revenue (other than PPV) stayed exactly the same.

Sticky doesn't always equate to sterling.

 

[Takwa]

I am guessing if you have a affiliate shop the higher the better?

 

[blether]

I'd imagine the lower the % the better.

It depends on the page in question. Taken in isolation bounce rate is completely meaningless.

If the visitor got what they came for on the landing page and left, a high bounce rate is a good thing. If on the other hand you're a retailer trying to persuade them to take an action beyond the landing page, it's a bad thing.

All analytics need to be taken in the context of the visitor, the page, how they arrived there, etc etc.

 

[Skinner]

Google don't count click offs as bounces, only where people view the page, then close it, go backwards, type a new address or do nothing.

So click-thru isn't a bounce.

 

[snooze]

I think bounce rate depend on the type of site e.g whether its a blog or something else.

I once read somewhere that a search might take some one to your site and if they just read the page and move from from your site and not another page within, then it will show a high bounce rate. So, the article's conclusion was that is why some sites split their pages so that they can get lower bounce rate.

Personally once visits are high, the sale are being made and the clicks are high I don't worry.

 

[amory]

It is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality - a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren't relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.