Proven Ways to Reduce Your Bounce Rate
It is often said that every challenge or sudden set back can also be an opportunity. This is the simple principle of coming back harder, of fixing the problem, and fixing it well enough to end up with a better situation than before.
This principle can certainly be applied to bounce rate. If you have a high bounce rate – which means people clicking onto your site and then clicking away without doing anything further – then this is certainly a fundamental problem. The things you do to fix it, however, can all be serious improvements to your site.
What is Bounce Rate?
It is worth defining bounce rate more exactly, as this gives some indication regarding how to fix it. Google defines bounce rate accordingly:
“In Analytics, a bounce is calculated specifically as a session that triggers only a single request to the Analytics server […]”
So, a single “bounce” is also a single session on your webpage. That’s a pretty poor excuse for a session; briefly glancing at a page and then clicking off it will not be conducive to any sort of success for your site.
This is all pretty simple to understand, but while the “what” might be easier to grasp, the “why” of a high bounce rate can be a bit more complicated.
What Cause a High Bounce Rate?
The first thing to note is that there is no one cause for a bounce rate. Sacramento website design company Peak Design, advise that you need to know why you have a high bounce rate before you can fix it.
Here are two things that could be causing your high bounce rate:
A Negative User Experience
It stands to reason that if a visitor isn’t impressed with your site, does not get the sense they will find what they’re looking for, finds it difficult to navigate, or even simply doesn’t like the design, then they will be more likely to click away without exploring further.
A Positive User Experience
But how can a positive user experience cause a high bounce rate? Well, imagine a user finds your site and finds the information they need immediately. They will note the info and then click off the site. In this way, good SEO can also cause a high bounce rate, with users finding the exact page they need after a single Google search.
Ways to Reduce Bounce Rate
Pay Attention to Load Time
Sometimes users click away because everything on the page doesn’t load quick enough. You should take a note of your load time and do something about it if it doesn’t load in 2 seconds maximum.
Add a Site Search Function
So, a user lands on your page, and does not see what they are looking for. At this point they might bounce – unless you have a page search bar clearly displayed, in which case their next move might be to search there for what they need.
Optimize For Mobile Users
Considering that more people browse the web these days with a mobile device rather than a computer, this is exceptionally important. Web design and load time are the two most important things. If your site doesn’t look good on a mobile, or if it takes longer to load on a mobile, then visitors are likely to bounce.
Bounce rate is a complicated matter, if only because so many individual things could be causing it. Improving your site in each of those areas, however, will always be a good thing – even if you are not addressing the specific cause of your high bounce rate.
