Internet Marketing Tycoon

**cyberking12** · 04-29-2011, 03:54 AM

My site bounce rate is about 30% and I think that is ok.
I was reading an article that basically said that anything over 35% was worrying.

I tend to disagree with this especially for informational sites as people may just come find what they are looking for a click out.

What are your bounce rates and thoughts on the the importance of bounce rates?

**kevoh99** · 04-29-2011, 04:25 AM

Yes anything below 35% is not bad

**chrishirst** · 04-29-2011, 07:01 AM

Bounce rate is a totally meaningless metric unless you quantify it.

for natural or "organic" search:
with a search engine 100% "bounce" rate would be a total success.

For a lead generator page, a MFA page or any other kind of advert loaded page a "bounce" rate of LESS than 90% would be a abject failure.

Looking at "bounce" as a useful metric is ONLY required on paid advertising landing pages where you are measuring the effectiveness of an advertising campaign and the keywords/ key phrases used.

**pararudalf** · 04-29-2011, 07:35 AM

My site bounce rate is below 40.

**chrishirst** · 04-29-2011, 07:40 AM

Is that on all pages, some pages or just the one????

**marknel** · 02:50 AM

The lower the bounce rate the better job the site is doing to keep users engaged. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert.

**chrishirst** · 03:29 AM

Quote:

The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert.

But with a compelling landing you DON'T want them to stay on your site that is NOT the intention of "landing pages".

What you want is them to LEAVE the page by using the "Buy Now" button, the "Sign up HERE" link or by clicking an advertising link, that way YOU are going to get PAID for that visitor.

If you had a real shop in the High Street what would you prefer:

A visitor that wandered around the shop, picking things up, asking you the price then putting it down again for twenty minutes and leaving without a purchase?

OR

A visitor that came in the shop, picked an item up, and said "I'll have this" and gave you the money for it?

NOW what's your answer?

100% "bounce" rate with a Kerching!

or

0 "bounce" rate with an empty cash drawer?

SO! Do you want browsers or buyers?

**marknel** · 05-08-2011, 07:30 AM

If visitors arrive and do not find information relevant to what they are looking for then those people are likely to leave the site. There should be less external links, so that there are fewer opportunities for visitors to leave..like mentioned above.

**chrishirst** · 05-08-2011, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marknel

If visitors arrive and do not find information relevant to what they are looking for then those people are likely to leave the site. There should be less external links, so that there are fewer opportunities for visitors to leave..like mentioned above.

Oh Please! Don't talk such twaddle (Google it). If visitors are going to leave your piece of crap page, they are going to leave using the "back button" or by closing the browser. Having "less external links" (less than what, by the way?) is NOT going to change anything.

Though your post is another example of how "bounce rate" is completely meaningless and very much mis-understood.

Just because Google Analytics shows a value for it doesn't mean it is of any use to you!

**rolda hayes** · 05-09-2011, 06:31 PM

The more useful "Green Bounce Rate"

**arunthe** · 05-18-2011, 04:58 AM

Hi
Your bounce rate is a term used in the analysis of site usage to represent the percentage of the first visitors who visit a new site, leaving yours. In a perfect world you this number to be as low as possible.

**chrishirst** · 05-18-2011, 05:37 AM

Quote:

In a perfect world you this number to be as low as possible

Why?

.......

**dhaval2006indlx** · 05-18-2011, 06:11 AM

My site's bounce rate is 38% i dont know weather its good or not... but i can see its decreasing day by day...

**edgray** · 05-18-2011, 06:47 AM

As Chris pointed out, Bounce Rate on it's own is a totally useless metric.

It only makes sense in reference to the traffic source.

For example, direct traffic to my blog has a far lower bounce rate than the traffic coming from site referrals.

This tells me that maybe I'm posting links in the wrong places....

Overall, my blog has an average bounce rate of 46%.
My bounce rate from site referrals varies from 62.50% to 100% depending on the site.
My bounce rate from google is 40%
My bounce rate from direct traffic is 45%

Seems like my best visitors come from Google. What does this tell me I should be doing?

**chrishirst** · 05-18-2011, 07:26 AM

Good post.

That's how "bounce rate" needs to be analysed.

Also it is a per page metric and can be used right down to anchor text or "keyword" level.

By determining the bounce rate from referrals and tracking back to the search phrase used for SE referrals or the anchor text in the clicked link, you can determine a "quality level" of the traffic from each source, which can be used to refine your promotional efforts.

Another meaningless metric also comes into play here, the "time on page" and in an ideal world you would like to know what "action" the visitor took to leave the page.
"time on page" is useful if you have an informative page and want the visitor to read it before exiting, and of course if it is a sales or a "squeeze" page knowing the time it took before leaving via the "get it now" route can tell you just how persuasive your page is, if they arrive and leave via some other route you may have "overdone" the pitch.

Site log analysis of using Google analytics isn't simply about looking at the raw numbers, you need to know what your goals are for EVERY page and use the data to see if you are reaching those targets and if not, use it to find out why not.

**devashishseo** · 05-20-2011, 08:31 AM

Our website bounce rate is always between 30 to 40.

**stewartice** · 05-25-2011, 09:50 AM

OMG my bounce rate is 80 % . But never the less I still get huge traffic for long tail keywords !

**edgray** · 05-25-2011, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stewartice

OMG my bounce rate is 80 % . But never the less I still get huge traffic for long tail keywords !

what good is your traffic if you're losing 80% of your viewers straight away?

**chrishirst** · 05-25-2011, 05:31 PM

Could be wonderful if they all leave via an advert, that would be an 80% conversion rate.

**arunthe** · 05-26-2011, 02:27 AM

Well I have checked on google analytics then I found it is 50.79%. But last month it is near 80%.