Top 3 Ideas to Reduce Your Website's Bounce Rate

What do a ball and a dissatisfied site visitor have in common? They both “bounce”.

Joking aside, every tip and trick in the SEO playbook is meant to engender several key results. Other than propelling you up the SERPs, you want to do one thing lest you prefer the label of “clickbait” — keeping users on your site.

You want users to stay. In reality, so does Google. To see how well you do in this enterprise, you want to keep track of one user-directed metric. This metric is none other than the bounce rate.

The bounce rate is a representation of not only how attractive your site is along with its content. It also gives signals to everyone (Google included) of your site’s value and how well it delivers what users want.

How do you reduce your bounce rates? Read on to learn more!

What Does Bounce Rate Mean in Google Analytics?

For a comprehensive yet succinct definition of bounce rates, we turn to the source — the boys and girls of Google.

A bounce rate is the percentage of people on average who visit a webpage then leave as soon as they get to the site’s page. It is calculated by taking the number of “exits” from a page and dividing it by the total visits to the site’s page.

In a nutshell, for Google Analytics and the rest of us, here is how to calculate bounce rate:

The number of visits to your site that never get past one page divided by the total number of visits to your site

Luckily, we have Google Analytics to run the numbers on our behalf. How to check website bounce rate has been made easy by Google Analytics. It appears on the Site Overview section of your Analytics dashboard.

People may “bounce” from your site for a variety of reasons. These reasons may be related or unrelated to your marketing or site. Stick around to see what factors can contribute to your site’s bounce rates.

Why Do People Leave a Site After Visiting One Page?

According to Search Engine Journal, users can leave a site for a variety of reasons. Now, before getting into some of the reasons, know this — not all bounces are bad.

Think about it.

For example, if you have 10 users who completed your online form or called the number at the top of your page, did you convert? The answer would be “yes”. However, can the quick completion of a form also lead to them having no other use for your other content? “The answer is also a resounding “yes”.

In the above-mentioned scenario, the bounce came after a conversion. Hence, it is no longer something to be concerned about.

What you should really be concerned about is when quick site exits impede your conversion efforts. In this section, we will go over some of the factors that lead to those detrimental bounces:

#1. Slow Site Loading

Loading speed can make or break your site in the eyes of visitors. And, if it has this effect on visitors, Google will take notice.

True enough, SOASTA in cooperation with Google found something about bounce rates and loading speed in 2017. According to the two parties, the risk for having a high bounce rate shoots up by 32% for a site that takes three seconds to load.

#2. Faulty Site Navigation

Sometimes, users can get intimidated by the layout of your site. If navigation is not 100% clear from the get-go, many of your users may leave your site. After all, you will be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to spend too much time figuring out which button to click.

#3. Subpar Content and Misleading Meta Tags

You may have an e-commerce site that has a blog section. If so, do not stress too much if your long-form content does not get enough attention. On the other hand, poor content on all pages can scream “clickbait”.

Also, nothing indicates clickbait content more than a misleading title or meta description.

3 Things You Can Do to Reduce Bounce Rate

Without further ado, here are three ways you can keep your bounce rates to a minimum:

#1. Speed Things Up A Bit

No, we do not mean work on reducing your bounce rates ASAP — although it is a good idea. We are referring to your site speed.

Improving your site’s page loading speed is the first step to keeping your visitors in-site. When one page takes too long to load, your site visitors may either turn off their browsers. As well, many may type a different site in annoyance or “click back” to the SERPs.

Speeding up your site is on the technical side of SEO. However, you can still do simple things like using high-resolution media like videos and media carefully.

#2. Improve Your Site’s UI

Along with improving your site’s speed, you need to take a look at your site's user interface. An intuitive UI allows your user to have a positive user experience. And, as Small Biz Genius points out, this can go a long way in reducing your bounce rates.

Everything from your page’s layout to its navigation will come into play. Site pages with confusing navigation and cluttered layouts will discourage the average user.

Improving your site UI may require some web design skills. Here are some ways you make life easier for your users:

• Make buttons easy to spot
• Make your landing page just a click away
• Do not overdo media on each page (this can bombard your user and slow down the page loading speed
• Do not overdo buttons on a single page

#3. Invest in Quality Content Writing

Regardless of what type of site you have, content will always be a must. Unless you are already a writer par excellence, content writing is something worth your investment.

Your content writers need to work hand-in-hand with your marketing and SEO specialist. Written content needs to be:

• Original (hello, Copyscape!)
• Well-researched and linked
• Answers commonly asked questions

Written content is not just your blog post. It is also your meta tags like titles and meta descriptions. These need to be written in a way that leads your users to the content they want to consume.

Do You Need Help Keeping Users Engaged? Don’t Bounce Yet!

Keeping bounce rates low will maximize your chances of ranking and making sales and conversions. With the tips mentioned earlier, lowering your bounce rates can be straightforward.

If you need help attracting and keeping visitors on your site, don’t worry. We at Agency Jet have specialized in small business site developments that keep users glued.

Get in touch with us at Agency Jet and take those trampolines away from your users!