Website Bounce Rates: What is Too High?

<h1>Website Bounce Rates: What is Too High?</h1>Author: <a title="Darren Kincaid" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/darren-kincaid/85056.htm">Darren Kincaid</a> A colleague recently asked me what I thought about a 44.82% bounce rate, if it seemed high, and if it could cause suspicion for advertisers.  A "bounce" occurs when a web site visitor enters a particular page and then leaves the site without visiting any other pages before a specified session-timeout occurs.  In actuality, the bounce rate can be quite arbitrary depending on the website. For some, a bounce rate of 44% is quite high. I have a client who sells modular homes and she has a bounce rate of about 15%. If she goes up to 20%, she starts panicking.   Another client who sells recycling containers once gave me a bonus when I got his bounce rate under 50%. It was previously about 65% and I saved him about $550/month.   Still another client, a dryer vent cleaning specialist for whom I'm just doing SEO work, has a bounce rate of about 65%. Here's the reason: he's a local business whose site is so well optimized, it comes up for searches all over the country. When they see that he only does business in Hampton Roads, they leave. His bounce rate for local traffic is much lower.  However, my colleague has a client who is experiencing a 44% bounce rate with a local news site and is concerned that this number is not good for advertisers.   This probably is true, but the website analytics would have to be analyzed to know for sure. It could be that most visitors are clicking on a story they Googled and then left after reading it. A high bounce rate on Google referrals would confirm that. For my colleague, a close look at page popularity could actually reveal an opportunity to convince advertisers to invest more advertising on the top 5 pages--prime real estate if the pages are getting lots of traffic.  The key is website conversions.  If the site is converting a fair portion of its traffic, a high bounce rate is less important.  It's even less important if those conversions are turning into high revenue.  For example, if a real estate agent is spending $1000 per month on paid search marketing and turning that into $30,000 in profit, a bounce rate of 60% is irrelevant.  The best approach is to look at it holistically.  Baseline the bounce rate, analyze the data, set a goal, and work to lower it.  Your site analytics will reveal many important factors that will tell you where you are wasting money or where you are missing the target.About the Author: Darren Kincaid, a WSI SEO Expert, provides top quality but affordable website design, search engine optimization (SEO), internet marketing, pay-per-click (PPC), web hosting, and business management solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses in Virginia, the United States, and around the world. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wsiSEOexpert.com">http://www.wsiSEOexpert.com</a>Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/website-bounce-rates-what-is-too-high-606314.html" title="Website Bounce Rates: What is Too High?">Website Bounce Rates: What is Too High?</a>

A colleague recently asked me what I thought about a 44.82% bounce rate, if it seemed high, and if it could cause suspicion for advertisers.

A "bounce" occurs when a web site visitor enters a particular page and then leaves the site without visiting any other pages before a specified session-timeout occurs.

In actuality, the bounce rate can be quite arbitrary depending on the website. For some, a bounce rate of 44% is quite high. I have a client who sells modular homes and she has a bounce rate of about 15%. If she goes up to 20%, she starts panicking.

Another client who sells recycling containers once gave me a bonus when I got his bounce rate under 50%. It was previously about 65% and I saved him about $550/month.

Still another client, a dryer vent cleaning specialist for whom I'm just doing SEO work, has a bounce rate of about 65%. Here's the reason: he's a local business whose site is so well optimized, it comes up for searches all over the country. When they see that he only does business in Hampton Roads, they leave. His bounce rate for local traffic is much lower.

However, my colleague has a client who is experiencing a 44% bounce rate with a local news site and is concerned that this number is not good for advertisers.

This probably is true, but the website analytics would have to be analyzed to know for sure. It could be that most visitors are clicking on a story they Googled and then left after reading it. A high bounce rate on Google referrals would confirm that. For my colleague, a close look at page popularity could actually reveal an opportunity to convince advertisers to invest more advertising on the top 5 pages--prime real estate if the pages are getting lots of traffic.

The key is website conversions. If the site is converting a fair portion of its traffic, a high bounce rate is less important. It's even less important if those conversions are turning into high revenue. For example, if a real estate agent is spending $1000 per month on paid search marketing and turning that into $30,000 in profit, a bounce rate of 60% is irrelevant.

The best approach is to look at it holistically. Baseline the bounce rate, analyze the data, set a goal, and work to lower it. Your site analytics will reveal many important factors that will tell you where you are wasting money or where you are missing the target.

Darren Kincaid, a WSI SEO Expert, provides top quality but affordable website design, search engine optimization (SEO), internet marketing, pay-per-click (PPC), web hosting, and business management solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses in Virginia, the United States, and around the world. http://www.wsiSEOexpert.com

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Article Tags: Internet Marketing, SEO, Website, Analytics, Bounce Rate

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