What is Bounce Rate in Google Analytics and How to Reduce It?

If someone visits your site through any page and leaves it without taking an action like clicking other pages, then it is considered a bounce. 

The bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that bounced. This means that if 100 visitors came to the homepage of a site, of which 50 left without taking any action, then the bounce rate will be 50%. The bounce rate is different for all web pages.

Both the bounce rate and exit rate are similar terms, representing the exit of the users from a website. The difference is that: 

The bounce rate is when a visitor comes to a page and leaves from the same page without clicking anywhere. 

Whereas, exit rate is when someone comes to the site, checks other pages, and then leaves from there. The exit rate will be counted for the page from which he left.

So, the basic difference is that a visitor doesn’t take any action in the bounce rate, but for the exit rate, there might be some action before the exit.

Hence, every bounce is also an exit, but not every exit is a bounce.

Implementation of these steps can significantly help in reducing bounce rate of your site:

• Optimize the loading time of your site. When it takes a long time to load, people tend to exit and visit some other site.

• Improve the readability of content and the design of web pages. Well-structured content is easy to read. Use headings, subheadings, images, bullet points, etc. for improved readability. Also, work on making the web page designs better that appeal to the users.

• Ensure that your content is relevant to the queries of users. Irrelevant content means visitors will leave instantly, increasing bounce rate.

• Use the sidebar widgets and other promotions properly, without disturbing the primary content for which the user has visited the page.

• Add an influential call to action that can make the users act.

• Utilize internal linking in a logical and useful way.

• Optimize your website for mobile devices.

• Limit the use of pop-ups. Too many pop-ups are bad for user experience.

• Work on improving the navigation of your site so that users can find things easily. 

• Limit the use of sponsored ads that can distract the users.