How to Reduce Bounce Rate

If you have a website, your bounce rate is one metric to keep track of. Reduce bounce because a high bounce rate tells you that people are visiting your website and leaving immediately. This is not good for your business, as it means you are not holding your visitor’s interest. A low bounce rate, however, is a sign that your website’s visitors are getting what they came for.

What is your website’s bounce rate? It’s the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can be a significant obstacle to your conversion rates, as well as an indication that your site is confusing and frustrating for visitors. Regardless of the cause, it’s a red flag that you need to change things to keep people on your site longer.

You might wonder what a good bounce rate is. It varies with the industry. For example, a bounce rate of around 20% is typical for a service industry but will hover around 30 to 40% for an e-commerce site. For a content site, the average bounce rate is between 40 and 60%. If yours is significantly higher, it’s time to make some changes.

What changes should you make? With so many different bouncing causes, it’s challenging to find the root cause. However, this article will reveal why your visitors may bounce and how to correct the problem.

Optimize for Mobile to Reduce Bounce Rate

More people than ever visit websites on mobile devices. If your site is not mobile-friendly, it will look out of place on a phone or tablet. After viewing your slow-loading site, your visitors will bounce before they have read any content. For this reason, it’s crucial to ensure your site is mobile-optimized, so it displays correctly on mobile screens.

To optimize your website for mobile, check that your site is responsive. Responsive websites will automatically adjust to different mobile devices, so they’ll show the same content in an easy-to-read format.

In addition, use a button that has adequate touch space. Users won’t have an issue clicking the button and making a purchase if they can easily click it with their fingers. Lastly, make sure you’re using large tap targets. Small targets are challenging for people to touch on a mobile screen.

Whenever you update your site, it’s a good idea to test it on different devices to make sure your web page is easy to read and navigate. The best way to do this is to use an online service that simulates how your site appears on multiple devices. The benefit of using a website testing tool like this is that you can see exactly how your site looks on any device.

Keep Your Site Layout Simple and Easy-to-Navigate

With so many people viewing web pages on mobile, ensure your site has a simple structure. According to a survey by Google, 64% of online shoppers prefer mobile devices over desktop computers. However, they also found that 79% of mobile phone users will leave a site that is hard to navigate.

The more distractions you put on a single page, the more likely visitors will bounce off that page. For example, don’t have two or three different menu items on every page–keep it consistent and only have one menu item per tab (or section).  Make sure the layout is seamless and transparent with an easy-to-use navigation scheme.

Add a site map too.  A sitemap helps your visitors navigate through your website. Always include a sitemap at the page’s top and in the footer. A good rule of thumb is to keep it simple but not overdo it.

Optimize the Speed of Your Website

Page load time is the time for a browser to receive and render a webpage. Visitors will bounce from your site if it takes too long to load. Google has publicly stated that a fast page load time is a ranking factor in their algorithm, and it is also essential for your users to have a great experience on your site.

The take-home point? Make boosting page load speed a priority. You can find tools online that will test the speed of your site and give you recommendations on how to improve it. A slow page load can make your customers click the back button before seeing your product or services. It can also make them think your website is out-of-date and not trustworthy.

Some websites offer “speed-enhancing features.” These features help with loading times by compressing web content and code, enabling visitors’ browsers with faster connections, and ensuring pages load quickly. A few providers of these services include MaxCDN, Cloudflare CDN, and GoSquared (solutions for website owners).

Improve Search on Your Site

When you add all your web pages to a search engine, the site’s content must be crawled and indexed for search engines to find it. This means making sure your site is crawlable and searchable by search engines and includes pages that have text that is readable by search engines, including meta tags. Plus, for visitors to find your site, it has to be easy for them to find what they want on your site. Make that search box easily accessible, so your visitors can explore your site and find what they came for.

The Bottom Line

Low bounce rates are important to website owners because they are one of the few indicators of website quality and online marketing effectiveness. Track your website’s bounce rate and take steps to lower it if it’s too high.

References:

“Guide: What Is the Bounce Rate of a Website? | Indeed.com.” 15 Mar. 2021, .indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/bounce-rate.

“13 Reasons Your Website Can Have a High Bounce Rate.” 14 Nov. 2020, searchenginejournal.com/website-bounce-rate/332439/.

“High Bounce Rate? Here are the Reasons & What You Should Do.” 11 May. 2020, crazyegg.com/blog/high-bounce-rate/.