In my post Help a blogger out… one of the comments mentioned the high turnover rate, or bounce rate caused when readers do not interact with your blog.
Supermomplace: This is so true! Hit and run reader is so bad for the blog because it raise your bounce rate. sometimes higher bounce rate is worst than no visitors.
I thought that I understood the meaning of this pretty clear, but someone else thought that as long as the user stayed on the page for a while reading, that it was not counted as a bounce rate.
maintenance informatique: I disagree for the bounce part. If you read the full article (so you stay a long time on the same page) it’s not considered as a bounce.
I wanted to make sure that I had the understanding so I looked it up. In short, bounce rate means that someone comes to your page, reads the one page that landed them there, and then they leave without clicking anything else. Here is the definition direct from Google themselves:
What does Bounce Rate mean?
Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality – a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.
To view the bounce rates for your website, go to the Bounce Rate report under Visitors > Visitor Trending > Bounce Rate.
Honestly, I do not know how I feel about it. On the one hand, bounce rate could mean that the search term worked, they landed on the page, found the info that they were looking for and moved on. BUT, I completely understand that we want to turn a hit and run reader into a repeat reader. How can we do that? Again, it’s iffy. The post on my site that has the highest bounce rate is also the one that gets searched for the most. So, the reader finds the info and moves on. Others who come and hang around usually do not arrive here by a Google search, but just happen upon the blog, or saw it elsewhere so they are more likely to click around to see if they like it.
I almost think that there are too many dang numbers that we have to worry about. So… don’t worry about it. Just do your thing, blog your voice, and it will all work out.
Relevant links to check out:
Stop bouncing: tips for website success
Thank-you for this post. I'm a kitchen designer and I have a high bounce rate but I see it really doesn't manner as I just post nice articles that I like to write about. If you like please visit my site and leave a comment http://everythingaboutkitchens.com
Thanks for posting this. I agree with you completely. “Blog your voice” is great advice, because the focus then stays on content, which is how people connect to each other any way.
I agree, numbers are nice, but we shouild try not to be concerned with them. Some might even conflict with others. A high click through rate on your feed for instance may contribute to a higher bouce rate for your blog as your subscribers vist your site, read a post and then leave. Maybe the bounce rate is something that shopping / ecommerce websites should be more concerned with more than blogs and other types of informative websites.
Yeah, I have a huge bounce rate – like 92%, but it's because I have an old Meme that shows up in Google Search (100 Things To Do in Your Life). I get a ton of hits off that post for some reason. Is that a good thing if they just glance at it and move on?