If you’ve ever used a Google Analytics account for your website or had someone show you a SEO report, you may recognize the term “bounce rate.”
But what does a bounce rate actually represent and how does it affect your business?
First of all, a “bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who come to your website and leave without viewing any other pages on your website” according to Kissmetrics.
A bounce rate actually isn’t related to the amount of time spent on a website page — it just means that a user only visited one page before leaving.
One of the most common causes of high bounce rates is having entrance pages that don’t contain what your customers are looking for.
To reduce your bounce rate and retain more users on your website, implement these few tips:
#1 Improve the readability of your content
The modern-day purerser of the Internet is always looking for quality website content that they can scan and get the gist of as quickly as possible. If the content hooks them, they’ll typically slow down and read more in detail.
This is why it’s crucial to break down your content well so that users can scroll through it easily.
Incorporating the following items can increase the amount of time a user spends on your website and how many pages they click through:
- Headers and subheads
- Bullets and lists
- Screenshots and examples
- Bolded words
- Questions
#2 Add more internal links
Incorporating more internal links throughout your website content can cause users to visit more pages, which improves overall bounce rates.
However, make sure that each word or phrase you plan to link is relevant to the linked page. Google’s algorithm doesn’t favor poorly connected pages, and people will get confused if “roofing repair services” leads to the About Us page.
#3 Target relevant keywords
When picking keywords to target within your industry, it’s important to build authority by being specific rather than just targeting everything.
If you include keywords related to products and services you don’t offer, you can attract people who bounce quickly once they don’t find those things.
For example, if you service particular areas, it would be helpful to focus on a key phrase like, “mexican restaurant Chester, VA.” In fact, 97% of Google’s revenue comes from targeting expensive, high-value keywords.
#4 Make sure the navigation is simple
It’s true that people want to do as little work as possible to find what they’re looking for on the Internet. If they open a website with a confusing or complicated navigation bar, they typically will just leave and go to a more user-friendly website.
Adding an appropriate amount of options in the navigation bar that clearly direct people to the subpages they’re looking for is crucial for improving your bounce rates.
Usually businesses include “About Us,” “Services” or “Products,” “Our Work,” “Blog,” and “Contact.” However, reach out to us to find out what you should include in your specific navigation bar.
#5 Add a clear call-to-action on the landing page
One reason a user might bounce from a landing page is because there wasn’t a button inviting them to take action.
For example, placing a button that says, “Get Offer,” “Start today,” or “Learn More,” can intrigue potential customers to click on them and get directed to another page of the website.
#6 Ensure that your website is responsive
Having a responsive website is essential because roughly half of consumers visit websites on their mobile devices.
In fact, Google now penalizes businesses whose websites aren’t responsive. Making sure your website is mobile friendly not only can save you from getting in trouble with Google, it also can improve your bounce rates.
#7 Open external links in separate windows
One last tip to improving your bounce rates is to make sure all of your links to external sources open in separate windows.
If you allow the linked source to open in the same page, the user is automatically pulled out of your website and into the linked one.
However, opening the external page in another tab allows people to stay on your website and look at the related information simultaneously without bouncing.
Interpreting bounce rates and what they mean for your website can be tricky sometimes, so it’s important to understand how to achieve the perfect percentages for your specific site.
If you’d like more tips about how to lower your bounce rates, reach out to us today! We’d love to chat.
