Bounce rate is a web analytics metric showing the percentage of visitors who land on a page and leave without clicking anything else or visiting a second page. It's calculated by dividing the number of these single-page visits by total visits, then expressing that as a percentage — 50 out of 100 visitors leaving after one page gives you a 50% bounce rate.
Why It's Worth Watching
- User behaviour insight — a high bounce rate can flag content, design, or speed issues
- Page relevance — a mismatch between what search brought people for and what the page delivers often shows up here
- Indirect SEO signal — Google hasn't confirmed bounce rate as a direct ranking factor, but persistently high bounce combined with short visit times can still affect how a page is judged
- A diagnostic tool — tracking it over time highlights exactly which pages need work
What Counts as "Good" Varies by Site Type
- Blogs — 50–70% is typical, since readers often come for one article and leave
- E-commerce sites — 20–40% is the target, since browsing multiple products is the goal
- Landing pages — 30–50%, depending on how complex the intended conversion action is
Bringing It Down
- Speed up page load times
- Make sure content actually matches what visitors were searching for
- Keep navigation clear and intuitive
- Add internal links to draw readers toward related content
- Invest in clean, visually appealing page design
- Include a clear call-to-action so visitors know the next step