Is A High Bounce Rate Good Or Bad?

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Nick Wilson

Is a high bounce rate bad or good? I see this question pop up more and more on various forums, blogs and everyday questions. answer is unique to every website, bounce rate incorporates a variety of factors making it a little difficult for the novice webmaster to spot a bad bounce rate from a good one.

What Is A Bounce Rate?

A bounce rate of a website or webpage means the rate at which people bounce from your webpage, then to another webpage. Many people see this as only a bad thing, but you need to look at the bigger picture and consider the circumstances of the situation. Here’s an example:

Example: If you analyze an informational website that is meant to teach the reader, then there are a few key numbers you need to look at. First look at the bounce rate, if you have a row of posts showing 100%, it’s not always a bad thing. Take a look at the ‘Average Time On Page’ as well, if the time spent matches the time it would take to read the article, odds are they found what they were looking for.

There are other factors to tell if the bounce rate is good or bad. You can monitor the specific visitor page-views. If the user has bounced from one page to another page on the same domain, then you can assume they found what they were looking for and browsed for more. You can track a group of miscellaneous visitors from a few random days and analyze their traffic to see if they bounced from page to page with in the same domain or if they left altogether. Those results should give your a fair average of whether or not your bounce rate is good or bad.

Generally, if you comply with the traditional, unofficial, algorithm rules and SEO practices you should wind up with a decent rate. You must always provide excellent content in order to keep the reader interested, that is the key factor for maintaining a good bounce rate. To view your statistics you can use the free service Google offers, known as Google Analytics.

Nick Wilson is the owner, primary moderator, and main writer for SEO Journalist, which provides daily articles on website SEO and SMO performance. He is an experienced and versatile, professional SEO Consultant and Internet Marketer.