April 29th, 2010 by Susie

It is one thing driving traffic to our websites, however the key to a successful website is making it relevant to the visitor to ensure they get the information they were looking for and do not divert to a competitor’s site. When a user leaves your site from the landing page (basically the page on your site to which they entered through), this is classed as a bounce. All websites will incur some level of bounce rate; however a bounce rate which is considered exceptionally high is not a good sign. There is no set rule as bounce rates will differ greatly depending on the nature of your website, however anything above 40% would probably be considered fairly high by any SEO company.

If you are finding that you have a high bounce rate then this should be of concern and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. If people are leaving your site quickly and not spending time looking at other pages then there is a chance your website is not providing customers with all the information that is required. Google do state that the measuring of bounce rates are not concerned with how long a visitor spends on a website, but more on their habits regarding navigating around the site as a whole.

Of course, there may be instances where a visitor to your site is just looking for something simple such as contact details and they find the homepage sufficient for finding this out. In these occurrences you could argue that your website is in fact super efficient, as you have provided the customer with a quick and concise answer. Occurrences such as this are often more common when a user links to your site via a search engine; this is because the link building is taking them directly where they need to be.

The downside to your website having a high bounce rate is that it means users are not looking at other pages on your site. The most common reason for this is that your website is not attractive or easily usable by customers, hence the reason this needs to be looked into. A good search engine optimization company can help you with this; however it is important that you as a company can identify any weak areas.

Poor navigation is a common reason for a high bounce rate. A person browsing a website wants to be able to find what they are looking for easily and link back to previous pages if need be. Having clear navigation bars is crucial as is a good working site. If any pages need to be opened in a new browser, ensure they open correctly and not too slowly.

Another reason for a higher bounce rate is a cluttered home page. If there is too much information and it is not clear to read, then a visitor to the site may feel it is more hassle than it is worth. Bombarding someone with information can be off putting, so instead have a clear and concise homepage and offer clear sections on different areas.

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