SEO Metrics : Bounce Rates and How to Improve Them

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, there are a wide variety of metrics you can take a look at that can help you monitor and optimize your website. One of the major ones to consider is your bounce rate– or rather, how quickly visitors leave a page of your site or your website altogether. Generally, you’ll want to aim for a rate of 26-40% which is considered excellent, but there are always chances for higher numbers. If visitors aren’t sticking around for very long, it can signal a multitude of problems that could be looked at, and it can also help you to determine what you need to strengthen.

Often times, big sources of quick bouncing are long page loading time or misleading meta. Be sure to check our how quickly your website is loading, and consider if there are elements that are slowing down this time. Optimizing your site to load faster and more efficiently is a good step forward, as it will often help you to better keep user attention. Misleading meta is also a huge issue, because if a user has taken the step to let the page load but it’s not the information they were looking for, then it’s a waste of a click! Be sure to check your meta titles and descriptions to ensure they’re advertising the proper information with keywords relevant to what someone will actually find on the page they visit.

Other problems to look out for include broken pages and poor UX, or insufficient content. These errors can be a bit trickier, as they’re often harsher on your bounce rate numbers. Try to consistently check your website pages to ensure they’re all in working order because page loading errors are a huge roadblock to connecting to viewers. Poor UX is something an expert should certainly look over, making sure that your navigation is easy to understand, and that any ads or pop-ups aren’t too difficult to manage around. Insufficient content is also a big deal because even if some of the content you have is usable to the viewer, there wasn’t enough to keep their attention. Consider further expanding upon your subjects, discussing your topics in more breadth and with multiple items organized onto the same page, if needed.

Overall, bounce rates can have a variety of meanings for your website and it depends on your individual SEO work and what content you’re providing. For a look at your bounce rates and help figuring out optimization and problem fixes, give i3 a call! We’ll be happy to sit down and check out your website for you.