Understanding Bounce Rate In Google Analytics: What It Really Means And Average Figures You Can Expect

Bounce rate is a staple metric tracked in Google Analytics reports.

But this metric isn’t correctly understood by most folks out there.

In this article, I’ll demystify the concept overall and within the context of Google Analytics.

I’ll also share the average bounce rate numbers you can expect and how you should interpret them to improve your site.

First, get the basic definition right

Bounce rate is the proportion of sessions that have only one interaction.

A session occurs when you visit a site and get tracked by Google Analytics.

It can take many shapes and forms.

It could be just you going over the content on a page.

And it could also be you looking at a product and its features.

But if you don’t take a specific type of action the website wants you to, you’ve bounced.

Then getting the details right

You may think that bouncing off a website means coming to it, not finding what you’re looking for, and going to an alternative in SERPs.

This form of leaving implies not spending much time.

But that’s not necessarily true in the Google Analytics sense of bouncing.

You could have spent an hour reading a long-form article and taking meaningful notes from the value it provides and still be thought to have bounced.

And then some events are set to “non-interactive status” – actions beyond browsing that still lead to a bounce.

An example is a video that loads automatically on a page.

So What Is A “Good” Average Bounce Rate Number?

There isn’t such a thing!

It depends on your website.

A 70-90% bounce rate for informational websites such as blogs is not unusual; the number tends to be lower for e-commerce sites.

It’s best not to worry about the overall bounce rate for the site and instead compare bounce rates for individual pages to get insights into what’s driving action and what’s not.

This way, you can take corrective measures quickly and maintain a certain quality standard across your website.