One of the easiest ways to decide how well your audience is engaging with your website is to review your bounce rate. After all, the bounce rate is calculated by the percentage of visitors that land on a page only to exit without visiting any other pages on your site. So, I guess it goes without saying that a high bounce rate is harmful to the success of your website. Well, that's not entirely true. Yes, a high bounce rate can be your website's demise; however bounce rates will greatly vary depending on the type of page we're analyzing.

If visitors find your website organically because they're searching for information, then having a high bounce rate is probably disadvantageous. SEO is not easy and definitely not cheap. Remember, our goal here is to create highly optimized, content rich pages that feed visitors with as much information as possible. So, when you have customers land on your site and choose not to visit any of your other pages, the result is a negative return on your investment. In addition to the bounce rate, metrics that are also important and should be monitored in this scenario are the number of pages viewed and the time a visitor spends on your site. On the other hand, if a visitor lands on your page from a sponsor ad and the page was created featuring offers and call to actions, then having a high bounce rate could actually be something positive. Your objective in this scenario is much different. When a visitor lands on your page, your goal is to get the offer noticed and then to convert (i.e. form submission, phone calls, etc.). Metrics such as the click-through rate (CTR) and goal conversions should be closely monitored in this scenario.

Knowledge is power and understanding the true definition of these key metrics is essential when processing your Google Analytics reports. This is especially true when analyzing custom reports created for targeting underperforming landing pages, blog posts, etc. Examine bounce rates by keyword, search engine, and landing pages to gain greater knowledge about why your bounce rates may be higher than the desired.

FACT: In the SEO community, many believe that the bounce rate is the rate of visitors on your site for less than X amount of seconds. This is simply not true.

Identifying the pages that you need to improve the bounce rate is the first step. Determine why the bounce rate is too high, and then create a goal and plan to reduce it. A visitor's first impression along with your site's ability to pull them in and keep them engaged is the key to reducing the bounce rate. We've identified a handful of the common website mistakes that result in higher bounce rate.

Annoying and Distracting Animation

As stated earlier, getting a visitor is not only difficult, but expensive. Don't annoy them with disruptive audio, video, pop-up and fly out advertisements and promotions. Instead, Provide your visitors with a clean site layout with content that is well-organized. Animation should be kept to a minimum.

A Confusing and Unclear Message

Many visitors get frustrated because they can't find what they want. How many times do you visit a site and the page is so confusing it's easier to exit than to try to find what it is you're searching? When a visitor enters your site, there should be no confusion about your website's purpose. Visitors don't always expect to find what they're searching for on the first page they land. But it's critical for the visitor to understand quickly the purpose of your website and for the design and content to be appealing.

Why would anyone hang around on a website that's difficult to read. Improving a site's contrast is often overlooked, but can make a big difference in improving your bounce rate. Many of us have poor vision so try to make the site as easy to read as possible. Lighting conditions and screen resolutions vary greatly, so improving the contrast of a website can be an enormously powerful means for guiding your visitor to your desired location.

Also, don't lose your audience because your pages are too busy and cluttered. Understand your target audience, give them what they want, and make it easy for them to find it.

Difficult to Navigate

One of the biggest reasons visitors exit websites is because the site is difficult to navigate. This is becoming a huge issue with visitors using smart devices. More and more customers are using their cell phones and tablets to search the web. If your site is not mobile friendly than you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity. Have you ever tried navigating a website from your cell phone that is not mobile friendly? Navigation plays a huge part in improving the bounce rate of a website. Too many drop downs and not being able to easily return back to previous pages are big turn-offs to visitors.

The main navigation of your website must be extremely prominent. Robust websites should have a search feature as well as a site map enabling visitors to easily find information on their desired topic.

It's also a good idea to duplicate the main navigation links on the footer of your website. This is especially important when your pages drop below the fold. Footer links allows visitors to easily navigate without always having to scroll back up to the top of the page.

Slow Third Party Plug-ins and Widgets

There are thousands of third-party plug-ins and widgets on the market today. Most of which are excellent tools that can enhance your visitors' website experience. However, like most things, too much of a good thing can be a detriment. The speed in which a page loads on your site is a key component of your bounce rate. The longer it takes for a page to load, the higher the bounce rate, and vice versa. Too many third-party plug-ins and widgets will slow your site down, causing your visitors to exit.

Advertisements that Slap You in the Face

For the most part, unless your ads are extremely clever, no one wants to look at advertisements. I understand that for some, ads are a necessary evil, but please show some respect for your audience. Most ads on the web should be subtle for obtaining impressions. Only a very, very small percentage of online ads will actually be clicked. If possible, display your ads below the fold and keep them to a minimum. Requiring your audience to scroll down to view your content because the top of your site is ad heavy will significantly increase your bounce rate.

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