Google Analytics Bounce Rate

When you track your website with Google Analytics, one of the figures you can see is Bounce Rate.

If a visitor comes to your website, views one page and then ‘bounces’ off elsewhere, that is called a bounce.

If 40 visitors out of every 100 only view one page before leaving, that is a 40% Bounce Rate.

You can view the bounce rate for your website overall, but you can also see it reported for individual items, such as by keyword or by page.

This is an extract from the Keywords view (with keywords removed) – you can see the bounce rate for each keyword in the right hand column.

Bounce Rate By Keyword

The bounce rate by keyword shows is which keywords are delivering the most qualified traffic.

If you look at the bounce rate by page, you can see which pages don’t engage interest and lead visitors in to the rest of your website.

What is the Bounce Rate in Google Analytics?

A post on John Andrew’s JohnOn blog talks about Advanced SEO. This is spot on:

… as search strategy defines the opportunity pursued by the web publication under consideration.

The web represents a massive increase in the number of people most businesses can reach. And in general business is only scratching the surface of how they can find new customers and convert them online.

Search engines are a major gateway to those people. So figuring out how your business can participate in search is a strategy. Not a tactic. Day to day SEO is tactical, but don’t think that is all it is.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of those important edges where technology meets marketing. A pure technology view isn’t enough, just as a pure marketing view isn’t enough. SEO requires an understanding of both.

If you are a technologist or marketer and don’t use SEO strategically yet, time to start.

Even more so for business owners.

But if you are starting out, learn about keywords first. Then SEO. It will all make sense.

Search Engine Optimization is a Strategy

As the great philosopher once said, if you can’t be free, at least you can be cheap.

For many years Overture was a very popular keyword research tool. But it wasn’t that accurate, and it stopped being updated regularly.  Free, and very, very cheap.

But Overture is still used widely as a meaure of popularity.

Guys, we’ve moved on. Use old data and you miss out on important changes.

There are more accurate data available – even free. And a professional subscription to a keyword tool costs $30-60/mth.

Understanding keywords is much more important than is generally realised. And I think a habitual dependence on Overture can mean missing what is right in front of you. The world has moved on.

Staying Up To Date