I've got Google Analytics completely functional for my site right now, but I'm curious what Google considers a "bounce."

I have the tracking code on most of my pages, but I do not have it on my "confirmation page" that you are taken to right after you submit a form. Will Google view a submitted form, and the subsequent redirection to this confirmation page a bounce, since it does not have the analytics code? Or is Google smart enough to know that it is still part of the same domain and realize that the user did not leave the domain?

Thanks in advance.

Is it on another site or same home page URL?

This may be an issue for Google Analytics.

I've been told about 65% is normal for bounce rate. Is your site a blog, or static, or both?

Don't put too much faith in google analytics, it is not that accurate.

It doesn't matter if your bounce rate is 10% or 90%. How many leads your site produces is what matters.

Good point Bigtoe so many people are so worried about SEO that they miss the point of having a site.

Measure your bounce rate in relation to itself. A 10% decrease in your bounce rate is obviously good. I wouldn't get too worked up if your bounce rate is 55% or 65% -- just use it a guide to increase efficiency for your site.

A bounce is defined by Google as a visitor that visits a single page on your site. Therefore, if your form has analytics on it and the confirmation does not, a person arriving to your form, completing the form and receiving confirmation would be a bounce. If they visit any other page with the analytics script on it, they would not be a bounce.

The bounce rate is a signal telling you two things. First how well your site is grabbing a clients attention and second if your advertising is well focused.

A high bounce rate indicates one of two problems, first that your site is not grabbing the attention of visitors. They are hitting the landing page, not seeing what they want and then moving on. If these are potential clients, then you losing business. Work on the landing page to better show what you are offering.

A second issue could be that your advertising is reaching those that are not interested in what you are selling. This means you are wasting money for ads that will not lead to more income. Focusing your ads by location or topic will help.

Also, don't confuse your Bounce Rate with your Exit Rate. Bounce Rate means someone visited one page in your site and left. Exit Rate means they visited other pages on your site, but decided to leave on the page you're looking at the analytics for.

Google tracks all sites regardless if they have Analytics set up or not....

Google Analytics is for your own research and may not accurately reflect the true traffic amount/bounce/traffic source etc. If it's not set up properly...even if it is set up properly it probably isn't 100% accurate...

I was under the impression that Google does care how long visitors are on your website for... and where they go to after your site... This helps Google determine the quality of your website and if it's showing up for the proper keyword searches.

Google wants the reputation for having the most relevant and quality results for the keywords searched

If you are the number one result in Google for "homes for sale in Palm Springs" because of backlinks with palm springs in the anchor text and some content on the Palm Springs market.... but your website is mostly about homes for sale in San Diego... you will have a high bounce rate and Google will see your site isn't as relevant as maybe the next result that has a lower bounce rate....Google will then move you down the rankings for the results "homes for sale in Palm Springs".

I could be wayyyy out to lunch on this but it's just an idea...

If that is true - and it may be if you use analytics - than one would be better off not using analytics at all so Google would not know your bounce rate. Kind of like the days when it was better to have no keyword meta tags than overlong long or spammy ones.

Disclosure: I do not use Google Analytics as I don't want Google knowing all I am doing. (This is especially important in regards to linking.) The stats programs that come with hosting accounts are good and tell you what you need to know.

[quote=Bigtoe]Don't put too much faith in google analytics, it is not that accurate.

It doesn't matter if your bounce rate is 10% or 90%. How many leads your site produces is what matters. [/quote]

Ah friend...worst advice Ive heard in a while. If you have Google analytics on your site....everything is ACCURATE. A Bounce is when a visitor enters and leave on the same page. So if your site only have 1 page then your bounce rate will be 100%. So while it does not matter in a few cases. Most the most part it really does matter! Sometimes like in the case of a car dealership...some may come to the home page just to get a phone number..then bounce out....and some may come and look at a few cars.

All depends.

Bounce rate does matter!

If "clients" are leaving consistently on certain pages - analyse the page and make changes until you reduce the bounce rate. Check Google Analytics to find pages with high bounce rates.

Stat counter is a lot better, and updates a lot quicker. I use that one myself.

[quote=Jefftd77]If you are the number one result in Google for "homes for sale in Palm Springs" because of backlinks with palm springs in the anchor text and some content on the Palm Springs market.... but your website is mostly about homes for sale in San Diego... you will have a high bounce rate and Google will see your site isn't as relevant as maybe the next result that has a lower bounce rate....Google will then move you down the rankings for the results "homes for sale in Palm Springs".

I could be wayyyy out to lunch on this but it's just an idea...[/quote]

This is a factor Google takes into account when calculating rankings for SERPs. If people quickly bounce back to the SERP after clicking the link to your site and it happens too often, Google will penalize your site in the page rankings. Similarly if your site is sticky, you get rewarded in the SERP rankings.

[quote=doug]If that is true - and it may be if you use analytics - than one would be better off not using analytics at all so Google would not know your bounce rate. Kind of like the days when it was better to have no keyword meta tags than overlong long or spammy ones.

Disclosure: I do not use Google Analytics as I don't want Google knowing all I am doing. (This is especially important in regards to linking.) The stats programs that come with hosting accounts are good and tell you what you need to know.[/quote]

Whether or not you use Google Analytics does not affect your search rankings. The pattern described above is one of many things that affects your search rankings.

That is misleading and is perpetuating a myth.

What is important is the bounce rate given for individual pages on your site - not the average for your site as a whole.

Google ranks pages not sites. If your site has 10,000 pages then it has 10,000 "home" pages with each ranking according to its unique content. A visitor bounces from a page because they did not find the content they thought they would when they clicked on it in the serps.

The fact that this page may drop in the serps is because it does not have the content it should have and not because Google is watching bounce rates. It is ranked lower because the algorithm is looking at the page content, links to the page etc. and found it to be lacking.

Google does not use "bounce rate" as a ranking factor but you can use it to see that your page is probably appearing for searches that it should not be. That means you should fix up the page to better target the keywords it is intended to target and to make sure the content on the page relates to your target keywords for that page and is engaging to visitors.

"Bounce rate" is an indicator intended to help website owners using adsense optimize their webpages so they generate more revenue for Google. It is not used as a ranking factor in the organic results.

It is good because they also show you mis spelled keywords some users use to go to your site, the only cons is if you are using a free on because data would be very limited.

Doug,

With all due respect, what do you base the idea that google does not look at the bounce rate as a ranking factor?

No one knows for sure, but here is what I have found:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/06/beyond-pagerank-graduating-to.html

Michael

You will notice that article you referenced does not say that Google uses bounce rate in their ranking algorithm. Google's employees have been very consistent is saying exactly what that article says - "Looking at the bounce rates of different pages across your site can help you identify content that’s underperforming and point you to areas of your site that may need work."

Matt Cutts has come out a few times and said quite explicitly that Google does not use bounce rate in the algo. If you search Google you should have no trouble finding those comments.

When you think about it, as far as Google is concerned a visitor leaving a site without exploring every nook and cranny (bouncing) can be a good thing. It can just as easily mean that the visitor found what they were looking for right away. That landing page must have been a perfect match for the keywords being used.

A low bounce rate is actually better for Google because it means that people visit more pages on a site and view more ads. If people are not finding what they want they are more apt to click on ads and make Google money. A low bounce does not mean that the organic search result was good however so why not believe Google when they say they don't use it in the algo?

Hey Doug,

I cant find a reference where they say specifically they do not use it which to me is...... well you get what I am saying. The reference I stated does seem to indicate that it could count, though again its not clear. Yet we both agree that a low bounce rate is a good thing so .. that's what I shoot for on our sites.

Here is another analysis :http://www.webpronews.com/google-algorithm-bounce-rate-ranking-signal-2011-05



Agreed, we don't know but its good to have a low bounce rate ?

Aimiyo

Again the article you reference does not say bounce rate = good rankings. They are written from the perspective that a low bounce rate may be desirable if you have ads on your site. The more ads a visitor sees the better.

"The rankings team does not use bounce rate in any way". Matt Cutts from Google is being very clear here. How can you derive the idea that a low bounce rate is essential for good rankings from that?

If you search Google for "Matt Cutts bounce rate" (without the quotes) You will find him saying that over and over again.

Thanks for the information.
Furthermore, I want to add a point from my side. I believe on the results of Google Analytics. The Bounce rate shown in Analytics indicates two problems, first the site is not good to attract visitors. They are hitting the landing pages, and not seeing what they exactly want and after that, moving on. If these are potential visitors, then you are losing the business. The landing pages require a review to be more attractive to visitors to stay on the page.

The second one could be that, your advertising is reaching to those who are not interested in what you are presenting them. This means your site getting in-organic traffic, and you are wasting money for ads that will not lead to efficient buyers. In this condition, you have to focus on your ads by location, topic, keywords and so on.

[quote=eppraisal.com]A bounce is defined by Google as a visitor that visits a single page on your site. Therefore, if your form has analytics on it and the confirmation does not, a person arriving to your form, completing the form and receiving confirmation would be a bounce. If they visit any other page with the analytics script on it, they would not be a bounce. [/quote]

If you are using forms you should set up "goals" in analytics so GA can assign you an accurate bounce rate and track your conversions properly.

The higher the bounce rate the worse the quality of traffic you are receiving to your website. You want the bounce rate to be as close to zero as possible. You will never have a zero bounce rate, but anything under 60 is pretty good.

Bounce rate tells you the quality of the traffic to your website. A 100% bounce means that none of the visitors are interested in your website. The lower the bounce rate the better.