Are you one of those webmasters puzzled with the high bounce rate and probably have no idea how to deal with that? Then you are in the right place. First of all, let’s understand what bounce rate is and what are the top 10 reasons your website’s bounce rate is high.

What does a bounce rate indicate?

Bounce rate is the metric decided by Google analytics which basically indicates the percentage of users who exit your site without spending much time on it. Generally, a high bounce rate hurts the SEO of your website.

Before going into deep let’s have a look at an infographic from Quicksprout blog post titled “How to Decrease Your Bounce Rate”

But, how will you decide what went wrong with your website that resulted in a high bounce rate? Here are some scenarios. Dig in.

1.Thin or no content at all

Whether you know it or not but the content is the king when it comes to digital marketing. If the website is made just for revenue purposes without adding any valuable content, then it is surely going to hurt your bounce rate. So, spice up your website with the useful content that can engage users to spend more time on website.

2.Improper mapping of headings/titles with pages/content

When a user clicks on your website/ article on SERP, make sure you serve the user with what he is looking for. Serving irrelevant and spam content will surely lead to users bouncing from your website.

3.Annoying users with Ads & Pop-ups

Remember that if you disappoint users on their first visit by bombarding them with too many ads they surely will exit and never return. Even in order to generate regular revenue from ad sense, you must be having something valuable to offer to your readers. Make sure that content to Ads ratio is fair on your website.

4.Faulty implementation of Google Analytics

Chances are that GA code is not implemented properly on all the pages of a website ultimately leading to a high bounce rate. What happens, in this case, is that you will see an overall high bounce rate because of the pages that don’t necessarily need content and the pages that are content-rich don’t have GA code implemented. Whether you do it manually yourself or hire a Digital Marketing agency make sure GA is implemented on every page of the website.

5. Users are impatient nowadays! Not more than 4 seconds, please

It is found that users exit from the websites that take more than 4-8 seconds to fully load. So, website loading speed is another major technical issue not to be overlooked. Some ways to improve website speed is, compressing images, JScripts, etc.

6.Weak website design & navigation system

An unattractive design with poor navigational links hurts user behavior. If the users find it difficult to navigate easily then they are most likely give up on your website. Using attractive images, memes, videos, and content encourages users to spend more time on the website.

7.Improper implementation of calls to action

A user wants it relevant, useful and quick. Make sure you don’t cause users a headache finding the next step to take on a website. Use proper calls to action or you might miss on those possible conversions.

8.The high number of broken links

Too many 404 page errors will undeniably lead to the exit of the user in a disappointment. Though broken links are common issues if the page or the service no longer exists on a website, try fixing all the 404s to regain the users back using useful SEO techniques such as 301 redirection or a custom 404 page with alternate navigational links.

9.Not mobile-friendly

Google recently launched its mobile-first update which proves the fact that users all over the world are spending more time on mobile devices. If a website is not mobile-friendly you will lose those mobile visitors. 

10.Not a significant factor in some cases

Think of a website whose main service is to offer free or paid images or gifs. Obviously users come to such sites and leave immediately after they find whatever they were looking for. So, the bounce rate is not necessarily a significant factor in such cases.

I hope this checklist helps you find out the exact cause of the high bounce rate on your website. Once you know the reason, it paves the way for the solution. You can contact a top digital transformation agency for technicalities or work on your content yourself.

At the bottom line, don’t get stuck and work out a plan!