What is bounce rate?
First of all let me define the term ‘bounce rate’ – a visitor to a site ‘bounces’ when they read only one page before navigating away from a site.
They came, they read, they left
Given that everybody is going to navigate away from every page they are reading at some point, and most people quickly dip in and out of blogs, we should ask ourselves; what is an acceptable, average or typical bounce rate for a blog?
As with everything to do with blogging and other online activities, there is no one answer to the question. Even during my research for numbers on the average bounce rate for blogs the figures differed greatly. But I have concluded that a target bounce rate of around the 30% to 40% mark is acceptable.
Try to improve on anything above that. Anything below that is fantastic.
I see the bounce rate as the best indicator that people find a blog interesting and worth reading. Visiting more than one page per visit certainly shows an interest in what you have to say, but what if your blog has snippets of information from other sites? It could be a news or gossip hub where you continually link out to articles on other blogs, should you expect a naturally high bounce rate? Probably.
To get a true feel for the bounce rate of your blog you have to dig deep into Google Analytics and take a look at the bounce rate for specific keywords, and more importantly, the keywords that you feel are most important for your blog.
Given that blogs usually contain thousands and thousands of words your blog could be found in search engines for all sorts of strange phrases you never intended to target. For example, I get a lot of traffic for a review of Evernote I wrote a little while ago, and whilst I appreciate the traffic, it kind of irks me that this is my most popular post.
The bounce rate for the post is 78%.
Now, when I look at a phrase should as blogging advice, the bounce rate is down to a more acceptable 33%. This is because the people who have arrived here using the phrase blogging advice have read the post they arrived at and gone on to view at least one more page. Targeted traffic.
At the moment we are not ranking for the more often searched for phrase of blogging tips, but one day those rankings will come!
What can you do to improve bounce rate?
The simple answer is to give your readers as many opportunities as possible to visit more pages within your blog and to offer engaging, interesting and informative content. Here are a few simple suggestions to consider when thinking about design and how people navigate around your blog.
Link to your own posts when possible
As you write new posts think about the content you have already created. Would any of it be relevant to what you are writing today? If it is link to it. I try to use this practice all the time; it is good for SEO, reducing bounce rate and keeping your readers engaged. From time to time revisit older posts and once again put this strategy into practice by linking to your newer posts.
Use a related posts plugin
A related posts plugin is a great idea. This is the one we use. It works by reading titles, tags and other content. It then includes hyperlinks at the bottom of the current post to more posts it sees as being relevant. This plugin works very well, but it relies heavily on the tags you assign to each post, so be generous and accurate.
Use tags at the foot of your posts
Tags; always give your posts a few tags. I try to use two word tags most of the time as they give more detail. Take the word “hosting” as an example; on its own it doesn’t say much, but by adding words like wordpress, cheap, shared, reliable etc you give the word(s) much more meaning.
Include links to your posts in the sidebar
This is actually a good point. It was only whilst I was writing this post that I realised I didn’t do this. I have been experimenting with layout and just last week I removed the latest posts widget from the sidebar. After putting this post together I have decided to reinstate the latest posts widget to the sidebar, but I have also made another decision; rather than placing it at the top of the sidebar, I have placed it half way down at approximately the place where a standard sized post will end and above links to external sites.
Keep external links to a minimum
Don’t link out any more than you have to. Your aim should be to keep people on your blog for as long as possible. Linking out too much makes it easy for readers to move on.
Another suggestion
Take a step back from your blog and view it from a readers point of view, or from the perspective of someone visiting for the first time. Is it easy to go somewhere else once the reader reaches the end of a post? Scroll down and have a look at what you can see there. If you have tags at the bottom of the post; are they noticeable or tucked away in a small font? If they can’t be easily seen, make them more visible.
Small changes can make a massive difference – don’t be afraid of testing things out, especially if your bounce rate is high; what have you got to lose?
Your thoughts
What are your experiences of bounce rates? Did you implement changes and find a difference?
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