What to Check When Your Website Has High Bounce Rates

If you exhaust the potentials of social media marketing, for instance, you’re set to tap a wide range of audiences that will suffice to keep your growth prospects in order. And that’s just one tool in a diverse digital marketing arsenal at your disposal. Another tool that’s integral to marketing your business online is your website. How you manage your website can make or break your chances of hitting it big in e-commerce. Here, your focus should not be purely aesthetics, although a website that looks nice scores you points, too. But, more than that, your website should achieve what it is meant to do—customer conversion.

However, it does not end there. After you convert a customer, your next priority is customer retention. You cannot satisfy yourself with one-time purchases. For your business to expand, repeat transactions are of the essence. Both customer conversion and retention owe to your customers’ behavior while they are on your website. This is where bounce rate becomes important to look into.

What is bounce rate?

A bounce refers to single-page sessions on your site. For example, if a customer checks out your Contact Us page and leaves, that is considered a bounce. Bounce rate, therefore, is the percentage of single-page views from all sessions on your site.

A high bounce rate is really not bad. That is most true if you have a single-page website like a blog that doesn’t require visitors to click away like they are following a digital maze that promises a reward at the finish line—or in the case of a business, maintaining a website mainly to highlight how customers can reach them via a Contact Us page. Here top-notch ecommerce website SEO can help you to understand the process.

In the latter scenario, your visitors bounce because they already got what they’re looking for, and that is a win for you even if it reflects poorly on your bounce rate.

Now, if you’re running a website for e-commerce, that’s where a high bounce rate becomes something to frown upon. E-commerce websites typically have multiple pages. From your landing page, you want potential customers to explore product categories, item pages and, ideally, take their exploration all the way to cart check out.

That won’t happen if you fail to engage them. They will bounce before you can say, “and wait, there’s more!”

Paying attention to your website’s bounce rate is essential for a couple of reasons. This is the reason why most companies chose to hire cost-effective website SEO services. First, if you know exactly where people are bouncing, you have an opportunity to do something about that page. High bounce rates mean your website has issues, and they must be addressed ASAP.

Furthermore, bounce rate may factor into Google Ranking. If you want to see your pages reach the upper echelon of search results, Google should see that your website visitors are kept engaged.

There is no hard and fast rule as to the recommended average bounce rate. That depends on the kind of website or the industry it caters to. For e-commerce and retail, the average bounce rate is 20 to 45%. If you want to improve your bounce rate—which means lower the percentage—there are things you need to look into under the guidance of reputed SEO link building company.

Factors that contribute to high bounce rates

You cannot dismiss a high bounce rate as a manifestation of customers’ fickle-mindedness. That won’t work in your favor. So instead, zero in on these possible contributors.

Bounce-prone pages

Ideally, you do not base your bounce rate assessment on your website’s overall bounce rate because that will not give you an accurate diagnosis of how your marketing efforts are doing. Instead, consider your single CTA landing pages. Chances are, they are self-sufficient enough that it’s logical for your customers to bounce after seeing what’s in there.

These self-sufficient pages might be contributing to your high bounce rates. So, before overhauling your website, factor this possibility into the equation. Pinpoint which landing pages contribute to your bounce rate. Adjust your efforts accordingly. Also consider having talented SEO experts to do everything without any mistake.

Failure to deliver what’s promised

Your title tag and meta descriptions should be accurate. You do not want to entice visitors to a specific landing page that does not deliver what it promised. All you will get from this scenario is a high bounce rate.

Sure, sometimes, you’ll be tempted to optimize your title tag and meta descriptions with keywords, but if they do not align with the actual content, you’re not fooling anyone—not your customers, neither Google. Do not cut corners and avoid consciously misleading your customers.

Technical error

Examine your bounce rate stats. If you see unique visits that clock in only a few seconds, chances are that the page in question is returning a 404 Error. Your customers bounce because there’s nothing there to see. To understand it completely, it’s important to know most essential types of link building strategies.

You can replicate your visitors’ experience to pinpoint the problem. Use your audiences’ preferred browser and device configurations. Troubleshoot the page based on your findings. It’s crucial to address this concern ASAP because Google can exclude your page from search results if it’s chronically serving a 404. That is a wasted effort on your end.

Misaligned linkage

Your organic visitors are engaging with your website content. Still, you have high bounce rates. Look into the quality of referrals from websites you partnered with. That could be the source of the problem.

It is possible that unqualified visitors are increasing your bounce counts. For this, understanding proper Google search statistics is important. They go to your site expecting something, and after seeing an entirely different content, they hit x. If you legitimately partnered with the referring site in question, refer to how the anchor text is contextualized. If it does not relate in any way to your landing page, therein lies the confusion.

It is also possible to be on the receiving end of erroneous linkages. Either way, contact the source of the referral and request appropriate troubleshooting measures. You do not want Google to tag your content as a red flag.

Mobile responsive or the lack thereof

Most website visitors use mobile gadgets. These days, laptops and desktop computers are saved for highly demanding tasks like those you do for school and work, or maybe gaming. However, for casual online scrolling, tablets and phones are the preferred devices by many. Adding to that, if you want to make your website successful, you need to know how website authority is calculated.

Your website should be mobile-friendly. It should automatically adjust to smaller screens. You do not want your customers to zoom a page in and out or tilt their phones every which way so that they can read your content. No one will go to all that trouble.

Pop-ups galore

Your marketing team probably wants to optimize your website pages with ads to boost sales. That’s all well and good until your bounce rates go through the roof. No one appreciates screen clutter.

If a customer uses a mobile device, those pop-ups become even more obnoxious, especially when they eat up most of the display. They’re enough to make your visitors bounce before you’ve made a good impression.

If you cannot help offering something to your customer, at least wait until they have read your content or after they’ve responded to a CTA such as signing up to your newsletter. Timing is key. This will also help you to massively increase website traffic in 2021.

Site speed

Basic as this is, issues with site loading speed still happen. You do not want to neglect site speeds if you’re going to keep your audience engaged. Again, no one will go to the trouble of waiting for your landing page to load. Your visitors would rather hit x and look for answers elsewhere.

Internal linking

Internal links allow your visitors to move from one page to another within your website. If your landing page is devoid of relevant internal links, you limit your chances of keeping your audience interested in what you have to say. They bounce because there’s nothing more on offer.

Tips on how to improve bounce rates

Whatever bounce rate concerns you have, there’s a corresponding solution. Here are some of them.

Isolate problem areas

If your website as a whole suffers from a high bounce rate, chances are multiple problem areas are contributing to your bounce count. Isolate these pages and check them out the way your customers normally would while taking note of improvement opportunities. There are many reliable digital marketing techniques that you can use to solve the problems.

Refer to other metrics, too, so you can discern whether a specific page’s bounce rate is due to a solvable problem or because it’s already self-sufficient.

Improve content readability

Remember that not all of your visitors enjoyed Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. A lot of them might even struggle through The Little Prince. So, avoid large chunks of texts if you do not want to scare visitors away.

Your content should be readable. As much as possible, incorporate subheadings and bullet points. Allow your readers to scan through your content and still get something out of it. If you can get them to click an eye-catching internal link, the better.

Equip your website with a recording tool

This tool will make you privy to how your visitors navigate your pages. You will see the parts of the page where they hover over their cursor the most or which parts command their attention. You will know how they behave on a specific page before they bounce. Your findings will give you valuable insights on how to improve the page.

Avoid pop-ups

Your goal is to get visitors focused on your content, and pop-ups are counterproductive to that intent. Irrelevant pop-ups turn off 70% of website visitors; they increase your bounce rate. If you can’t do away with pop-ups altogether, at least design them in a way that they do not disrupt the customer experience.

Understand user behavior by running a heatmap

Consider heat mapping as a less intrusive version of website recording. Here, you pinpoint which parts of a page generate the most active user engagement. If, for example, that happens on the bottom right portion of the page, it means that it’s the prime spot for you to place a CTA. Heat-mapping a high bounce rate page allows you to determine which parts offer opportunities for better engagement. Do all this in guidance of professionals, there should be no harmful worst SEO mistakes.

Compose a compelling call-to-action

CTAs serve one goal: to compel your website visitors to do something. That can be either to sign up for your newsletter or buy one of your products on sale. Whatever the motivation for your CTA is, it should be difficult to dismiss. Present a value proposition. What’s in it for your customer?

Declutter

A page where there’s no clear call to action is ineffective. The same goes for a page that has too many CTAs. The key is to find balance. You do not want to overwhelm your visitors with too many options. When they’re paralyzed by indecision, they are more likely to bounce instead. Make your pages clutter-free; that way, your audience will get to focus on what matters.

Keep your website presentable

Do not torture your audience with a website with medieval-era aesthetics unless that’s consistent with your branding and it’s exactly what your visitors expect. Do not turn off visitors with a website layout that does not do justice to your content. That’s a recipe for high bounce rates.

Improve brand storytelling

You can keep audiences hooked with your content if they can follow your storytelling. Your bounce rates will improve if your website visitors find it worthwhile to stay abreast of everything you lay on the table. Be consistent with your branding. Zero in on the most interesting aspects of the stories you’re trying to tell.

Survey

Do not shy away from reaching out to your target audience—ask them what they want or what drives them away. They won’t charge you for sharing their insights. Plus, they’ll feel like you value what they have to say.

The importance of bounce rates in e-commerce

Website management’s goal is twofold. The first is customer conversion. You need to ensure that those who show interest in what you’re selling will eventually decide to make a purchase. The second is customer retention. You want your converted customers to stay loyal to your brand and come back for more. You can also take help from experts through profitable SEO Packages.

Thankfully, there are analytic tools you can look into to boost your chances of achieving these goals—bounce rates, for example.

Still, it’s worth noting that how you read bounce rates should depend on how your content is designed, as well as its purpose. Bounce rates can either be good or bad, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. So, while this article zeroes in on high bounce rates that prove detrimental, it’s perfectly possible for the same scenario to be neutral, if not entirely beneficial, on your end.

Conclusion:

Now, you might know what to analyze when your website has high bounce rates. Although it’s good if you hire professionals as they will guide you correctly and help you to a great extent. Link Building Corp is a digital marketing company that provides SEO solutions at a very competitive price. If you are looking for some SEO professionals then we are here to help you with our knowledge and expertise.

To know more contact us at +91-9205356986 or mail at info@linkbuildingcorp.com

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