14 Ways to Reduce Bounce Rate
Many online businesses have been suffering from increased bounce rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. It turns out web visitors are becoming increasingly impatient and want a quicker and faster solution to their problems. According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the average attention span of an internet user has declined to 8 seconds, which means webmasters have a tiny window of opportunity they can seize.
This decrease in attention span has led webmasters to look for conversion-optimized website copy because it captures the reader’s attention and keeps them involved with the website content. However, these techniques have a minimal return, and it’s impossible to attract everyone with the web copy.
There are many benefits of reducing bounce rate. Many people searching for the answer to “how to reduce bounce rate” so they can improve their website’s performance and, in turn, its Google ranking. As a result, I have shared my tried and true tips to reduce bounce rate. You can read and implement my strategies for reducing bounce rate and uplift your SEO rankings.
What is Bounce Rate?
Many digital marketers don’t know why their website is underperforming. Since their websites aren’t linked with Google Analytics, they don’t know their bounce rates. Simply put, bounce rate is the percentage of people who visited your website and left within a few seconds. This metric shows Google that the information you shared against a particular keyword for ranking your website in search results is irrelevant. Hence, according to Google, your website doesn’t provide adequate information regarding the keywords it was optimized for or your web interface isn’t appealing to visitors or is difficult to use. There is substantial room for mistakes and errors from the user end; hence, Google has set a specific bounce rate percentage that must be maintained to rank on its first page.
The acceptable range of bounce rate varies from organization to organization. However, the industry benchmarks rest between 56% and 70%. Any number that’s higher than 70 can hurt SEO ranking.
The term bounce rate is often a matter of debate among digital marketers because it’s perceived in two ways – actual bounce rate and bounce rate. The reason behind a single term divided into two identical versions is because this term is checked by two different sources.
Bounce rate is calculated based on the time users spend on your website and the number of pages they visit. If a user spends 30 minutes on your web without navigating to any other sections of your site, does it count as bounce rate? Yes! However, this bounce rate doesn’t affect search engine rankings since search engines know visitors are spending sufficient time on the website. It proves that the website has relevant content that engages users. However, if a web user navigates away from a website without spending sufficient time, it will be counted as bounce rate and will affect your search engine rankings.
14 Tips to Reduce Web Bounce Rate
Optimizing your website to reduce bounce rate can lead to increased conversion. When web visitors spend more time, they tend to either make a purchase or share their email addresses. Regardless of how a user interacts with your website, if you can acquire their email address, you can use this information to run email marketing campaigns or target through social media.
But before we deviate from the topic, let’s uncover 14 ways to reduce website bounce rate and improve conversions.
1. Create A Compelling Webpage
The main objective behind reducing bounce rates is to keep web visitors engaged for an undefined timeframe. This is only possible when the landing page is relevant, modern, fast, and appealing. Moreover, adding video and other visual elements can improve user timings and prevent bounce rates from increasing.
2. Improve Load Time
One of the most influential factors for bounce rate is the load time. It is one of the crucial reasons why web visitors stray away from a website. No matter how aesthetically appealing your website is, your web visitors will switch tabs if it takes more than a second to load. While it might seem unfair to digital marketers, the overwhelming options on the internet can make any customer restless and hungry for the best services.
3. Improve Website Content
This might not be a clear point for some people, but website copy matters a lot in retaining web traffic and reducing bounce rate. Imagine owning a digital marketing agency. How would you keep your web visitors engaged to prevent a bounce rate? Simply, share information related to digital marketing and write personalized web copy. When website content is tailored specifically to a well-defined target audience, it reduces bounce rates and increases conversions. This is because the user feels like communicating with the web owner and enjoys navigating through the website.
4. Target Relevant keywords
Sometimes, webmasters have done everything in the checklist for reducing bounce rate yet they still face substantial figures. This is because they are targeting irrelevant keywords. Understanding the concept behind reducing bounce rates is crucial for understanding where bounce rate originates from. The key concept behind bounce rate is that it occurs when users find irrelevant information against their keyword. Therefore, optimized keyword targeting is the key to reducing bounce rate. When the user finds relevant information in response to their search, they would check out other sections of the website.
5. Make Your Site Mobile Friendly
Mobile-friendliness has become a crucial factor that determines whether visitors will stay on your website or not. This is because the number of mobile users has increased over time. This has led to a spike in mobile share of web traffic. As web traffic increases for mobile users, it becomes critical to have a mobile-responsive website. Brands without a mobile-friendly website have faced a substantial increase in their bounce rate and a marginal decrease in their conversions. Web pages need to be designed to work well on both mobile and desktops. This type of web layout facilitates the visitor and improves website navigation.
6. Pick Contrasting Colors
Colors play an essential role in our decision-making, and color psychology is an entire field dedicated to understanding the effects of different colors on human psychology. Many researchers have deemed colors to influence our mood. The baker miller pink is an example of how colors can drastically impact our mood. Finding the perfect color balance that is soothing for the eye and comfortable to navigate can be challenging. However, it’s crucial to pick contrasting colors to reduce bounce rates. This is because users tend to quickly navigate away from pages that have poor color choices. Moreover, poor color choice makes a website unreliable. Using red as font colors is a recipe for disaster and quickly increases your bounce rate.
7. Open External Links In New Tab
Opening links in the same tab can affect your bounce rate. Some businesses tend to link their website and generate a new page on the same tab. The ideal approach towards maintaining bounce rates is opening external links in new tabs. This will signal search engines that the web visitor didn’t move away from your website.
8. Use Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is an excellent way of improving web speed. This code loads pictures that are on the above-the-fold section of the website before moving to the pictures below the user’s display. This feature helps web visitors navigate through the website and dramatically reduce bounce rates. People leave a website without checking it because it takes too long to load – lazy loading fixes this problem.
9. Improve Your CTA’s
CTA means Call to Action. These are specific words that trigger a response from the web visitor and tap into their emotional side. CTA is excellent for conversion optimization and can reduce bounce rates because the web visitor is inclined to click on a CTA and navigate to a different page. CTA’s can be an exclusive offer, discount, or bundle pack. Some websites provide free ebooks or guides on how to improve their website performance through their CTAs
10. Exit Intent Pop-ups
If you want to capture your web visitors’ attention and try everything in your power to make them stay, you can use exit-intent pop-ups. These are short message windows that include pictures and an appealing look that shares an important message with the web visitor. Exit-intent pop-up trigger when the user tries to close your website. These pop-ups can be used to inform the web visitor about a discount accompanied by a CTA. When web visitors click on the CTA, they are navigated to a different page, thus reducing the bounce rate.
11. Minimize Friction
Another critical element of reducing bounce rate is to minimize web friction as much as possible. Most websites have an excruciatingly long form that asks for irrelevant information from the user. These forms frustrate web users and cause them to navigate away from the websites hosting them. However, friction isn’t limited to long forms, presenting too many options or forcing the user to stay on page is also called friction.
Friction not only increases bounce rate but also affects conversion optimization. For instance, a website with a lengthy checkout process won’t generate a large sales volume than a website with a more straightforward interface.
12. Include Live Chat
Live chat is one of the best ways to reduce bounce rate because it keeps the user engage with a relevant member from the website. Although live chat supports are integrated to help users share their problems with the brand and find a quick solution, it also helps keep users engaged. Human-to-human connection is unparalleled, and it can lead to sales and even solve customer queries.
13. Tell Your Story
Story-telling can be a make-or-break situation for any website. If appropriately done, story-telling can lead to increased conversion rates and lower bounce rates. However, it’s not easy to convey your story compellingly. Most brands that share their story are already popular among their customer base. However, if you have a compelling story to share about your brand, you should share it on the ‘About Us’ page and link it to your landing page. This will reduce bounce rates because users might be encouraged to view your story if you have shared it compellingly.
14. Optimize Internal Links
Internal linking is a crucial aspect of reducing your website’s bounce rates. You build a bridge throughout your website that users can use to navigate to different pages. Internal linking is considered very important by Google, and it helps search engines understand your site map. The easier it is for search engines to navigate through your website, the better your will rank. Moreover, an optimized website with adequate internal links can easily rank on Google’s first page if it has proper backlinks.
The Bottom Line
An average person’s attention span has substantially dropped. This change has forced digital marketers to find different ways to keep users engaged on their websites. Moreover, many websites have seen the effects of reduced attention span on their bounce rate. The increasing rate of visitors leaving a website after 2 seconds has become challenging to counter. That is why I have shared my tips for reducing bounce rate. Follow the guide mentioned above to improve your Google rankings and boost your conversions. Otherwise, your website won’t last long on SERPs.
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