It’s true that you may log into Google Analytics and feel a sense of accomplishment when you look at your traffic and how many visitors you are attracting to your site; however, if those visitors are simply jumping on, and then bouncing off, there is a big problem. A high bounce rate spells trouble for your website—and you need to figure out why your website visitors are heading for the proverbial exit almost as soon as they enter.
Reducing Bounce Rate is Important to Your Business’s Success
If you find that a visitor is leaving your site after browsing one page or jumping ship in the first couple of seconds, then realize that these bounced visitors have concluded that your website has nothing to offer them and do not have the motivation to explore further.
At the same time, there are many reasons why a visitor might leave right after arriving. Here are the most common reasons:
- Your website takes forever to load. Loading time is absolutely pivotal—and visitors these days have short attention spans and little time to spare. Additionally, Google ranks site speed at the very top of the list when it comes to ranking your site in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). If your website is not efficient when loading, it could be seriously hurting your conversion rates. Try getting rid of large media files and reconsider scripts. Run a Page Speed Insight test and learn what Google wants to see in order to ensure your site is running smoothly and quickly.
- Your content is low quality. Not only does Google value high-quality written content, but visitors also expect it. If your content is poorly written, littered with errors and grammar gaffs, wordy and full of jargon that doesn’t mean anything, etc., then a visitor is likely to get turned off. Instead, ensure your verbiage is short and to the point, use enticing call-to-actions, improve your internal linking, and optimize content through the use of headers and bullets so the content is skimmable and easy to digest.
- Your site isn’t mobile friendly. Currently, 80 percent of search is completed on mobile devices, including phones and tablets. Therefore, if your site is only friendly to a user on a desktop, you are missing the boat. If your analytics show your site performing well on desktop, but not mobile, then you have found your reason why your bounce rate is high. Some common issues with non-mobile-friendly sites include content that is wider than the screen, text that is too small to read on a mobile device, and links that are too close together. Google has a test where you can examine if your website is mobile-friendly. Also, make sure you get this issue solved before Google’s mobile-first indexing in March 2021.
- Error 404 and blank pages are a user’s worst nightmare. At the end of the day, no one likes to find themselves on an Error 404 page—and when this happens, one will likely bounce and never return again. Google Search Console will check how your website’s pages load—and will make you aware of broken links, errors, or blank pages so you can troubleshoot and make sure this issue is eliminated.
- Your website has popups—and it’s annoying. If there is one thing that is likely to get a website visitor to head for the exit, it’s irrelevant and annoying popups. Simply put, consumers hate them even though site owners and marketers tend to be advocates. Know that if a user visits your site only to have their surfing and reading interrupted by aggressive popups, you are likely going to lose them. If you are going to use popups, make sure they are well designed and as un-annoying as possible.
- Your meta-descriptions are misleading or false. It is important to optimize meta descriptions for search users—but it also requires you to accurately reflect and describe what a user is likely to find on the page they are being referred to. Keep your meta descriptions concise and to the point so that a user can determine whether a particular search result is right for them, simply by reading your description.
Ultimately, your site has the opportunity to lower its bounce rate and keep a visitor engaged, excited, and eager to do business with you, but you have to ensure your website instills confidence and builds trust in consumers.
If you are experiencing concerns about your website’s bounce rate, or if you simply want to understand what your business could be doing better online, give the team at Woland Web a call today and let’s set up a consultation to discuss your needs and goals. It would be our pleasure to ensure that your website is representing your company effectively online.
