If you’ve set up your Google Analytics account, you may have noticed that percentage count that says “Bounce Rate.” Now you might probably think that Google doesn’t pay attention to this and that it’s just another number, well it’s not!

According to the help of Google Analytics, bounce rate is the percentage of single page views or visits where the person left your site from the entry (landing) page. Use this metric to measure the quality of visits: a high bounce rate usually indicates that the landing pages of your site are not relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages are, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by tailoring your landing pages to each keyword and ad you run. Landing pages must provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.

Simply put, you need to get visitors to visit more pages within your site. This is to prevent your website’s analytics from increasing.

Why is it important to keep it to a minimum?

With the recent updates that Google has been putting in their algorithms, they consider the bounce rate when rating a website. If your bounce rate is high, it can mean a number of negative things which can include:

  • unattractive design
  • boring content
  • website looking for spam

Here are some tips to reduce the bounce rate so that your website is not flagged as spam or penalized by Google’s search algorithms:

  1. Make quality content

    If you plan to create content à la Twitter (with 140 characters or less), then expect your bounce rate to increase soon. Make sure you write compelling content with good spelling and near perfect grammar.

  2. Link within your site

    If your website is powered by WordPress, this will be much easier. WordPress has a built-in plugin that allows you to link within the pages of your website. Also make sure to check the “always open in a new tab” checkbox. That way, your visitors have two tabs open within your site, making Google think that your visitors are real visitors and not some automated program clicking links.

  3. compact design

    Unless your website is Tumblr or 9GAG, then it’s best to make your website design as compact as possible. Generally, people hate scrolling down; That is what we are. Make your design as easy on the eyes as possible without letting your visitors scroll down as much.

  4. Only post backlinks to relevant sites

    If you are going to build links, make sure you only post on relevant sites like with your website. This is for your visitors to interact with your website and more importantly your business. If not, Google’s algorithms can catch up with what you’re doing and, again, penalize you for it.

The point is that you need to source and implement only white hat SEO practices to get your site on Google’s good side. So if it’s for your lead generation, you better get it done ASAP. No matter what your business is, whether you are in the food industry, IT, or running a business call center, then there is no doubt that you need to reduce the bounce rate of your website.