Just in case you’re not aware, bounce rate is the term used to describe the percentage of users that visit your website but then leave without making further interactions.
For the most part, a high bounce rate is considered a bad thing. For example, if you want website visitors to go to a product page or your checkout page, you don’t want a high bounce rate.
When it comes to SEO, things get a little more complicated. Bounce rate isn’t a ranking signal for Google, but it does use certain engagement metrics in its algorithm. And that’s essentially what bounce rate is all about – engagement.
With this in mind, here’s how to reduce your website’s bounce rate and at the same time, increase user engagement.
Add more media
Not only will the addition of images and video reduce your bounce rate, because there is something other than text for users to consume, it should also increase time on page. This will do wonders for your SEO.
But as Cyrus Shepard, Lead SEO for Moz explains, diversifying the media you use is equally important: “Mixing the media usually does much better than just adding a video or images by itself. So pages with images, video, and text generally do better than pages with just those things by themselves.”
Make search simple
If you can make the search functionality on your website as easy to use as possible, there’s a higher chance users won’t go back to Google with any other questions or queries they have.
“If they search on your site, you have engaged them,” says Shepard. “They’re looking at more content on your site, and you’ve reduced your bounce rate and improved engagement.”
Use Smart CTAs
The purpose of most pages on any given website is to achieve conversions through CTAs. Therefore, it makes sense to include the ranking keyword in the CTA itself, which should improve engagement and lower bounce rates.
Shepard uses the example of a user wanting to access their credit report score. They are much more likely to click a CTA saying “Get my credit report” than a generic “Add to Cart” button.
Broaden intent satisfaction
This means providing the user with a number of options to continue their online journey. After all, they may not be ready to buy the product they searched for. It could be that they were searching for reviews or pictures instead.
Options include:
- Linking to relevant content – Include links to other resources featuring the same or a similar subject.
- Answer questions – Try to provide in-depth answers to user questions that satisfy their intent.
- Competitive analysis – Look at the ranking results for your search terms and try to satisfy those intents.
Reduce rage and dead clicks
“Rage clicks are when people are hitting something that they think is supposed to be a button or a link and it doesn’t work,” says Shepard. “Same with dead clicks. They’re hitting something, an element on your site, maybe it’s an image, maybe it’s a special colour text that they think is supposed to be a link or they think is supposed to be a call to action, and it doesn’t work.”
Fix these elements and users will click on the buttons or links they’re supposed to, thus reducing bounce rate.
