Can a high bounce rate ever be a good thing? We think it can be and here is why.
Bounce rate can be defined as the percentage of single page visits to a particular website. Normally a single page visit to a website is seen as a bad thing, because it generally means the person searching has found your website hard to navigate, boring or misleading in the search engine.
However, you could also have a high bounce rate because the person searching has found everything they need on their landing page. A successful landing page should give them the exact answer they were searching for; you have a happy client and a successful website but a high bounce rate.
An example of such a website would be an information only site, a site that does not sell online, a website that can give an answer on one landing page.
So, should bounce rates be part of the Google ranking? We would say it is unfair to use a bounce rate as part of the Google ranking. All websites have different specific purposes, they are not all going to be the same, just because a website has a high bounce rate does not mean they do not have satisfied customers, quite the opposite, a customer could have found the answer to their search and be more satisfied than a person who spends twenty minutes browsing through old, inaccurate content on several pages of a particular website.
A customer that finds everything they are looking for on the first page of your website and has their question answered in one minute is going to be a lot more satisfied than a customer that searches through the whole of your site for twenty minutes and comes away from your site frustrated and without the answer they wanted.
We would agree with Chris Crum from Webpro news where he says, “If I were Google, I’d look more at ‘Who Bounces off that page, and returns to the same Google search.”
This would be a much better indicator for Google ranking, as it would tell you directly that your website was not answering the questions you would like it to rank for and therefore not helping your potential customer.
If you want to talk to us about your websites bounce rate, potential SEO Consultancy and reporting services, then speak to us today.