Bounce rate

In this article, we tell you what the bounce rate is. We also name how to interpret the bounce rate. Finally, we talk about what it can do for the organic findability of your website.

What is it?

The bounce rate is also known as the rejection rate. It indicates the percentage of visits that did not view more than 1 page. The bounce rate is calculated by dividing the number of bounces by the total number of visits to the website. A bounce rate of 55% means that 55% of total visitors visited a page and left it right away.

The bounce rate is an often misunderstood term. A bounce does not have to be negative. In fact, it depends on the purpose of the page. A person may spend 30 minutes reading an article and then leave the page. At that point there is also a bounce. Most websites have an average bounce rate between 30-50%.

A high bounce rate can mean three things:

  • The quality of the web page is low. The page failed to capture the visitor’s interest.
  • The visitor did not find what they were looking for.
  • The visitor did find the information they were looking for.
  • One interprets the level of the bounce rate based on the purpose of the web page. If the purpose of the web page is to inform, then a high bounce rate is evident. In this situation, it is not negative to have a high bounce rate.

How do you lower the bounce rate?

However, sometimes a bounce rate does indicate that visitors leave the page immediately again. When this is the case, you need to look closely at what the reason might be. Is the website attractive enough? Does the page load too slowly? Does the information not connect well with the visitor’s needs? There are three ways to lower the bounce rate:

  • Define your goal and make sure you have clear call-to-actions;
  • Reduce website load time;
  • Optimize the website for mobile devices.

Conclusion: the bounce rate has different interpretations

As mentioned earlier, the purpose of the web page is important. The purpose of the web page tells you how to interpret the bounce rate. A high percentage need not be negative. Sometimes, however, a high percentage does have a negative reason. At that point, there are several solutions. For example, putting a clear call-to-action on the website or speeding up the loading time of a web page. When any problems are fixed, it positively affects the user experience of the web page. This is another big factor that has a big impact on your organic findability.


Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bounce Rate?

The bounce rate sometimes called the rejection rate represents the percentage of visits in which no more than one page was viewed. You can calculate the bounce rate by dividing the number of bounces by the total number of visits to the site in question.

What is the impact of Bounce rate on SEO?

Although it need not always be negative, a bounce rate often indicates that visitors are leaving your page again immediately. It is important to look closely at reason for this so that you can do something about it as well. In fact, your site may not be relevant or attractive enough.

Senior SEO-specialist

Ralf van Veen

Senior SEO-specialist
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I have been working for 12 years as an independent SEO specialist for companies (in the Netherlands and abroad) that want to rank higher in Google in a sustainable manner. During this period I have consulted A-brands, set up large-scale international SEO campaigns and coached global development teams in the field of search engine optimization.

With this broad experience within SEO, I have developed the SEO course and helped hundreds of companies with improved findability in Google in a sustainable and transparent way. For this you can consult my portfolio, references and collaborations.

This article was originally published on 27 March 2024. The last update of this article was on 27 March 2024. The content of this page was written and approved by Ralf van Veen. Learn more about the creation of my articles in my editorial guidelines.