I have read a couple of articles that correlate bounce rate and search engine performance (at least for Google). I'm trying to figure out what exactly is considered a bounce and some other stuff, so I made a list of questions: 1. What is the duration for a single page visit until it is no longer considered a bounce when a visitor leaves? 2. What if a visitor lands on a page, and then visits another page within 5 seconds and then closes the browser. Is that considered a bounce? 3. When external links are opened in a new window (i.e. target_blank, rel="external", onclick=... etc) is it considered a bounce? Is there any difference between using HTML and Javascript to open a new window? 4. If opening external links in a new window is considered a bounce, does it change anything if the user then comes back to the site which has remained opened and then starts browsing around?
Bounce rate has no relation to SEO... If I found all information in a single page, why should I click for links?... The best thing that you need to focus on is "How long a visitor stay on your page"..
I am hoping that your post is inspired by this post: Do Search Engines Use Bounce Rate As A Ranking Factor? And if are willing to find answers to your questions I recommend you read this Standard Metrics Revisited: #3: Bounce Rate post written by Avinash Kaushik.
It's always interesting to know about new ones, i am eagerly waiting for stuff like this. I appreciate you efforts, so many will come to know about Bounce Rate... Thanks for sharing... hire seo expert
a bounce rate is when a user visits your site but does not navigate away from the page they entered on, regardless of time spent on-site. as you may expect, article and news sites will see a higher bounce rate than, say, a shopping site where the user will be moving around the site looking at products.
You are infact, very much incorrect in making a statement which says that the bounce rate has no relation to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It does!, Search Engines look at how long people are on websites for (If you have Google Anylitic Code Installed)... This then helps Google decide if your site is keeping some good visitors and that they are interested. Making your site a better rank in the long run. ~ Mike
And you are more incorrect into this... Bounce traffic means a visitor is not clicking on any other internal links inside the site regardless of how long he stay... Examples 1. Homepage - a visitor read the content of homepage for 2 hours (because he really like the article) and then closed the site... = bounce traffic 2. Homepage - a visitor read the content of homepage for 1 minute and then transferred to another page for another minute - not a bounce traffic Which one will you select? The bounce traffic who stayed longer or not a bounce traffic but stayed only for 2 minutes? Bounce traffic is not bad... it depends on visitor activity... ++++ and next time, before you comment, make sure you can explain what you are talking about... now you learned something from me.. Bounce traffic is not "how long people stay on your site".. it's all about internal clicking" Whether a visitor stay on your site for 1 minutes but clicked 4 internal links, still not a bounce traffic but very poor visitor activity..
but what he is suggesting is that part of googles algorhythm may very well be bounce rate. it's an interesting point and one i hadn't considered.
Try to hold visitor on your page to decrease your bounce rate with the help of Interesting and useful content Helpful and interested videos
here is another good guide on how to avoid bounce traffic. Analysis and recommendations - http://www.myseoblog.net/2008/08/28/bounce-traffic-analysis-and-recommendations/
The bounce rate evaluation that google most likely include in the algorithm* is the period of time between looking at a result in serps, and going straight back to the results. i.e. if you click and look at a result, then go straight back to the search results to find something more 'relevant' without looking at the site. Personally, I think google would use this kind of data, over google anayltic results, which I don't believe there is any evidence plays into the algorithm for serps and is self-selecting anyway, as not everyone uses it (* it's just my guess - as is everyone else's opinion on this. Anyway who thinks they actually know is an idiot)
Since this is a followup to the h ttp://sphinn.com/story/93908#c61138 forum thread, may I direct you the what Matt Cutts of Google has published: Without reading the article, I'll just say that bounce rates would be not only spammable but noisy. A search industry person recently sent me some questions about how bounce rate is done at Google and I was like "Dude, I have no idea about any things like bounce rate. Why don't you talk to this nice Google Analytics evangelist who knows about things like bounce rate?" I just don't even run into people talking about this in my day-to-day life. -- Matt Cutts
Viktor is this your blog ? unfortunately most of the images were removed by photobucket (problems with hotlinking). Anyway not fully related to this, the OP may like to read What is a good Bounce Rate and How to Improve Bounce Rate.