Bounce rate—a term you must see thrown around often when it comes to search engine optimization. It is believed to play great role in determining the search engine ranking and visibility of your website. In most cases, it is looked at as a bad thing for SEO. However, there are many myths surrounding bounce rate and its role in SEO. And in this article, we are going to debunk some of them. So, read on and find out what are some of the most common bounce rate myths.
Optimizing for search engine is really important for the success of an online business. This explains why all SEO factors and elements are observed so closely. And one of such things is bounce rate. Digital marketing agencies in Toronto found that bounce rate is almost dreaded by most businesses but they generally have little to no actual understanding of it. As a result, there are also many myths surrounding it. And we are going to list some of the most common of them.
Common bounce rate myths
#Bounce rate necessarily equals poor website
One of the most common myths is that bounce rate is that it is necessarily bad. Digital marketing agencies in Edmonton found that most businesses think bounce rate is necessarily an indicator of poor performance of your website. However, that is not really true. Let’s say you have a couple of thousands words long blog on your website and people spend a good amount of time reading it. They may even share it with their friends or on social media. But just because they didn’t click anywhere on your page or took any action, it is going to be counted against bounce rate. Therefore, it is important to understand that bounce rate is not necessarily bad.
#Lower the bounce rate, the better
Another common myth around bounce rate is the lower of it your website has, the better it is. However, that is not really what it is like. Incredibly low bounce rate on a website with multiple web pages is not natural. In most cases, it is an indicator of some technical glitch in your website due to which your CMS is not able to properly communicate with Google Analytics. Or there may be some other such issue. Therefore, when you see that the bounce rate on your website is unnaturally low, then you need to check your CMS, Google Analytics, and/or Tags.
#There is some ideal bounce rate
Different websites have different bounce rates. Let’s say there is a news website or a weather forecast website. On such websites, the user might only want to get single information like some important news headlines or the weather for day. They get that information on that one single page and exit it. This will count against your bounce rate. But does it mean your website content is poor? No! The users find useful information on that website and may visit it again in future. On the other hand, there are websites where people go to get extensive reading of a subject. On such websites, they may be more likely to engage with other articles, may click on different internal links. For such a website, the ideal bounce rate may be different. Thus, it is important to understand that there is no ideal bounce rate for all websites.
#Bounce rate is a ranking factor
Now this one is a bit tricky. Honestly, there is not clear black or white answer to it. But still, considering that bounce rate just do influencer your search ranking and visibility is again a very narrow understanding of it. While many SEO professionals still argue that it does, Google tells that bounce rate is not a ranking factor. However, there is still much ambiguity in this regard. But still, you shouldn’t be too focused in bounce rates when it comes to SEO.
#Bounce rate is same as exit rate
Many people tend to mix up bounce rate and exit rate. They think the two are same. However, there is a great difference between the two. The bounce rate of a page is when someone visits it from the SERP and goes or bounces back to the SERP without taking any action on the page. On the other hand, the exit rate of a page tells how many times the said page has been the last page a user has visited (after visiting a number pages on your website) from which, it exited your website. The two indicate two different things and need to be understood separately.
Final Word
Bounce rate is believed to play an important in SEO. However, it is mostly misunderstood by businesses. As a result, they usually have all the wrong approach towards it. And thus, you need to be aware of the generally myths around it. The most common of those myths have been listed above. So, make sure to check them all out and understand them well. Or else, there are always digital marketing agencies in Vancouver that can entirely take away your SEO worries.
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