You can reduce your bounce rate by making low-risk, low-effort, common sense changes to your site.
Along the way, you will make the experience more enjoyable and valuable to everyone who visits. This will improve conversion rates and other metrics that matter a whole lot more than bounce rate.
Can’t find your bounce rate? GA4 doesn’t show it by default, but you can add it back in manually. It takes two seconds, we’ll cover it below.
What Is Reducing Bounce Rate On a Website?
Bounce rate tells you the percentage of people who visited your site left without doing anything else. They came, they saw, they bounced.
At a glance, a high bounce rate tells you that a significant percentage of website visitors:
- Don’t find what they want
- Find something they don’t want
- Misunderstood the link they clicked
- Don’t see a reason to engage
- Have a bad page experience
There are many more reasons people bounce instead of staying to engage, but you get the idea. The higher the bounce rate, the greater the indication that your website is not serving the people who show up.
Conversely, reducing the bounce rate is a sign that you are giving people what they came for.
Quick Definition: Bounce Rate in GA4
I’ll be using the definition of bounce rate from GA4 (Google Analytics 4) throughout the post. This standard gets attention because Alphabet (Google’s parent company) is the biggest digital advertiser in the world, and GA4 is its flagship analytics product.
Google has used different definitions in the past, but in GA4, bounce rate refers to the percentage of sessions (website visits) with no engagement.
To put it in a simple equation:
GA4 bounce rate = 100% – engagement rate
The engagement rate compares the number of engaged sessions to the total number of sessions, telling you what percentage of sessions had engagement.
What counts as an engaged session? One or more of the following has to happen:
- The user stayed on the page 10 seconds or more
- They triggered a conversion event
- They visited another page or screen
If someone comes to your page and stays for 11 seconds, it’s an engaged session, not a bounce. Had they exited 1.1 seconds sooner, it’s a bounce.
So yes, the boundary separating engaged sessions from bounces is arbitrary, but it’s just Google trying to respect the fact that even a short visit can have value.
Where can I find the bounce rate in GA4?
It’s not normally part of your reports, but you can add it in manually by following these steps:
- Login to your GA4 account
- Select Reports from the menu
- Go to the report you want to customize (e.g. Pages and screens)
- Click the pencil icon (Customize Report) in the upper right hand corner.
- Under Report Data, select Metrics > Add metric
- Search for “Bounce rate”
- Click Apply
- Save changes.
It’s a little cumbersome, but that’s because Google has really put the focus on engagement, what users do on a site.
Personally, I don’t add bounce rate back in. I’m with Google on this one. There isn’t a perfect way to characterize website engagement, but bounce rate is too blunt of a tool to guide decision making. GA4 and other platforms provide many more useful customer engagement metrics for finding opportunities and risks to address.
Should I Worry About Reducing Bounce Rate?
Under normal circumstances, no, I wouldn’t worry. Bounce rate can be misleading. In some cases, it’s not worth fixing or putting time into thinking about.
But when it lines up with other troubling signals, it can be a symptom of a real problem.
I would worry about a high bounce rate if:
- There’s also a drop in conversion rate
- It’s a sudden spike from normal baseline bounce rate
- You notice a long-term, persistent upward trend in bounce rate
- There’s also a traffic or rankings drop
- You have recently made major changes (e.g. site redesign)
In these cases, their bounce rate is one of several signals that tells you there’s a real problem. It could be that the redesign is hard to navigate, that your messaging is getting stale, or that something is broken on the site.
I would worry less about high bounce rate if:
- Conversion rate remains stable or improves
- It’s not unusually high compared to similar pages
In these cases, a high bounce rate might just be the sign of an efficient page. If the conversion rate remains high, who cares about the fraction of visitors that bounce?
Some pages have naturally higher bounce rates than others. Pages with basic information like location hours and contact details are going to have high bounce rates, and that’s fine. The fact that they get visitors the information they need in under 10 seconds without needing to click anything is a good outcome.
What’s a normal bounce rate?
There are lots of studies out there from people who have collected years of bounce rate data from different industries and channels. Surveying this, you find that the blended average bounce rate generally is between 30-60%.
Broken down, you see lower bounce rates for ecommerce with the average in the 20-40% range, whereas informational pages like blogs and FAQ’s tend to have rates closer to the 70-90% range.
I think all of this sounds good and is probably true enough to go on if you don’t have a ton of data yourself. If you can drive more traffic to your site, you can be more confident in the numbers you are seeing.
Causes of High Bounce Rates
It’s rarely just one thing. Usually there are several factors working against your site at the same time that ultimately lead to a problematic bounce rate.
To help you recognize what’s causing people to leave on your site, I’ve grouped the most common causes of high bounce rates into four discrete types of failure:
- Expectation mismatch: The page didn’t deliver what users thought they’d get.
- Technical issues: Something about the page interfered with access or usability.
- Content gaps: The content wasn’t convincing or valuable enough to hold attention.
- Unclear next steps: There was no obvious action to take after reading.
This breakdown mirrors how many product, growth, and editorial teams diagnose problems with engagement. They want to find out where the user experience breaks down, learn why it’s happening, and make improvements.
Let’s take a closer look at each type of failure, how to recognize it, and some real-life examples to illustrate why people bounce.
Expectation mismatch: This happens when the user arrives with one goal in mind, and the page delivers something else. Some examples where expectations are not aligned with what’s on the page:
- A headline for an ad says “Try Our Free Demo Today”, but leads to a landing page with a vague form and no mention of a demo. Users click expecting immediate access and bounce when the offer isn’t clear or available.
- A user searches for “easy payroll tools” and lands on a page for a full-service HR platform built for large teams. They were just looking for a simple way to pay a few employees, not a full suite of features they don’t need
Technical issues: This covers any situation where poor website performance or broken page elements prevent users from engaging. Some examples of technical issues that drive people to leave:
- A user clicks an ad while scrolling. The landing page takes more than four seconds to load and they don’t stick around.
- A mobile user encounters buttons that are too small and too close together to tap easily. After a few attempts, they leave.
- A user spots a heading that looks expandable but nothing responds when they click it. They’re not sure if the content is broken or just missing.
Content gaps: These are places where your site fails to deliver enough value or substance to hold people’s attention. A few common scenarios where thin or missing content fails to inspire engagement:
- A user browses a landing page for handmade furniture, but the only images are small, poorly lit, and don’t show the item from multiple angles.
- An email newsletter teaser promises “The Full Survey Results Are In,” but the linked article only summarizes highlights with no breakdown, charts, or download.
- A user visits a local service provider’s homepage and sees copywriting filled with vague claims and typos.
Unclear next steps: This occurs when there is no clear call to action, no obvious invitation to engage further. Some examples where a lack of direction leads to a bounce:
- A user lands on a blog post, scans the intro, and reaches the end of the visible content without seeing a CTA or related article to click.
- A shopper clicks a product link from an ad, but the landing page shows multiple products with no guidance or featured item.
- A user clicks an ad for a free guide but finds only a headline and form. With no context, they leave instead of signing up.
17 Quick Ways to Reduce Bounce Rate
Once you have a rough idea of what’s turning visitors away, you’re in a good spot to take action. You don’t need a perfect diagnosis to get started, but you should have a sense of where your page is missing the boat with visitors.
The fixes are grouped to match the common failure types we just covered in the causes of high bounce rates section.
Fixing expectation mismatch
These fixes address the disconnect between what users think they’ll get and what your page actually delivers.
1. Revise headlines to reflect the actual offer or content
Writing good headlines that attract attention and convince people to click is hard, and the content has to live up to what’s promised. If your title features a “guide,” make sure there’s more than a short list.
Misleading, overly ambitious headlines get click the click, but only generate bounces.
2. Create separate landing pages for different funnel stages
Your target audience is made up of customers at different stages of awareness and readiness to buy. Play this to your advantage by designing landing pages geared towards major moments in the customer journey. Visitors at the awareness stage are looking for quick answers or inspiration, whereas those at the consideration stage want to see proof or comparisons.
Bring traffic to these pages with calls to action (CTAs) that match the customers funnel stage, such as “Learn more” for top-funnel pages, and “get a quote” for a page aimed at bottom-funnel customers. Those are forgettable, generic CTAs, but they make for good examples here.
3. Improve ad targeting to filter out low-fit clicks
Use exclusions and audience filters to prevent the wrong traffic from arriving. All of the ad platforms give you plenty of tools to target specific segments.
Niche down as much as possible and remove any segments that you know won’t work out. Demographics are helpful to consider, but many brands do better segmenting by psychographics, such as interests, beliefs, and attitudes.
Another way to improve targeting is by refining your keyword strategy to attract visitors who are actively looking for what your page offers, not just browsing loosely related terms. This improves ad relevance and lowers bounce rate by matching the right message to the right person. There are many keyword research tools that can help you fine-tune your strategy.
4. Align traffic source with page content
Use web analytics tools to figure out how different traffic sources interact with your pages differently. The confetti report from Crazy Egg shows traffic sources differentiated by color to give you a sense of what engages people coming from Facebook, Reddit, Google Search, Bing, and so on.
Traffic from different sources tends to behave in predictable ways. For example, unless you have data that says otherwise, you can assume that traffic from Facebook and Reddit isn’t generally ready to buy. People are browsing casually, curious and skeptical. Getting traffic from these sources to stick around and commit to gated content, demo signups, and other bottom-of-the-funnel content is going to be tough sledding.
Why not send them to content that builds trust, previews value, or offers something low-friction, like a short guide or tool?
Fixing technical issues
These fixes target places on your site when the user tries to engage, but can’t because something is broken, delayed, or hidden.
5. Improve page speed
If your page load time is more than 4 seconds, getting it lower should decrease bounce rate considerably. If page loads are already less than two seconds, improvements will be harder to make, and there’s less of a chance that speed is negatively impacting bounce rate.
When page load time is an issue, there are many ways to speed up your website, such as compressing images, enabling lazy-loading, and minimizing third-party scripts.
Take a look at the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console. If you can bring those up to par, you should be in a decent place for site speed, and there is loads of documentation for how to improve Core Web Vitals.
6. Test all links and interactive elements
A broken link or menu that doesn’t work is going to cause someone to bounce immediately. On high-value pages, it pays to regularly check for full functionality on desktop, mobile, and tablet.
And maybe the broken link goes to a 404 error page. It won’t count as a bounce, sure, but unless you have an amazing 404 page, that visitor has lost trust in your site and is probably gone.
There are lots of SEO tools with site crawlers that can automate the testing process and alert you of broken links and faulty scripts. Definitely use some sort of tool to manage this at scale, but also consider tasking editors with checking links manually on important pages as part of content updates.
7. Make the site mobile-friendly
This goes beyond simply having a mobile-responsive layout. Obviously, you want that because the vast majority of mobile users will bounce immediately if your site is just a browser web page they have to zoom in on.
If bounce rates are high, you could dig a little further into the mobile experience to make sure everything is working as it should. Does content fit without sideways scrolling? Do images display correctly on smaller screen sizes? Is anything overlapping or cut off?
There are a variety of tools from Google, Microsoft, and others that can help you find and fix the simple issues that create a clunky impression with visitors.
8. Give users a clean, uncluttered experience
People leave when too much gets in the way of the content they came for. So if bounce rates are way too high, I’d pare back on anything that demands the visitor’s attention before they have a chance to engage.
Things like pop-ups that block content and autoplay video can lead to instant bounces, especially for mobile users.
If removing pop-ups completely isn’t feasible, you can always delay them using triggers based on time or how far users scroll down. Exit pop-ups are another option that won’t interfere with the user experience immediately. These tactics can soften the bounce rate considerably, as people get some breathing room to explore your site before the intrusion.
I’d also make sure that it’s easy to close pop-ups. It’s respectful of users and makes it easier for them to engage with your site further.
Fixing content gaps
These fixes address pages where users come with real interest, and leave because your content didn’t earn their trust or attention.
9. Lead with a clear, valuable payoff
On commercial pages (products, services, landing pages) you want to make sure that people understand the benefit of continuing to engage with your specific content. If the first few lines don’t show relevance or reward, users won’t scroll.
Skip the stock images and showcase your product or service. Use quality images, gifs, and video to highlight what your product does and why it matters. Keep it simple, straightforward, like the Figma website below that uses less than 20 words to make their offer.
Use high-performing headline formulas that speak directly to the hopes, fears, and desires of your target audience. Pair these with subheads that support your headline by reinforcing the message or handling common objections. Cut all the filler to make the key ideas in your writing stand out.
Assume that people have a few tabs open. You need to stand out as quickly as possible if you want people to stay.
10. Give the answer right away
On informational pages (blogs, FAQs, case studies) this stupid simple tactic can be extremely helpful. I understand the impulse to “save the good stuff” for after users scroll down, but that’s just not how people want to interact these days. They want the answer to their question, the comparison of products, the list of home remedies, and they don’t want to dig.
I see more and more top-ranking sites providing “Key takeaways” after a 30-word intro. This strategy gives people what they came for, and done right, increases your site’s perceived authority and trustworthiness.
A typical key takeaways section will respond to the main query in the first 2-3 bullets, but the last 2-3 bullets usually allude to a more nuanced understanding, a deeper perspective, or a counterintuitive insight. They satisfy the intent, and promise a deeper reward for people who continue to engage.
This is just one (easy and low-tech) way to deliver value straight away for informational content geared toward the top of the funnel.
11. Replace generic claims with specific examples
When you don’t use numbers, stats, or data to back up what you say on your site, it’s asking people to take you at your word. Unless you have a really strong brand, you’ll have much better luck persuading people to engage if your claims are tied to specific examples.
Consider the following claims:
- Generic: “Our heating system is the most efficient on the market.”
- Better: “Our heating system is 37% more efficient than leading brands.”
- Memorable: “Our home heating system saves customers an average of $57/month.”
What does “efficiency” mean to your average consumer? They know that it’s a good thing, but the abstract concept is harder to imagine than $57 back in their pocket every month. Now the customer is imagining what they would do with the savings your product has proven to bring.
12. Make content easier for people to scan
Use a table of contents, subsections, and short paragraphs to keep the content scannable and help people find what they came for. Many of your most high-intent, high-awareness visitors are going to want to skip the preamble “overview” content and SEO filler. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to find the subsection they really care about.
On the design side, pay attention to whitespace, contrast, and other typography elements that have a huge impact on how effortless and enjoyable it is to engage with your content.
13. Enhance content quality
Content quality is subjective to a point, but if your competitors are offering deeper, more nuanced information, you are going to lose out to them over time. If the top performing pages have FAQs, diagrams, comparison tables, and other content your site currently lacks, those are obvious gaps you can fill to get people to stick around.
One quick note here: More isn’t always better. Increasing content quality often means reducing the amount of text. Revising the copywriting in high-visibility, high-value areas (such as above the fold or near CTAs) to be more concise, punchier, and to the point is a great way to get people to engage.
Fixing unclear next steps
These fixes focus on what happens when users land, look, and leave because the page feels like a dead end.
14. Design visual hierarchy to lead the eye
Visual hierarchy is the way design elements are arranged to guide a visitor’s attention toward the most important content first. If the hierarchy is unclear, people may get confused and lose interest.
Here are some questions to ask: What draws my eye first, and is it the most important thing? Are your CTA’s visually distinct from other elements on the page? Does the visual flow lead you naturally from one section to the next, or do you feel like you’re jumping around?
There is a lot to be said for following basic web navigation best practices to make sure people understand how to find their way around your site. There are patterns people recognize and know how to engage with immediately.
15. Use internal links to guide users deeper into your site
Strategically linking to relevant pages on your site can grab a visitor’s attention before the 10-second mark and shift a passive session into an active one.
Place these internal links near the top, and clearly show the value of clicking. Link to other content that is related to the user intent on the page. Think about what would really help users arriving on this page.
Not everyone is going to bite on your main offer, so focus on providing links to content that help people learn more about your brand, their pain points, and how your product helps them solve it.
Use anchor text that promises a payoff and clarifies where the link goes. “See how it works,” and “Compare plans,” are both more enticing and transparent than a link with the anchor text, “Click here.”
16. Make key navigation links visible on mobile menus
Mobile screens are tight. I get the impulse to put all the main navigation links inside a hamburger menu. It’s clean, minimalist, and the menu icon is small, which gives you more precious space for content.
The trouble is that UX research has consistently shown that hiding menu options prevents many users from going deeper into the site. That means fewer conversions and a higher bounce rate.
I’d keep 1–2 high-priority links (like “Shop” or “Contact”) visible in the top bar and clearly label the menu so users know where to tap. This hamburger menu from the web design firm, Gravity Works, a web design firm, is an excellent way to make sure everyone knows where to click.
People are getting more familiar with hamburger menus (and their variations), but at this point it doesn’t hurt to explicitly label the menu. Hidden navigation links are a surefire way to create friction for first-time visitors or non-savvy users.
You may be able to avoid a bounce by getting people to click through a confusing menu, but that’s not really going to help you in the long-run.
17. Simplify menu structures
Overcomplicated menus overwhelm users, especially when they’re faced with mega-menus or dropdowns filled with jargon, internal labels, or endless subcategories.
I would avoid menus with more than 6–7 top-level items. Group related items together in dropdown menus, and place the most important links at the top of the list. The middle options of any dropdown are the ones most people miss, so bear that in mind.
I would also refrain from nesting links more than two levels deep. By that, a new visitor should be able to find your most valuable page in under three clicks.
