Why does your website have a high bounce rate?
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2025 7:14 am
Wasted budget and wasted efforts are the result of the behavior of site visitors who have abandoned their site. In this article, we will talk about the main reasons for the high number of abandonments.
What is a website's bounce rate?
Bounce is a user behavior when they land on your site but leave it almost immediately for some reason without viewing the content.
Website bounce rate is one of the key metrics of Yandex botim database analytics systems.
Bounce rate in Yandex Metrica
Yandex Metrica considers a page visit less than 15 seconds as a bounce, and calculates this using the formula:
Bounce = sessions less than 15 seconds or 1 pageview / total sessions * 100%
What is the average bounce rate considered normal? There is no exact answer, as each site needs to be considered individually.
What's wrong with website bounces?
Bounces have negative consequences: if the user has not performed the target action on the site (purchase, left contacts, subscription, etc.). However, this is only one side of the problem. Bounces also negatively affect the site's position in the search engine rankings. For example, for the Yandex search engine, bounces are an important indicator of behavioral factors that affect the site's ranking in search results. Sites with a high bounce rate will not occupy the top positions in search results. Search engines understand that if users immediately leave the site, then something is wrong with it.
Reasons for website failures
The user did not find what he was looking for
Yes, the site may have everything, but you were unable to lead the visitor to the page that would solve his problems.
This could be:
Small assortment. Even if the desired product is present in the catalog, but the number of options offered is insufficient, the user may decide that there is nothing to choose from and will go to a site with a wider assortment.
Price inconsistency. When a person sees a price for a product that exceeds their own perception of value, they are likely to leave the site without looking at other aspects of the product.
Long path to the desired information. Difficult access to information also creates obstacles for users. If the price of the product is outside the first scroll area of the screen or is difficult to find, the visitor may prefer to find the necessary information faster on another resource.
Incorrect distribution of queries across resource pages. Poorly structured product categories, where products with different prices and purposes are in one section, can push customers to buy on a competing site with a convenient categorization system.
The user found what he was looking for, but something didn't suit him
Here's what it could be:
Design. Either it's bad or it doesn't match the content.
No important characteristics and descriptions. Not enough information to make a decision to make a purchase.
There are no marketing techniques. If the resource contains information about discounts and bonuses in the form of free delivery, and this data is clearly and conveniently displayed, then the visitor immediately sees it and understands: I will just stay on the site for a few minutes and find a good deal. In the absence of such information, the user does not feel the benefit and may leave the site in search of a similar product at a discount from competitors.
The product navigation is not well developed. If the user is offered different types of product, then the difference between them should be explained and the visitor should be led to the page with the type he needs.
Something is not working correctly on the site
The reasons for refusal may be the following:
Slow loading speed of the site or its individual pages. So slow that the neighboring tabs of competitors have loaded, and on yours not even half of the content is visible. Obviously, no one will wait for loading and will simply close the tab.
Incorrect display of content. There are cases of broken coding. Some buttons and elements may not work, blocks may be incorrectly positioned.
Incorrect display of content on different browsers. In such cases, you need to look at the percentage of failures by browser and fix the errors.
Incorrect display of content on different devices. For example, the site looks good on the desktop version, but bad on mobile devices and tablets.
Conclusion
We've looked at the factors that can cause you to have a high bounce rate. To fix this situation, we recommend analyzing user behavior, optimizing your site for ease of use, and paying attention to the quality of your content.
What is a website's bounce rate?
Bounce is a user behavior when they land on your site but leave it almost immediately for some reason without viewing the content.
Website bounce rate is one of the key metrics of Yandex botim database analytics systems.
Bounce rate in Yandex Metrica
Yandex Metrica considers a page visit less than 15 seconds as a bounce, and calculates this using the formula:
Bounce = sessions less than 15 seconds or 1 pageview / total sessions * 100%
What is the average bounce rate considered normal? There is no exact answer, as each site needs to be considered individually.
What's wrong with website bounces?
Bounces have negative consequences: if the user has not performed the target action on the site (purchase, left contacts, subscription, etc.). However, this is only one side of the problem. Bounces also negatively affect the site's position in the search engine rankings. For example, for the Yandex search engine, bounces are an important indicator of behavioral factors that affect the site's ranking in search results. Sites with a high bounce rate will not occupy the top positions in search results. Search engines understand that if users immediately leave the site, then something is wrong with it.
Reasons for website failures
The user did not find what he was looking for
Yes, the site may have everything, but you were unable to lead the visitor to the page that would solve his problems.
This could be:
Small assortment. Even if the desired product is present in the catalog, but the number of options offered is insufficient, the user may decide that there is nothing to choose from and will go to a site with a wider assortment.
Price inconsistency. When a person sees a price for a product that exceeds their own perception of value, they are likely to leave the site without looking at other aspects of the product.
Long path to the desired information. Difficult access to information also creates obstacles for users. If the price of the product is outside the first scroll area of the screen or is difficult to find, the visitor may prefer to find the necessary information faster on another resource.
Incorrect distribution of queries across resource pages. Poorly structured product categories, where products with different prices and purposes are in one section, can push customers to buy on a competing site with a convenient categorization system.
The user found what he was looking for, but something didn't suit him
Here's what it could be:
Design. Either it's bad or it doesn't match the content.
No important characteristics and descriptions. Not enough information to make a decision to make a purchase.
There are no marketing techniques. If the resource contains information about discounts and bonuses in the form of free delivery, and this data is clearly and conveniently displayed, then the visitor immediately sees it and understands: I will just stay on the site for a few minutes and find a good deal. In the absence of such information, the user does not feel the benefit and may leave the site in search of a similar product at a discount from competitors.
The product navigation is not well developed. If the user is offered different types of product, then the difference between them should be explained and the visitor should be led to the page with the type he needs.
Something is not working correctly on the site
The reasons for refusal may be the following:
Slow loading speed of the site or its individual pages. So slow that the neighboring tabs of competitors have loaded, and on yours not even half of the content is visible. Obviously, no one will wait for loading and will simply close the tab.
Incorrect display of content. There are cases of broken coding. Some buttons and elements may not work, blocks may be incorrectly positioned.
Incorrect display of content on different browsers. In such cases, you need to look at the percentage of failures by browser and fix the errors.
Incorrect display of content on different devices. For example, the site looks good on the desktop version, but bad on mobile devices and tablets.
Conclusion
We've looked at the factors that can cause you to have a high bounce rate. To fix this situation, we recommend analyzing user behavior, optimizing your site for ease of use, and paying attention to the quality of your content.