When you set up a website and spend an untold number of hours adding articles and promoting them, it can be frustrating to notice that your pages have high bounce rates. In order to find a way out of this impasse and to limit your bounce rate as much as possible, helloDarwin offers its best advice.
11 ways to improve your website's bounce rate
The role of content on your website's bounce rate
1. Producing high-quality articles
This tip may seem obvious, but it is often underestimated. At times, it can seem advantageous to strive to maximize our time and to stick to covering subjects in a superficial manner. However, this strategy will not be of any help if you wish for visitors to spend as much time as possible on your page. Not only will shallow articles fail to capture attention, but they will also keep you from standing out from the competition.
To offer a concrete solution to this problem, be sure to use Google Analytics. This analysis tool will help you find out which articles have the most views on your website and will indicate which subjects you should focus on. Similarly, you can regroup pages that have a high bounce rate and try to identify the type of content that doesn't work with your visitors.
2. Choosing your keywords
Keywords, titles and subtitles that are used in your articles must be precise and must reflect what a web user could identify as the answer to their search on Google. Perhaps the word you have chosen is unusual? You may like how it sounds but if the majority of people didn't use that word when searching a given theme and still land on your website, they probably won't make the connection between that word and their request. If they believe that their question has not been properly answered, they will leave quickly.
3. Grouping articles by themes
Visiting a website where several distinct subjects with no direct link are covered will leave more than one person bewildered. Your website will seem incoherent and web users will not be able to find relevant information which corresponds to what they were looking for, nor will they be able to find other content that may be of interest for them.
Trace your guideline and stick to it: your visitors will appreciate the fact that your articles are targeted towards a specific type of content and will quickly notice that you are providing answers to their interrogations.
4. Sharing similar articles
One of the best ways to keep visitors on your site is to attract their attention for as long as possible. If your reader has already looked at one of your articles, try to feature other articles that they may like. Since these articles are also relevant to the subject they were initially looking up, they will be able to deepen their knowledge of said theme and will stay longer on your website. This will also help with your on-site referencing.
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The role of a website's structure to improve its' bounce rate
5. Betting on a sober-looking front page
Since this is the first contact that many visitors have with your website, the content and layout of the main page require special attention. Arriving on a page that is overloaded with colours and disorganized elements will make the user feel like they will need to work hard to find the content they are looking for.
To avoid turning off your visitors, which would cause them to leave, limit the number of tabs by regrouping the information together. With regards to other visual elements, stick to the same viewpoint.
6. Making key elements visible
With regards to the content of other pages on the website, always keep in mind that several elements such as calls to action, links or featured articles must be visible whilst being presented in a way that is simple and free of artifice.
The same recommendation also applies to the title of the article, which must be easy to find on each page. Images, for their part, must support the content and should not be overused. Of course, the general appearance of your website can vary depending on the type of audience you are trying to reach but one thing remains: elements must be in limited numbers and easy to find.
7. Avoiding promotional banners that are too invasive
First of all, it should be stated that promotional banners can be financially profitable. However, any web user knows how annoying it can be to start reading an article, only to be interrupted by a banner that appears out of nowhere.
What do we do in this type of situation? Like any frustrated web user, we leave the site without waiting. Try to avoid putting your visitors in this situation by making sure that the banners do not block the view as users read.
In the same vein, pop-ups and other unsolicited elements easily earn their top spot in the unwanted category. Avoid using them, as they will cause your visitors to leave as quickly as possible.
Studying the technical aspects of your website to make improvements
8. Improving the download speed
When we address the issue of irritants that may cause people to leave a website quickly, it is impossible not to mention the site's download speed. In that regard, graphic elements, as well as everything that is related to JavaScript, Flash or your content management system must be taken into consideration.
Furthermore, it should be noted that a large number of articles published on the main page will affect your website's download speed. On another note, keep in mind that your website should be compatible with as many navigators as possible.
9. Making sure that getting back to the main page is easy
If a visitor arrives on one of your articles and likes the content, they will probably want to check out more. To do so, an easy way to get back to the main page should be available. If the tab allowing the user to get back is hard to identify, it is likely that your visitor will leave altogether.
10. Publishing content on a regular basis
If you were able to earn new readers with high-quality content, don't rest on your laurels as the work is far from over. If you do not renew the content on your website and following several visits, your readers always find the same articles, your lack of effort and investment will make them want to leave. They will quickly understand that they have seen all there was to be seen and that no new elements have been added to the site.
11. Using Google Analytics
A tool like Google Analytics is particularly useful to figure out the causes of a high bounce rate. More specifically, Google Analytics allows you to determine the nature of backlinks that bring traffic to your website. If the visitors that arrive on the site come from another website whose theme is far-removed from yours, your bounce rate will be high.
To counter this type of situation, you can take the initiative to create a larger amount of similar content in order to limit the risks of an off-topic article being linked to your site.
