4 Reasons Your Site has a High Bounce Rate

A high bounce rate cannot only affect your ranking in the search engines, but it could lead to a smaller annual revenue. If you’ve noticed a high percentage of your visitors are clicking away from your site after visiting a landing page, you must take the steps to improve your web engagement and sales.

Of course, you’ll need to find out where you are going wrong to do so. Here are four reasons why your site has a high bounce rate.

A Slow-Loading Website

Online users are impatient. A study found that 47% of consumers will expect a landing page to load within 2 seconds or less, 40% will also leave your site altogether if it takes more than 3 seconds.

A slow-loading website will not only encourage a visitor to click away, but it could damage your search engine ranking. Site speed is a Google ranking factor and you’ll be penalized if you provide a poor user experience.

There are steps you can take to improve your web speed. For example, unoptimized web images can add to a page’s weight, which can slow a site down. For this reason, you must ensure each image on your site is correctly formatted.

All images should be saved as a JPEG over a PNG. Plus, they should be resized to complement your exact layout and speed requirements. If you’re unsure how to effectively optimize your web images or product photos, upload your shots to a simple photo resizer.

Poor Spelling and Grammar

Your website could be the first time a potential customer learns about your brand. While it might feature an attractive layout, high-quality images, and smooth navigation, they could doubt your company’s integrity if it is riddled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

Consumers will look for proof they can trust your brand when they visit your website, and grammar gaffes could convince them you’re not worth their time and money. So, if you’re struggling with a high bounce rate, it might be time to proofread your copy or publish fresh, well-written copy that will boost your credibility.

Limited Call to Actions

Every landing page should push potential customers down the sales funnel. If you have a high bounce rate, it’s possible you have failed to include a handy call to action or it is hard to find.

Don’t allow a customer to get away and incorporate clear, prominent call to actions across your site. It will inform a visitor of the next step they need to take, which could increase the likelihood of them exploring your site and placing an order.

A Technical Error

A technical error can also cause a rather high bounce rate, which could damage your ranking in Google. If you’ve noticed that a user is spending only a few seconds on a page, the following issues could be the cause:
A blank page
A 404 page
A page that’s failing to load

Google Search Console could help you to identify a technical error. Visit the Coverage section to review the potential problem from the search engine’s perspective. By correcting the issue, you could lower your bounce rate and avoid penalization in the likes of Google and Bing.

Photo by picjumbo.com on Pexels.com