What Is Bounce Rate?

Key takeaways 

Bounce rate represents the percentage of users who visit your site but leave right away without any interaction. 

• Bounce rates at or under 40 percent are generally seen as favorable [1].

• It’s possible to evaluate the bounce rate of each page on your website using Google Analytics.

• You can advance your digital marketing skills by gaining proficiency in search engine optimization (SEO).

Discover what bounce rate is and why it matters in digital marketing. If you’re ready to start earning credentials now, consider pursuing Google’s Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate. Beginner-friendly, this interactive program provides guidance on attracting and engaging customers through digital marketing channels, including search and email. 

What is bounce rate in SEO?

Bounce rate refers to the number of people who leave a page without performing any action, like clicking a link, completing a purchase, or visiting a second page. In other words, they land on a page and then leave. Bounce rate is typically measured as a percentage. 

A good bounce rate is 40 percent or lower [1]. A lower percentage is preferable because it means that the content you’re creating on behalf of a brand or product resonates in some way with users. 

A bounce rate of 70 percent means that 70 percent of users navigated away from the page, while 30 percent stayed on the page and performed an action or moved to a second page. Similarly, a bounce rate of 48 percent shows that 48 percent of visitors navigated away, while 52 percent stayed on the page.

How to calculate bounce rate?

Google Analytics provides a way to view the bounce rate for any specific page on your website. Alternatively, you can calculate the bounce rate manually using the formula:

Bounce rate (%) = (Single-page visits ÷ Total visits) × 100.

Read more: Marketing Analytics: What It Is, Why It's Important, and More

Related terms

• Clickthrough rate (CTR)

• Content marketing

• Search engine optimization (SEO) marketing

• Omnichannel marketing

• Brand marketing

• Influencer marketing

Explore our free digital marketing career resources 

Stay on top of digital marketing trends with Career Chat, a weekly LinkedIn newsletter from Coursera featuring in-demand skills, tools, and certifications. Develop or strengthen your foundational marketing knowledge by exploring our other free digital resources as well:

• Bookmark for quick access: Digital Marketing Terms Every Marketer Should Know

• Watch on YouTube: How to Pivot Your Digital Marketing Skills to ANY Industry (4-Step Framework)

• Practice with a tutorial: How to Use Google Ads Remarketing

Accelerate your career growth with a Coursera Plus subscription. When you enroll in either the monthly or annual option, you’ll get access to over 10,000 courses.

Build job-ready skills with Coursera Plus

Start 7-day free trial

• 
• 
• 
• 

Start 7-day free trial