What you need to know about your accountancy website’s bounce rate
For decades, prominent search marketers have suspected that Google isn’t telling the whole truth when it repeatedly states that bounce rate isn’t a ranking factor.
As recently as 2020, Moz frontman Rand Fishkin expressed a suspicion that “Google uses (relative) bounce rate (or something that’s pretty darn close) to rank websites” in a Tweet. Later that year, both Backlinko and Semrush reinforced the claim.
However, Google claims not to use the metric, since not every website runs Google Analytics, and because bounce rate can be easily manipulated.
Whether the search engine does or doesn’t use this metric as a ranking factor, keeping an eye on bounce rate is a worthwhile task. Let’s take a look at why.
What is bounce rate?
It reflects the number of times a user clicks on the page without then moving on to view more pages. It’s measured as a percentage of the total sessions recorded on the site. If, for example, you clicked on a link to a site’s contact page, wrote down an address, then returned to the search results page, this would count as a bounce, because you did not view any further pages.
It’s worth noting that Google cannot determine how long a user has spent on a particular page if they do not then view another page on the site. As such, a high bounce rate doesn’t necessarily mean a bad user experience – which means it’s not a viable metric for ranking sites.
Why should I care about my bounce rate?
Whether a bounce rate is considered bad really depends on the goals of your website. But it’s an important metric to consider, because it can suggest issues with the technical aspects of your site, or with the way it’s displayed on certain devices.
Conversely, a high bounce rate can be an indication that users are finding what they require when they land on a page, and have no need to click through to other pages. With that in mind, it’s best to measure bounce rates of specific pages and look at the metric alongside others.
Why is my bounce rate high?
Data from Semrush indicates that the average bounce rate can range from 41% – 55%, with anything over 46% being considered high. Let’s take a look at some reasons why your bounce rate may be high, and what – if anything – you should do about it.
- Slow page speeds
A ranking factor that Google does use is page load times. Pages that are slow to load often cause a high bounce rate, as users become frustrated and head back to the search results to find an alternative source of information.
A 2019 survey by Unbounce showed that for almost 70% of consumers, the desire to buy from an online retailer was impacted by the speed at which pages load. Ideally, a load time should be no more than five seconds, although Google Research in 2018 suggested that the average mobile web page takes 15.3 seconds to load.
You can improve your page speed by using the tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom, and following their recommendations. These may include compressing imagery, cleaning up your code, and caching your web pages.
- Misleading meta data
Your title tag and meta description are part of your page’s meta data, and this gives users an idea of what to expect when they land on your page. If the information is inaccurate or misleading, visitors will click a link expecting one thing, but be presented with something else.
Ensure your title tags and meta descriptions accurately represent what is actually on the page, or carry out some keyword research and adapt your content to suit what users are searching for.
- Blank page or technical error
An exceptionally high bounce rate can indicate a technical error (such as a 404) or a blank page. In this instance, you’ll want to fix the issue as quickly as possible. You can do this by replicating users’ experience. Simply look at the page from your audience’s most popular browser (you can find this in your Google Analytics profile) to determine the problem, then either fix it or find an accountancy marketing specialist who can help.
- Non-mobile-friendly page
In 2017, Google announced it was switching to mobile-first indexing, meaning it views mobile-friendly sites more favourably than those that that aren’t optimised for small screens. That’s because sites that are optimised for mobile devices typically load quicker, present a good user experience, and are easy to navigate.
If your site is slow to load or difficult to use on mobile devices, the chances are users will bounce away to find an alternative source of information. You can check Google Search Console to see how your site performs for mobile visitors.
- Helpful content
A positive reason for a high bounce rate can be that your pages provide all the content that a user requires. Perhaps they’re heading to a contact page to fill in an enquiry form or check a map reference. Or maybe they just need some information about a topic, and your page provides everything they require.
In such cases, a high bounce rate is nothing to worry about. If you use Google Analytics, check the bounce rate against the Time Spent on Page and Average Session Duration metrics. If you’d like to try and lower the bounce rate anyway, ensure there are links in the text that point to other relevant pages.
Help with managing bounce rates
If you’re concerned about the bounce rate of your website, we at Whitefish Marketing can help. We specialise in marketing strategies for accounting firms, and can help determine whether your bounce rate can be improved. Our SEO services for accountants also include the creation of high-quality content, and technical fixes that ensure you have the best chance of ranking highly for relevant search queries.
Get in touch with our expert team today to find out more.
