Should Law Firms Pay Attention to Bounce Rate?
Google Analytics has many metrics that a website owner may use to evaluate user visits and interactions with their site. One metric in particular that garners heavy attention is bounce rate. However, knowing how to use and interpret this data may vary depending on the industry.
What is Bounce Rate?
Bounce rate measures the percentage of users who land on one page, and fail to navigate or take additional action on the website before going back to the SERP. This means that the user did not click on any internal links or navigate to other pages of the website, consequently only seeing one page on the site.
As a result, a user is considered to have bounced when they did not engage with the landing page and their session ends with this single-page visit. This metric is calculated by dividing the number of single-page visits by the number of total sessions on the site. The Google Analytics server determines that it is a single-page visit if the server received no subsequent requests after the landing page was opened. Bounce rate could help someone evaluate page quality, engagement potential, and degree of relevance to the target audience.
Interpreting Bounce Rate
A common misconception that people make about bounce rate is that having a high percentage means that a site has improper or poor optimization. However, this is not always the case.
The level of a website’s bounce rate is largely dependent on the purpose of a website, as well as the experience a website owner wants visitors to have. If the purpose of a page is to provide information, then a high bounce rate is often preferred as it shows that the user’s expectations were met with that single-page session. On the contrary, if the purpose of a page is to draw in new subscribers and have them actively engage with a site, then a lower bounce rate is preferred as it demonstrates that the user navigated and subscribed to a site. Therefore, the optimal bounce rate varies for each site, and not every site should aim to have the lowest bounce rate possible.
Instances When a High Bounce Rate May be Preferred
There are several instances in which a law firm would favor a higher bounce rate over a lower one. One of the most typical scenarios is when a user is looking for basic information such as a firm’s phone number, address, practice areas, or locations. Frequently, a user can have all of these questions answered by a single-page visit.
Additionally, higher bounce rates can occur when a user has a specific query or question and the page they land on thoroughly addresses their search. This demonstrates that the website’s content is specific, helpful, and appropriately fulfills the user’s query.
When analyzing your bounce rate, it is crucial to understand the objectives of your site, as these goals will determine if a high or low bounce rate is most appropriate. If you are looking to have a better understanding on your bounce rate or any other Google Analytics metrics, speak with our experienced digital marketing specialists and learn how we could optimize your website.