Some people say a high Bounce Rate in Google Analytics is bad; others say not to worry about it; it doesn't matter. So which is it? To answer this question, you need to understand what Bounce Rate is:

Definition

Bounce rate is single-page sessions divided by all sessions or the percentage of all sessions on your site in which users viewed only a single page and triggered only a single request to the Analytics server.

An easy explanation

A bounce is a person who visited your website and leaves without visiting another page on your website.

How can a bounce be bad?

A bad bounce occurs when someone looks at your webpage for a few seconds without engaging with it and leaves.

What is a good bounce?

A good bounce is when someone visits your webpage and finds the answer they are looking for, then leaves.

So you can see it can be both a good and a bad thing.

How can you test for good/bad bounces?

The time on the page is a good indicator, but it's too broad. It would be best if you had something that you can track at a user level, not a general overall score.

To discover if a bounce score is good or bad, you need to track scroll depth. By tracking when people view 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of your page, you can distinguish between good and bad sessions.

How to track Scroll Depth in Google Analytics:

In Google Tag Manager:

Add a new Tag

  1. Select Google Analytics: Universal Analytics
  2. Track Type: Event
  3. Category: Scroll Depth
  4. Action: {{Page Path}}
  5. Label: {{Scroll Depth Threshold}}%
  6. Non-Interaction Hit: True
  7. Google Analytics settings: {{GA}} (If not set up, see below)
  8. Save Tag
Scroll Depth Settings
Scroll Depth Settings

Add a Google Analytics Variable

If you have this already set up, skip to the next part.

  1. Click on New Variable ...
  2. Add your Google Analytics ID
  3. If you aren't sure where to find it, here is how to find your ID.
  4. Save your new variable.
New Variable
New Variable

Add a Scroll Depth Variable

  1. Select Variables from the left navigation
  2. Click on Configure in the top right corner
  3. Select all three Scroll Variables
  4. Save
Scroll Depth Variables
Scroll Depth Variables

Add a Trigger

  1. Venture back to your Tags
  2. Select your Scroll Trigger Tag
  3. Add a Trigger at the bottom
  4. Select Trigger Type: Scroll Depth
  5. Check Vertical Scroll Depth
  6. Pick Percentages
  7. Add: 25, 50, 75, 100
  8. Enable this trigger on: Window Load (gtm.load)
  9. This trigger fires on: All Pages (select Some Pages if you want to specify which pages it loads on)
  10. Save
Scroll Trigger Settings
Scroll Trigger Settings

Publish your new Tag/Tigger in Google Tag Manager.

GTM Submit Button
GTM Submit Button

Next, in Google Analytics:

GA Goals
GA Goals
  1. Under Admin in GA
  2. Select Goals
  3. Create a new Goal (+ NEW GOAL)
  4. Goal setup: Custom
  5. Goal description
  6. Name: Scroll Depth
  7. Type: Event
  8. Goal details:
  9. Category (Equals to): Scroll Depth
  10. Label (Equals to): 50%
  11. Save
GA Goal Settings
GA Goal Settings

Now, wait for the analytics to build up data.

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