Bounce Rate Benchmarks to Measure Blog Engagement

Below are some rough benchmarks for determining if your blog is delivering relevant and engaging content by measuring its bounce rate.

Bounce rate is a web metric that measures what percent of site visitors leave immediately after viewing your page. According to Google Analytics “a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages aren’t relevant to your visitors”.

Therefore, the more sticky and engaging your content is, the less bounce you’re likely to have. This works well at evaluating main pages; however I think it’s even more insightful when looking at individual blog posts.

Since pages tend to vary significantly, by things like length or if they include some form of multimedia, these benchmarks are rough, relative measures. You can use bounce rate in conjunction with other metrics to determine your most engaging posts. Additionally, bounce rate is specific to site traffic; other measures are needed to evaluate your feed traffic.

Bounce Rate Benchmarks:

0% to 40% - Your blog is sticky with engaging content that makes visitors stop and stay.

40% to 65% - You have something of interest in your blog for the reader, but not enough to have someone stay and explore your site extensively.

65% to 100% - Your blog is a rubber band. Visitors bounce in and bounce out. Your page is either not what they were looking for, or it holds minimal interest.

For more information on bounce rate as a web metric, make sure you visit Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik. He delves extensively into bounce rate and other key web metrics through his excellent blog.