What is bounce rate?
Bounce rate is the share of sessions in which a visitor does not engage with a site. In Google Analytics 4 it is the opposite of engagement rate: a session counts as engaged if it lasts longer than 10 seconds, includes a key event or views two or more pages.
Universal Analytics versus GA4
The older Universal Analytics counted any single-page session as a bounce, even if the visitor read for five minutes. The GA4 definition is closer to real disengagement, so numbers from the two are not comparable.
Is a high bounce rate bad?
It depends on the page. A contact page, or a blog post that answers the question, may have a high bounce rate and still do its job. A landing page for paid traffic with a high bounce rate usually signals a mismatch between the advert and the page.
How to lower it
Match the page to the search or advert that brought people there, answer the main question early, load quickly and make the next step clear. These are the same levers as CRO.
