Bounce rate is a measure of visits that did not lead to meaningful interaction. In the older Universal Analytics it was sessions with a single page view. In Google Analytics 4 it is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged, meaning they lasted under 10 seconds by default, had no conversion event and had fewer than two page views.
Why it matters
A high rate can hint that the page does not match the visitor's expectation, loads slowly or lacks a clear next step. But it is context dependent: a one-page answer that satisfies the visitor looks like a bounce yet may be a success.
Pair it with engagement time and conversion rate before drawing conclusions, and compare like with like, such as one traffic source or one landing page at a time.
Example
Sessions: 1,000
Engaged sessions: 620
Bounce rate: (1000 - 620) / 1000 = 38%Common misconceptions
- A high bounce rate always hurts SEO. Google has not said it uses it as a ranking factor.
- Bounce rate values are comparable between Universal Analytics and GA4. The definitions differ.
- Lower is always better. A recipe or contact page may legitimately end the session.
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