Many understand how important it is to have unique, frequently updated material, attractive headlines and frequent interaction with visitors on a website. However, many developers do not understand the bounce rate and how this analytic can affect Google rankings and overall revenues. It is important to understand what a bounce rate is and how you can keep it low.

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who visit your landing page and then leave without clicking on another page in your site or interacting in some way. You can see bounce rates by using an analytics tool. Most use Google Analytics.

Google defines bounce rate is "the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). A low bounce rate means you have done a good job at attracting visitors who actually want to be at your site. If your bounce rate is over 60%, you need to fix some of your inbound marketing strategies. This means optimizing page titles, using graphics, reducing loading time and streamlining site navigation.

Optimizing Page Titles

Your page title is used by Google to determine the relevancy of your site to a search. Make sure your post titles are showing before the name of your blog in the browser tab. WordPress users can edit the header.php file if there is a problem with this feature. Others should consult the help files for their particular CMS.

Make Headlines

Unless you have attractive headlines to get visitors to stay and read more, there is little point to optimizing your page title. Headlines should draw readers in through emotion. Effective titles include "How to", "17 Ways to", and "What You Need to Know About". The web offers excellent resources for writing effective titles. Search copywriting blogs and informative articles for more help with writing magnetic headlines. Make sure your headline is emotionally compelling but also states what the blog post is about.

Using Graphics

Pages with eye-catching graphics attract visitors' attention longer. Make sure you use free image resources on the web to get compelling images that will gain more interest. Search the web for sites with "commons" for images that you can use freely.

Loading Time

Long page loads destroy bounce rates. Try not to have more than 20 page elements that need to load. There are some site-loading timers on the web for free that will tell you how long your site takes to load for visitors and what you can do to reduce load times. Sometimes it is a simple matter of being sure your Meta data is clear and complete for the browser.

Navigation

If a user lands on your site from a search and then does not know how to find what they are looking for, they are likely to bounce out and click on another search results. Make sure that you biggest attractors are boldly labeled and easy to find for site visitors.Once you adjust code, post titles, images and loading times, you should see a significant reduction in bounce rates. This can mean more subscribers, more sales or more advertising revenue, depending on your niche.