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Does Bounce Rate include people scrolling?

Posted by iratedog • 10/13/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogging, bounce rate

I asked you how to drive down bounce rate a couple of days ago - now I want to know this:

If someone visits my blog, scrolls down the front page, then leaves to another site, does that still count as a 'bounce'? Or does the act of scrolling mean the same thing as clicking a link on my site?

User Comments

10/13/09

offendedblogger

From my understanding, it is a bounce unless they click to another page within your site. So reading your post on the front page without clicking open the comments or clicking open the post itself is a bounce.

I am 99.9% certain of this.

[reply]
1. 10/13/09
  
  SAHMinIL
  
  I have the same understanding
10/13/09

crpitt

same as above answers

Only clicking a link to another page will help with bounce rate.

They could be on the front page or landing page for hours and then bog off, which would be same as a hit and run visit in terms of all things bouncy.

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10/13/09

JoelKlebanoff

That's my understanding as well. The only way that it doesn't count as a bounce is if they look at more than one page on your site. In fact, it pretty much has to be that way. Bounce stats are kept by the server, not by a visitor's browser. I don't think the server has any way to know that you have scrolled down a page. It only knows if you've called for another page.

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1. 10/13/09
  
  offendedblogger
  
  This reminds me, I need to truncate and re-add a READ MORE link to my posts now that I've switched templates again. That increased my page views and lowered my bounce rate dramatically.
10/14/09

iratedog

OK, thanks everyone. That was helpful - if a little annoying. In that case it must be quite hard for blogs to get low bounce rates due to their layout - posts are on the front page...

Do you think it would help if I allowed only 1 post on the front page then added "related posts" or "other popular posts" as a footer?

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1. 10/14/09
  
  husdal
  
  That might work, but ONLY if ALL your visitors actually land on your home page first, AND if you have something interesting on offer. Many visitors will land on an individual post page, and unless they click on a 2nd page, that too is considered a bounce, even if that landing post is what they wanted to come for. Which is why you should consider having a "recent posts" or "most popular posts" or "recent comments" listing in your sidebar in order to entice your readers. And a post footer referring to "related posts" is always good.
2. 10/15/09
  
  DaneMorgan
  
  Do your newest post as a full text post and however many more you want as excerpts only. Or just do all excerpts.
10/14/09

iratedog

I've found a good related posts widget called 'LinkWithin'. It's good looking, nice and neat, you can choose how many posts to show, it comes with thumbnails AND shows below each post, not just once but every time.

If you wanna take a look go here: www.linkwithin.com/learn

Thanks for all the help guys!

[reply]
1. 10/14/09
  
  husdal
  
  Great tip. Thanks. I always end my posts with some personally selected related posts, but this adds an extra touch to it, especially since it comes with thumbnails. Occasionally it doubles the posts I have already selected, but most often not. This is a great tool.
2. 10/15/09
  
  DaneMorgan
  
  Another thing to do with these types of plugins is to find one that will put the links into you feeds and have the output near (or at) the beginning of the post.
10/15/09

AtlanticEquity

Irate,

I was reading the chain of responses. I was expecting you to ask: "What if a reader clicks one of my advertisements?"

1) If they click an ad, does that count as a second pageview?

And:

2) Is there a difference if I have set up the ad to either a) open in a new screen? or b) NOT open in a new screen?

Source Blogger
www.source-blogger.com

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[reply]
1. 10/15/09
  
  DaneMorgan
  
  Why were you expecting those questions? If the OP is not sure whether scrolling can trip past a bounce count, then they probably haven't even begun to think about how advertising setups are going to effect them.
  
  Of course, I've said before and I'll say again, that I'm pretty confident that Google knows what a bounce rate on a blog, a good one, looks like. I don't think bounce rates are really that big an issue for bloggers, especially the 98% of them here that are just starting and have never (and in many cases never intend to) made any money froma blog yet.
10/15/09

liggybee

Cool tips, everyone!

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