Can a high bounce rate be GOOD for SEO?

[Honeybadger]

So I have a 'bounce rate' theory that goes against everything I've read about SEO
Goes like this

1. Jane is looking for red wide lens sunglasses to buy
2. She searches Google and finds 'Sunglass Heaven' online store
3. On the first page is a banner that reads "click here and get 50% off red wide angle sunglasses"
4. Jane clicks the banner (with affiliate ID), that takes here to another website where she makes a purchase

In this scenario the bounce rate for 'Sunglass Heaven' is 100%, which by what I've read is not good for SEO

Well then my theory goes that if Jane completes the purchase she will not repeat the search - and Google knows this through Chrome browser and Google search tracking

Does this tell Google that 'Sunglass Heaven' is relevant to the search, since Jane found what she searched for?

If so a high bounce rate is not necesarily bad for SEO

 

[Graybeard]

No --It's clear you are an affiliate with outbound links

• --open the link in a new tab or have a second page on your domain and the visit will appear longer
• --if the visitor returns to the old tab and does something
  
• --like click another link

(in theory anyway)

 

[Honeybadger]

No --It's clear you are an affiliate with outbound links

• --open the link in a new tab or have a second page on your domain and the visit will appear longer
• --if the visitor returns to the old tab and does something
  
• --like click another link

(in theory anyway)

I thought about open link in new window but according to advice of Norman Nielsen Group which I value very highly it's not in the users interests to open a new window - could be wrong
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-10-mistakes-web-design/
It was written 9 yrs ago so maybe outdated

 

[Honeybadger]

Look, SEO is 'weird science'.
...

I think the same about PPC!

 

[Graybeard]

Look, SEO is 'weird science'.
What works today may not work tomorrow.
Your scenario is for an ad campaign not SEO IMHO.
Try it and see --you can buy a new domain name pretty cheap now if it's a total FAIL ...
You may need to move the webserver to a new C block IP too ... Search Engines seem to never forgive and forget ...

 

[KathleenRowan]

It's bad for SEO too. In fact, a high Bounce Rate and low Dwell Time can really hurt your Google rankings. A good example of this is a keyword like “best SEO tools”. No matter how hard you work on your Bounce Rate, you're going to have pages with a really bad Bounce Rate (“Donkeys”).

 

[Himanshu Jakhar]

I will never understand the concept of the bounce rate in SEO. If someone comes looking for some answers on your website's page and if he/she finds the answers they were looking for, the very instant they entered the webpage let's say under few seconds, then obviously now that they got what they were looking for they will close the window or tab. But this will increase the bounce rate. But in this case, the user experience has been great.

So, just to lower the bounce rate, people are creating content that is more focused on retaining the user on the webpage rather than actually providing information that matters at the top.

I don't really think much about the bounce rate of my websites. I don't think it affects your ranking that much.

 

[martinsmith]

The key takeaway is this while bounce rate doesn't directly affect your page ranking, it bounce rate is still something you should understand and be able to improve upon. High bounce rates are often symptoms of deeper problems like user experience issues or poor targeting.

 

[T J Tutor]

What works today may not work tomorrow.

And that is what I continually state when being told by a noob they prefer to start out with SEO! It's a tertiary adjunct to your traffic everyone!

 

[Graybeard]

@Himanshu Jakhar that is UX and nor SEO

UX (user experience) is often in conflict with the so called SEO rules.

You are acting as an affiliate and not the real seller of goods.

Google, Facebook and the other search players and advertising sellers --the large players; don't care for affiliates really. They want to send their 'traffic' to the final end seller and not to the 'salesman' affiliate.
Ironically, in this case; the affiliate is a poor UX experience for the customer ...

What you are saying is true only in an; ad network -> affiliate -> affiliate network or direct sponsor --scenario

 

[T J Tutor]

I think the same about PPC!

I can see why you think so, but after years of it, I have learned that it is by far and large the most predictable traffic science!

 

[Honeybadger]

I don't really think much about the bounce rate of my websites. I don't think it affects your ranking that much.

HJ your right on some things
So its like this

1. GOOD --> If customer bounces to a product link & makes purchase
2. BAD --> When customer bounces to repeat the search

Google algorithm 1/0 or I/O code understands
Your page will be given a positive or negative SEO score

 

[T J Tutor]

HJ your right on some things
So its like this

1. GOOD --> If customer bounces to a product link & makes purchase
2. BAD --> When customer bounces to repeat the search

Google algorithm 1/0 or I/O code understands
Your page will be given a positive or negative SEO score

I was referring to your response of Graybeard's post about SEO being a weird science and you saying the same about PPC. I was not responding to bounce rates.

 

[alexhales]

bounce rate doesn't directly affect your page ranking, its bounce rate is still something you should understand and be able to improve upon. High bounce rates (when calculated correctly) are often symptoms of deeper problems like user experience issues or poor targeting.

 

[Honeybadger]

I was referring to your response of Graybeard's post about SEO being a weird science and you saying the same about PPC. I was not responding to bounce rates.

I meant respond to @Himanshu Jakhar post

 

[Honeybadger]

Who says high bounce rates DO NOT EFFECT SEO?
If I was to design (develop a schema) for a search algorithm I would have that weighted by the domains type of traffic.

So, unless you can cite some inside source at one of the major developers that has gone on the record --this is all just speculation IMHO.

If you are refer traffic only then high bounce is ok for SEO
But only for product lander pages
Content pages should not have high bounce rate

 

[Nancy Pearl]

Bounce rate is really bad for seo.

 

[Graybeard]

Who says high bounce rates DO NOT EFFECT SEO?
If I was to design (develop a schema) for a search algorithm I would have that weighted by the domains type of traffic.

So, unless you can cite some inside source at one of the major developers that has gone on the record --this is all just speculation IMHO.

 

[Honeybadger]

As a rule of thumb, a bounce rate in the range of 26 to 40 percent is excellent. 41 to 55 percent is roughly average. 56 to 70 percent is higher than average, but may not be cause for alarm depending on the website. Anything over 70 percent is disappointing for everything outside of blogs, news, events, etc.

Are you just making this up?
Pls share your source
There's nothing wrong with a high bounce rate and a high page visit duration where the user doesn't repeat the search, as this tells Google that the user found what they were looking for

 

[azgold]

Pls share your source

Allow me. Yet again.

What's the Average Bounce Rate for a Website?

Shakin' my head....

 

[Honeybadger]

The key takeaway is this: while bounce rate doesn't directly affect your page ranking, it bounce rate is still something you should understand and be able to improve upon. High bounce rates (when calculated correctly) are often symptoms of deeper problems like user experience issues or poor targeting.

@MarinaWilcher
How do you improve the bounce rate on a 1-page website, without adding additional pages?

 

[Graybeard]

Not really ... If you are buying network traffic in bulk to your website the bounce rate will be a lot higher than organic search traffic would be --inevitable
Consider the source ...
Content doesn't always matter that much --that depends on user intent a lot too ...

However, I don't believe Google search is smart enough to know the real difference (just my opinion based on my own experiences) ...

Today's point in practice:
I have a landing page that has G-A (Google analytics) and a meta tag

<meta name="ROBOTS" content="all">
<meta name="GOOGLEBOT" content="INDEX, FOLLOW">

with a 96.5% bounce rate yesterday --I sent almost 5,000 bulk ad referrals yesterday
Baidu in China is indexing it -- I got 5 organic referrals yesterday <useless to me
Googlebot is ignoring it so far not at all surprising to me ...

 

[shimba]

Affiliate sites usually have very high bounce rates. You can solve this problem by increasing the internal link in the content and adding more photos and videos in the content.