Visitors stay on site for 0:00 - Google analytics question

Justin · #1 () 01-28-2008, 04:53 PM

Ive been browsing the logs on my MMA site, and cant seem to figure out why a bunch of hits from Google are resulting in people being on my site for 0:00 and immediately bouncing...

My only conclusion is that the page is loading too slow, but that doesnt seem to be a problem when I test em out. Theyre not super quick, but theyre up within 1-2 seconds....

Any ideas???

hoursurfing · #2 () 01-28-2008, 05:35 PM

A bounce is not someone who comes to your site and instantly leaves but instead someone who doesn't visit another page, which is why your bounce rate should be 100% for these clicks.

GA calculates time on page by calculating the difference between clicking from one page to another which is why you would have 0:00 and a 100% bounce rate if they're not clicking onto other pages.

Depending on what kind of page it is, a high bounce rate is good.

That's the way I've always understood it at least. You should probably google how bounce rates work to understand it better as this is just what I remember off the top of my head.

The Pokerkeep · #3 () 01-28-2008, 06:29 PM

Some surfers will land on your pages looking for something totally unrelated... check the search terms that sent them to you... so they see that this isn't what they need and leave right away.

Greg · #4 () 01-28-2008, 06:56 PM

Bounce Rate is usually measured in two ways:

The percentage of website visitors who see just one page on your site.
The percentage of website visitors who stay on the site for a small amount of time (usually five seconds or less).

There are two exceptions: 1) You have a one page website 2) Your offline value proposition is so compelling that people would see just one single webpage (PPC Landing Page is a prime example) and get all the information they need and leave.

Not sure about the 0% Bounce Rate? Are you getting a few very weird or non related traffic sources?

imteaz · #5 () 01-28-2008, 07:10 PM

Bounce rate means, i visit your site, and i don't like it and i leave.
hoursurfing, i think you are wrong. click has nothing to do with bounce rate. if a visit stay in homepage, for 2.44 sec, google will say that visitor was in your site 2.44 sec.

If you have high bounce Rate, lets say 70% then you have only 30% quality traffic. and 70% people are not interested in your site or whatever stuff they are looking for its not in your site.

hoursurfing · #6 () 01-28-2008, 07:55 PM

Imteaz - Thats what I used to think as well until I read otherwise. Google says that's the case but doesn't back up their stats to show it.

Going by your theory. If you had a 100% bounce rate on a given page then that would mean "time on page" would be 0:00 or close to that correct? I guarantee if you check your GA stats for pages that have 100% bounce rates, you'll find "time on site" pages that exceed a couple minutes.

TheDonk · #7 () 01-29-2008, 01:38 AM

When you click the ? on 'Bounce Rate' it says this.

The percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page).

It seems hoursurfing is correct.

Besides, Google isn't advanced enough yet to tell if your visitors "like" your site or not. hoursurfing is also right that it in some cases it can simply mean "thanks dude, I found exactly what I was looking for, you rock", although Google can't tell us that either.

Good thread.

imteaz · #8 () 01-29-2008, 02:25 AM

Ok, i think i could not Explain it better, so here is what Google has to say about Bounce Rate:

Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce rate is a measure of visit quality and a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages aren't relevant to your visitors. You can minimize Bounce Rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.

Now i think, you will be agree with me, that If people do not like or find useful stuff in your site and they leave, then your bounce rate will be high.

source: http://www.google.com/support/google...n&answer=60127

TheDonk · #9 () 01-29-2008, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imteaz

Now i think, you will be agree with me, that If people do not like or find useful stuff in your site and they leave, then your bounce rate will be high.

Absolutely I'll agree that it can mean that, but what it doesn't tell you is if you've done a great job by making the information (like a bonus code) easy to find. So, Google assumes that it means low quality, when in fact it could actually mean just the opposite. Aren't we all trying to make our sites easy to navigate, especially when it comes to bonus codes? If a person lands on the right page, it might only take a few seconds to write down the bonus code and be gone. I'm cool with that.

hoursurfing · #10 () 01-29-2008, 03:19 AM

Yes, thats why I say its contradictive. I've read that link (actually it was a different one) before but it doesn't show how that stats would make sense. Notice how it says "single page" views. Like TD said, having a page about bonus codes and having a page where you send someone to a sales page are two different things and bounce rates will be looked at inversely.

For example from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate

Bounce Rate (often confused with Exit Rate - see reference) is a term used in website traffic analysis. A Bounce occurs when a website visitor leaves a page or a site without visiting any other pages

There are also various threads on WMW and Digital point that say the same. Much too tired to look. Maybe someone who does a lot of PPC can chime in, as they definately should know.