Adjusted Bounce Rate

August 17, 2012

Date: August 17, 2012 Author: ang Category: SEO Tutorials Tags: google analytics, seo Comments: 0

July 25 2012 Google posted instructions on how you can modify your Google Analytics tracking code to adjust how your bounce rate is detected. Google calls this an 'Adjusted bounce rate'.

Blog, online stores, online communities, etc. all should have a different average bounce rate. All three of these sites, for example, function differently with its visitors and so the timing of what should be considered a bounce needs to be unique for each. Google's 'Adjusted bounce rate' is the perfect solution for this.

The Adjusted Bounce Rate allows you to set the timing for what should be considered a bounce on your site. It's true that you can set it up so that no visitor is considered a bounce, even if they only stay on your web page for 1 second, but why would you?

A bounce rate isn't something Google uses to judge the value of your page. A bounce rate is a valuable metric a website owner can use to better serve his visitors.

How to adjust your bounce rate

Place the 'setTimeout' parameter inside your Google Analytics code block just below '_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);' as seen in the example below. The 'setTimeout' parameter is in red text.

var _gaq = _gaq || [];

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXX-1']);

_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

setTimeout("_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '15_seconds', 'read'])",15000);

(function() {

var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;

ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';

var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);

})();

</script>

Note: the

Here's a link to the official post on the Google Analytics blog: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/07/tracking-adjusted-bounce-rate-in-google.html