Bounce rate in Google Analytics 4

Source: Analytics Help, Engagement rate and bounce rate.

A bounce in GA4 must fail all three tests at once. A visitor who reads one page for three minutes is not a bounce. A visitor who sees one page for six seconds and leaves is.

Not the bounce rate you remember

Universal Analytics, which stopped collecting data in July 2023, called a bounce any single-page session, however long. A blog post read to the end counted as a bounce. GA4 dropped that rule, so the same site usually shows a different bounce rate in GA4. Never draw one line across both.

Google Ads has no bounce rate

Google Ads does not count bounces. Its nearest signal is landing page experience, one part of Quality Score, which Google judges with its own systems. A high bounce rate on paid traffic is a reason to check the page and the search terms. It is not a figure Google Ads reads from your Analytics.

Worked example

A skincare brand sends its Search ads to a new landing page in September. Bounce rate on that page was 38% on the old one and is 64% on the new one, on similar traffic.

The new page opens with a video that takes four seconds to load on mobile. Visitors leave before it plays. The team puts the product and price first and moves the video down. Bounce rate falls to 41% in October.

1. Bounce rate is not in GA4's default reports. Open a report such as Traffic acquisition, then Customize report, Metrics, and add Bounce rate.
2. Save the change to the report so it stays for everyone who opens it.
3. In Explore, add Bounce rate to a free-form exploration with Landing page as the row.

Bounce rate is under Site traffic in Add a metric. It is one of the metrics where lower is better, and its card reads a fall as good news and a rise as bad.

As a goal, a rate takes a level rather than a monthly volume. Set 45% under Other goals, and the goal reads 45% max: the card shows whether the month sits above or below it.

Optizads reads GA4's own bounce rate for the exact days asked. It is never an average of daily rates.

• Comparing GA4 bounce rate with Universal Analytics bounce rate from before July 2023.
• Firing a scroll or timer event as a key event to make bounces disappear. The page did not improve, the count did.
• Setting one bounce-rate ceiling for a blog and a checkout page. Their normal levels are far apart.
• Reading the site's bounce rate for ad traffic. Paid visitors can behave very differently from the average.

• Landing page: The page people reach after clicking an ad.
• Landing page experience: One of the three parts of Quality Score: how useful and relevant the landing page is to the people who click the ad.
• Quality Score: Google's 1 to 10 rating of a keyword, built from expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.

• Engagement rate (GA4): Engagement rate in Google Analytics 4 is the share of sessions that were engaged: engaged sessions divided by sessions.
• Engaged sessions (GA4): An engaged session in Google Analytics 4 is a visit that lasted longer than 10 seconds, viewed at least two pages or screens, or triggered a key event.
• Average engagement time (GA4): Average engagement time in Google Analytics 4 is the time your site spent on screen and in focus, divided by active users.
• Session key event rate (GA4): Session key event rate in Google Analytics 4 is the share of sessions in which at least one key event happened.