in order for a bounce to occur. Rather, this is determined by the session timeout of the analytics tracking software. where Rb = Bounce rate Tv = Total number of visitors viewing one page only Te = Total entries to page A visitor may bounce by: Clicking on a link to a page on a different website Closing an open window or tab Typing a new URL Clicking the "Back" button to leave the site Session timeout 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 and get all the information they need and leave. A commonly used session timeout value is 30 minutes. In this case, if a visitor views a page, does not look at another page, and leaves his or her browser idle for longer than 30 minutes, they will register as a bounce. If the visitor continues to navigate after this delay, a new session will occur. The bounce rate for a single page is the number of visitors who enter the site at a page and leave within the specified timeout period without viewing another page, divided by the total number of visitors who entered the site at that page. In contrast, the bounce rate for a website is the number of website visitors who visit only a single page of a website per session divided by the total number of website visits. Caveats While site-wide bounce rate can be a useful metric for sites with well-defined conversion steps requiring multiple page views, it may be of questionable value for sites where visitors are likely to find what they are looking for on the entry page. This type of behavior is common on web portals and referential content sites. For example, a visitor looking for the definition of a particular word may enter an online dictionary site on that word's definition page. Similarly, a visitor who wants to read about a specific news story may enter a news site on an article written for that story. These example entry pages could have a bounce rate above 80% (thereby increasing the site-wide average), however they may still be considered successful. See also Exit rate Internet marketing Landing page Landing page optimization Web analytics Conversion rate References Digital marketing Web analytics