In Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), bounce rate should be minimised. The term refers to the rate at which visitors to your site click away without waiting to read your other pages, presumably leaving for another site. Here are some of the most common content errors that put people off spending time on your website.
1. Presentation. Your content may be a work of genius but if reading it looks too much like hard work, readers won’t stick around. Huge blocks of uninterrupted text look anything but easy on the eye. The same applies to certain eyestrain-inducing colour combinations of text and background.
2. Typos, spelling mistakes and problems with grammar. Nothing signals an unreliable site like content that’s riddled with careless errors. Even the most minor spelling mistake will be picked up by sharp-eyed readers, and some of these will decide to leave your page. If you’re not completely confident in this area, consider getting the help of a professional content writer.
3. Keyword stuffing. This is an old yet persistent error. Some people just can’t resist filling articles with lots and lots of keywords, believing this will enhance their search engine rankings. They forget that the page still needs to be read by human beings to be of any use, and that readers will generally not want to spend time on articles that read like lists of jargon.
There are still thousands of sites out there with content that could have been designed to repel readers. To keep bounce rate to a minimum, it’s worth re-visiting these basics.
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