How does GA view bounce rates?

[Ryder]

I've always wondered this. when GA shows you XX.XX% bounce rate, how is it defined? my page exit % and bounce rate % is different, so is the bounce rate based on people who visit my site for less than a minute and then leaves, and exit are those who immediately leave?

[Coderea]

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What types of reports does the Visitor section offer? - Analytics Help

(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.)

I think if you have more outgoing links than content on your site..more likely you would have a high bounce rate..
If your visitors are not interested in your content and leave from the page where they entered..then you are likely to have a high bounce rate.

Lesson to learn : Build quality content and show your advertisers a low bounce rate to get high CPM

[freestuffheadquarters]

Coderea is absolutely right there. Your bounce rate is how many people are horrified by your site and allow the door to slam them "you-know-where" as they run out of your website screaming and crying. (No, I'm totally kidding. It's just how Google makes your bounce rate sound.)

If your bounce rate is a bit high, don't get discouraged. Make it a mission. Add a few more attractive aspects to your site and the best content that you can. If you can keep something on your landing page that the majority your visitors really want to read, they'll click on it and stay there long enough to clear the bounce criteria. At Free Stuff Headquarters, we're in the process of changing our template, adding a logo, and expanding the way we index our content. That isn't because our bounce rate is really high, but because you should always be trying to reduce your bounce rate. Don't go crazy; you will never get a 0%, and you don't want one, because it also means nobody is supporting you by clicking your ads.