[Important bounce rate fix!] - Do you have a single page website?

CosmicSoundz · Mar 1, 2013

Hey guys. So one of my clients owns a single page site. I know I know, single page? But thats all it needs. We will be building more to the site but right now it is what it is.

Since its a single page site with exception of a few outbound links the bounce rate is extremely high. Like 95%.

So to fix that you can enter in this code (only if you have Google analytics)

Code:

<script type="text/javascript">
(function (tos) {
  window.setInterval(function () {
    tos = (function (t) {
      return t[0] == 50 ? (parseInt(t[1]) + 1) + ':00' : (t[1] || '0') + ':' + (parseInt(t[0]) + 10);
    })(tos.split(':').reverse());
    window.pageTracker ? pageTracker._trackEvent('Time', 'Log', tos) : _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Time', 'Log', tos]);
  }, 10000);
})('00');
</script>

This code tells google to that your visitor is still on your site every 10 seconds by using the google API. So this will lower your bounce rate immensely.

Bounce rate

Time spent on site

As you can see I just implemented this to his site and the bounce rate went from 95% to 15%. The time spend on site went from 1-2 min to 20-30 min.

takeachance · Mar 1, 2013

looks Interesting. however is it not against their t&c's to alter the code?

CosmicSoundz · Mar 1, 2013

What do you mean?

Im just using their API code. I didnt alter anything.

takeachance said:
looks Interesting. however is it not against their t&c's to alter the code?

CosmicSoundz · Mar 1, 2013

Oh and I will report back in a month with serp movement and other data.

Abstroose · Mar 11, 2013

Interesting. Did you see any effects on SERPs?

youtalkmedia · Mar 11, 2013

ok, testing this out now on a site with an 80% bounce rate. Lets see how well it works.

hotchocolate · Mar 11, 2013

does this code need to go on the homepage of a website?

zenoGlitch · Mar 11, 2013

excellent share, +11 rep.

eb0la · Mar 11, 2013

CosmicSoundz said:
As you can see I just implemented this to his site and the bounce rate went from 95% to 15%. The time spend on site went from 1-2 min to 20-30 min.

Since your site has only one page, your bounce rate should be 100% (unless the user reloads the same page several times).
When you add events to analytics, every event is tracked as a "new page". Your bounce rate has dropped to 10-15% because only 10-15% of your audience quits before the first 10 seconds.

Don't trust blindly what analytics / whatever analytics package says. I wonder how many flippa sites will have this "hack" enabled in the next weeks :-D

CosmicSoundz · Mar 11, 2013

I have a couple links on my page but without giving away his niche I cant really explain in detail. But my clients site is in fact just a homepage as far as visitors are concerned .

since my clients site is just a homepage, the visitors are being interactive with the home page only. A real bounce IS in fact someone who leaves within 10 seconds because they arent being engaged with the website.

SO with that said 10-15% of a bounce is in fact my REAL bounce rate.

eb0la said:
Since your site has only one page, your bounce rate should be 100% (unless the user reloads the same page several times).
When you add events to analytics, every event is tracked as a "new page". Your bounce rate has dropped to 10-15% because only 10-15% of your audience quits before the first 10 seconds.

Don't trust blindly what analytics / whatever analytics package says. I wonder how many flippa sites will have this "hack" enabled in the next weeks :-D

eb0la · Mar 11, 2013

This is a typical GAIQ exam question. See support.google.com / analytics / bin / answer.py? hl=en &answer=2525491

2 - For all sessions that start with the page, bounce rate is the percentage that were the only one of the session.

tb303 · Mar 11, 2013

really interesting post. thanks and a little bit of rep from me.

zenoGlitch · Mar 11, 2013

Implemented today ... immediate results.

I'm using this for accurate tracking purposes, I could care less about SEO as my landing pages are all no follow no index. But loving this. Thanks again.

CosmicSoundz · Mar 11, 2013

exactly.. this is all about accurate tracking.

zenoGlitch said:
Implemented today ... immediate results.

I'm using this for accurate tracking purposes, I could care less about SEO as my landing pages are all no follow no index. But loving this. Thanks again.

zenoGlitch · Mar 11, 2013

::Update::

Down to 35% from as high as 77% earlier this week.

pietpatat · Mar 12, 2013

So this only manupulates the bounce rate on analytics right?
And would only benefit you for seo if we assume google takes analytics bounce rates into consideration. Because they can still see the actuall bounce rate of people returning to the serps and clicking another link.

Nevertheless nice method, repped.

lordcedrich · Mar 12, 2013

I will try this thanks a lot

CosmicSoundz · Mar 12, 2013

No it doesn't manipulate. It shows you your REAL bounce rate.

pietpatat said:
So this only manupulates the bounce rate on analytics right?
And would only benefit you for seo if we assume google takes analytics bounce rates into consideration. Because they can still see the actuall bounce rate of people returning to the serps and clicking another link.

Nevertheless nice method, repped.

MikeBuyco · Mar 12, 2013

I'm going to test this with a blogger blog. Thanks for the share.

zenoGlitch · Mar 12, 2013

Update: Down to an 18% bounce rate ...

[Important bounce rate fix!] - Do you have a single page website?

BANNED

Power Member

BANNED

BANNED

Elite Member

Senior Member

Newbie

Senior Member

Newbie

BANNED

Newbie

Supreme Member

Senior Member

BANNED

Senior Member

Regular Member

Registered Member

BANNED

Regular Member

Senior Member

Main Menu

Marketplace

Making Money

BlackHat World