I have since discovered how to do this with Blogger! There is an awesome tutorial for implementing this feature at this web address:
I followed this tutorial to the letter and it installed so easily! So now at the bottom of my posts I have Related Articles! This should encourage visitors to browse around and help decrease that pesky Bounce Rate!
Reader Questions:
Kim left a comment on my first Wednesday Webbie asking:
Do you have any idea what an average or good bounce rate is?
Answer:
An average or good bounce rate target depends on the point of your website. If you are selling, you want your bounce rate between 20 - 35%; getting below 20% is quite an accomplishment. For a blogger, it can be more difficult to determine. My goal for right now is to get my bounce rate down to about 40%. For a sales site, this wouldn't be considered a "good" number but as a blogger it is a good goal, in my opinion.
Why? Well, as mentioned above, maybe someone is clicking on my Tweeted link or facebook link, reading the article, leaving a comment and getting back to work or visiting another blog they read. I am sure this happens as I am guilty of doing that myself. So the other determining factor for me (and probably for other bloggers too) is going to be Avg. Time on Page. If I can get my Bounce Rate between 40-45% and my Avg Time on Page goes up > I will be pretty happy. That will mean for me that more people are sticking around, reading my post, checking out a few others before going back to working or moving on to the next blog they follow.
It is important to look at all the "sums of the whole" in your Web Analytics Reports because of the way they impact one another. Like I mentioned in the article, a page with a high bounce rate but high avg time on page is ok. High bounce rate and a low avg time on page is indicative of a problem.
Arash Mazinani left the following comment:
But one thing I'm 100% sure how much bounce rate influences your page ranking on google nothing I've read about seo has ever mentioned that before.
Answer:
Google's own definition of Bounce Rate tells us that they are collecting and using this data to help determine search ranking. Many different sites have written articles explaining it. Also, there is a difference between search ranking based on keywords and Bounce Rate. Bounce Rate alone may not be a direct factor but combined with other factors, Bounce Rate can affect your site ranking.
I have listed below links to other articles discussing it for your reading pleasure.
http://www.bloghighlight.com/bounce-rate-can-affect-your-google-ranking/
http://www.free-seo-news.com/newsletter347.htm
http://crossfirewebsitedesign.com/wp/2010/06/your-bounce-rate-and-how-it-affects-your-google-ranking/
