Where Did Bounce Rate Go In GA4?

If you have a website of your own, you would know about different performance metrics, and bounce rate is one of them. The bounce rate shows how many visitors view your website page only once. In fact, it’s also used to determine how many people don’t involve in desired user behaviors, like purchasing and link clicks.

Having said that, bounce rate can help you determine the weaknesses in your website. So, if you want to keep an eye on the bounce rate but don’t know where to find it in Google Analytics 4, we are sharing the details!

Finding Bounce Rate In GA4

Design is the most common reason that users are unable to access the bounce rate metric. That’s because Google Analytics 4 is an action and event-oriented system. For this reason, they have replaced it with engagement and engaged sessions to see how website users are interacting with the web pages.

The engaged session happens when the user remains on your page for more than ten seconds and has more than one view. In addition, it needs to have a conversion event, even if it’s one. It is calculated by dividing the engaged sessions by the total sessions.

On the other hand, if you still want to use the bounce rate, the good news is that Google Analytics 4 hasn’t completely removed it from the platform. It’s not a default part of performance reports, but you can customize the reports to include bounce rate. In fact, the bounce rate can be added to the explore reports. To check out the bounce rate in your Google Analytics 4, follow the below-mentioned steps;

  • Open the left menu on the Google Analytics 4 platform and choose the “reports” option.
  • Choose the report that you want to customize.
  • Tap on the “Customize Report” button from the upper right corner.
  • In the data section of the report, you’ve to click on the metrics.
  • Now, add “bounce rate” to the report and tap on the “apply” button.
  • If you want to keep seeing the bounce rate metric, you have to tap on the “save changes” button on the current report.

On the contrary, if you are unable to the customize button for the reports, it’s highly likely that you don’t have an administrator or editor role.

The Alternatives Of Bounce Rate

Many experts say that the bounce rate is overrated and that it’s better to focus on the engagement rate and page value. To begin with, the engagement rate is captured when the user remains on the page for more than ten seconds. So, while creating the reports, Google Analytics 4 focuses on the engagement rate more.

On the other hand, if you need actionable data, we recommend checking the page value. It’s basically the average value for a page that users visit before they land on your desired page or complete the purchase. It will help you understand which pages are helping capture the right results.

The Bottom Line

While it’s obvious that you’ve been using bounce rate to determine the weaknesses, it’s time you focus on page value and engagement rate to get better insights into the website's performance!