Do you know that not guiding your WordPress site visitors through a well-defined, actionable pathway can actually increase your bounce rate? Or are you aware that pop-up ads, which were a major tool for increasing subscriptions some time back, are now driving away the visitors?

These are just two examples that highlight the shifting patterns in user-engagement and their retention. With the attention span of humans shrinking down to just eight seconds, which is actually one second less than that of a goldfish, keeping the users engaged on a website is not an easy task. Even after getting high ranking by following latest SEO trends and having hundreds of posts on your site, if your visitors are still not sticking to your site, you need to work on reducing the bounce rate.

This write-up is all about tips to reduce bounce rate, which is the percentage of people who visit your site and then leave instantly without engaging further. Your WordPress website needs to be updated with all the strategic tips discussed below to reduce the bounce rate. So, let’s read on…

Improve Internal Linking of the Website

A user instantly bounces away from a site when he/she does not get any compelling reason to stay on the page. Adding internal links on a page can provide the much-needed reason. Provide links to other informative pages on your site or to your site’s service page or product page wherever you feel they would be applicable. Offer important information related to the content on the page so that the user feels compelled to click on it and stay a bit longer on your site. It is also important that you have related content at the end of each page to weave a strongly linked web. These internal linking helps you guide your user to the next step once they’ve landed on your page. 

Useful Plugins

WordPress plugins like YARPP (Yet Another Related Post Plugin) and SEO Auto Linker can be used to add useful internal links to your WordPress website.

Boost Page Load Speed

Here’s an eye-opener: A Google research revealed that 53% of the mobile website visitors abandon a page that takes more than three seconds to load. This means that a slow loading website is indeed a main reason for the increased bounce rate. With the patience level of today’s users shrinking down to a zero, having a page that loads in less than three seconds has become indispensable. Various WordPress plugins like Pingdom or GTmetrix can help you test your page load time and even offer sugg+estions for boosting the speed. By simplifying the design, using Content Distribution Network (CDN), enabling Accelerated Mobile Pages, minifying JavaScript and CSS files, or changing the web hosting provider, you can easily make your site load faster than before.

Useful Plugins

WP Smush for compressing images and W3 Total Cache for caching the content are proven plugins for boosting site speed.

Say No to Pop-Up Ads

Pop-up ads are by far considered one of the most irritating things that a user can encounter on any WordPress website. Many WordPress developers add pop-up ads or splash pages on their website to increase their subscription rate; eventually leading to an increased bounce rate. Most of the users want a seamless pathway to reach the main content and pop-ups act or splash pages only as a barrier to their access to the content. In addition to these, multiple advertisements covering a majority of the page are also a reason that’s making users leave your site. While the pop-up ads should be discarded right away, splash pages or post advertisements should be analyzed thoroughly to ensure that they add value to the content.

Useful Plugins

Various ad management plugins like Advanced Ads or Ads Pro can help you display ads effectively while avoiding pop-up ads or other distracting ads from the page.

Create High-Quality Content

Quality content is the king which keeps the users engaged on any website. Relatable and useful content which is in tune with the heading that you have provided will compel the visitors to spend more time reading the high-quality content. If a visitor doesn’t find what they’ve come looking for on your page, they would not think twice before hitting the back button. The content should be well-structured, informative, clear, and concise to keep the user stuck to it.

Useful Plugins

Plugins like Yoast SEO, Word Stat, and PrePost SEO are very helpful in creating and improving the quality of content created on WordPress website.

Enrich User Experience

User experience might be placed at last, but it holds an important position in reducing the bounce rate and improving user retention. An appealing UX with intuitive navigation and easy-to-find content is something that you should have to improve the overall experience of your visitors.  A theme that makes perfect use of the whitespace on your page while providing a visual hierarchy is great to make your website easy-to-scan by the users’ eyes. Offer quick navigation by providing a navigation bar, breadcrumbs, clear menu items etc., on your WordPress website. In addition to all that, make sure that your site is mobile friendly and in line with the latest UX trends improve the experience and reduce bounce rate.

Useful Plugins

Breadcrumb NavXT, WP-PageNavi, and Smooth scroll up are some of the WordPress plugins that can help you improve your navigation and gradually reduce the bounce rate.

Internal linking, page load speed, pop-up ads, quality content, and user experience: the engagement of your visitor hinges on the five factors. You need to manage your WordPress website with the expertise to ensure that the users stay on your site for a longer haul. Not one, not two, you have to incorporate all the tips discussed above to see a gradual reduction in the bounce rate on your WordPress site.

Author Bio:

Anurag Gupta is a budding entrepreneur with stakes in WeblinkIndia.net an acclaimed Web Designing & Development Company, headquartered in India. He also happens to be a keen writer, sharing insights, tips, and tutorials on subjects related to the ever evolving landscape of Web Designing and Development.