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We run a website where we sell access to a member area.

We use Google analytics to optimize the site but i have a bounce rate in about 85%. The problem is that I'm not sure what count as a bounce and whats not.

If a person go to my front page and log in directly. Will this count as a bounce because there is no analytics on the member pages or is Google smart enough to see that the link is on my side?

Thanks a lot.

John Conde
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Luticka
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1 Answers1

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From Google Analytics Help Center:

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.

The important thing to note is that Google is totally blind to pages that don't have Google Analytics on them. That means, if the page to login to your member area (and all subsequent pages) doesn't have Google Analytics, it assumes that a session without a second page view is a bounce, and will record it accordingly.

(Also, if the next page someone visits after the landing page is on a different domain or subdomain that you do happen to track, and you haven't properly configured sub-domain or cross-domain tracking, it will record that as 2 separate visits, the first of which resulted in a bounce.)

Yahel
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    +1 ... but you could trigger a trackPageview for a pseudo-URI (i.e. '/logged/in') whenever someone submits your login form to get around this limitation. – danlefree Mar 02 '11 at 12:59
  • @danlefree Correct. You could even do it with _trackEvent, and it'll also be considered a non-bounce visit. – Yahel Mar 02 '11 at 19:36