Bounce Rate in Google Analytics 4
After many months of pleading, Google has just added the Bounce Rate metric to Google Analytics 4.
The well-loved, over-used metric from Universal Analytics, that’s been in Google Analytics since its launch in 2005 is back !!
Yaay!! Woohoo!! Cheers all around, right?
Nope.
Yes indeed, the Bounce Rate metric is now available in Google Analytics 4.
But the rules on “what’s a bounce?” are different in GA4 compared to UA.
Here’s why.
Bounce Rate in Universal Analytics is defined as
Bounce Rate in Google Analytics 4 is defined as
OK… What’s an engaged session, you ask?
In GA4, an engaged session is defined as a session that meets one of the following conditions:
- Is longer than 10 seconds (default setting – you can change this)
- Has a conversion
- Includes 2 or more pageviews or screenviews
In other words,
Bounce rate (%) = 100% – Engagement Rate (%)
Some scenarios to highlight the differences:
Do the examples above help?
Got another Bounce Rate scenario you’re unsure about?
Tell us by leaving your question in a comment below.
Bounce rates aren’t available in any of the GA4 standard reports. You can retrieve this info quickly by whipping up an Exploration report.
Here’s a Free Form Exploration report using the Google Merchandise Store demo data showing Bounce Rate and Engagement Rate for Google’s Apparel landing pages:
Google is sure to accelerate its releases as the Universal Analytics sunset date of July 1, 2023 approaches. Read Universal Analytics will be going away.
Staying up to date on releases is easy as you just have to keep an eye on Google’s What’s New page.