<\/span><\/h2>\nWhen we upgraded to Universal Analytics in 2014, the original adjusted bounce rate code stopped working, so we used this tweak. Our adjusted bounce rate looked like this after adding it:<\/p>\n
![\"Adjusted](\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adjusted-bounce-rate1.png\")
<\/p>\n
The original 2012 version for the classic ga.js<\/code> code added one line after _trackPageview<\/code>: setTimeout(\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '15_seconds', 'read'])\",15000);<\/code>. The Universal Analytics tracking code looked like this, with the extra line added before the closing script tag:<\/p>\nga('create', 'UA-123456-1', 'auto');\nga('send', 'pageview');\nsetTimeout(function () {\n ga('send', 'event', 'adjusted bounce rate', 'page visit 15 seconds or more');\n}, 15000);<\/code><\/pre>\nAfter 15 seconds, it sent an event, so the visit no longer counted as a bounce. Changing 15000 to a higher number tracked longer visits. Don’t add this today:<\/strong> analytics.js<\/code> and UA properties no longer collect data. Use GA4’s engaged-session timer instead.<\/p>\n<\/span>Does bounce rate affect SEO?<\/span><\/h2>\nGoogle has said it doesn’t use Google Analytics data such as bounce rate for rankings. But engagement still matters: pages that answer the question well keep readers longer and earn more links and return visits. Use adjusted bounce rate and engagement rate to find pages that disappoint readers, then improve them.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Frequently asked questions<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/span>Is Universal Analytics still working?<\/span><\/h3>\nNo. Standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing data on 1 July 2023, and Analytics 360 properties in 2024. Use Google Analytics 4.<\/p>\n
<\/span>What is a good bounce rate in GA4?<\/span><\/h3>\nIt depends on the site. For blogs, a GA4 bounce rate of 30\u201360% is common. Compare pages on your own site rather than chasing a single number.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Why does adjusted bounce rate also increase time on site?<\/span><\/h3>\nAnalytics measures time between hits. A one-page visit with no other hit counts as zero seconds; the timed event adds a second hit, so those visits get a real duration. GA4 measures engagement time directly, so it doesn’t have this problem.<\/p>\n
<\/span>What’s the difference between bounce rate and exit rate?<\/span><\/h3>\nBounce rate is about sessions that weren’t engaged. Exit rate shows how often a page was the last one viewed in a session, whether or not the visitor engaged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adjusted bounce rate counts a visitor as “engaged” if they stay on a page for a set time, even if…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":41664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-41663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-search-engine-optimization","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41663"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68501,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41663\/revisions\/68501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}