Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions in which a visitor views only a single page and leaves without triggering any further interaction, calculated as single-page sessions divided by total sessions.
Because it's a percentage of sessions rather than pageviews, bounce rate can swing based on how a tool defines 'interaction' — some count scrolling or a time threshold as engagement, others count only a second pageview. A blog post that fully answers a reader's question in one page will often show a high bounce rate that reflects success, not failure, which is why bounce rate should rarely be read on its own.
A visitor lands on a recipe page from a search result, reads the recipe, and closes the tab without clicking anything else — that single-page session counts as a bounce, even though the visitor got exactly what they wanted.
No. For content designed to answer one question quickly, like a reference article or a store's contact page, a high bounce rate can simply mean visitors found what they needed without clicking further.
Definitions vary by tool. Some platforms count any single-page visit as a bounce regardless of time spent, while others require a minimum session duration or event before a visit stops counting as one.
Bounce rate only applies to single-page sessions, while exit rate measures the percentage of all sessions that end on a given page, regardless of how many pages were viewed before it.