Understanding Bounce Rate and Engagement Rate in GA4

At Lillian Purge, we specialise in Local SEO Services and provide expert insight on Understanding bounce rate and engagement rate in GA4 so you can interpret visitor behaviour and spot opportunities to improve engagement.

GA4 is Google’s latest version of its analytics platform, designed to give a more complete view of user behaviour across websites and apps. Unlike Universal Analytics, which focused on sessions and pageviews, GA4 uses an event-based data model. Every action a user takes   viewing a page, scrolling, clicking a link, or completing a purchase   is tracked as an event.

This change makes GA4 far more detailed and flexible, but it also means familiar metrics like bounce rate have been redefined. Understanding how these metrics work together helps businesses make informed decisions about engagement and content performance.

What is bounce rate in GA4?

In GA4, bounce rate is not the same as it was in Universal Analytics. Previously, a bounce occurred when a user visited a single page and then left without taking any action. That old definition often painted an incomplete picture because it didn’t account for engaged visits where users might read content but not click further.

In GA4, bounce rate is calculated as the percentage of sessions that were not engaged sessions. An engaged session is one that meets at least one of the following conditions:

• Lasts longer than 10 seconds.

• Includes a conversion event.

• Includes two or more pageviews or screen views.

This means GA4’s bounce rate is effectively the opposite of engagement rate. For example, if your site has a 70% engagement rate, your bounce rate will be 30%.

This updated definition provides a much more accurate understanding of how users interact with your site, particularly for content-heavy pages like blogs or product guides where visitors might spend several minutes reading before leaving.

What is engagement rate in GA4?

Engagement rate measures the percentage of sessions that qualify as engaged. In other words, it shows how many users actively interact with your site rather than leaving quickly.

Engaged sessions are identified when users spend more than 10 seconds on the site, view multiple pages, or complete meaningful actions such as filling in a form or clicking a call-to-action button.

Engagement rate helps you understand:

• How well your website content captures attention.

• Whether users are exploring multiple areas of your site.

• How effectively your calls to action encourage interaction.

This makes it a more reliable measure of user quality than simple pageviews or visits.

The difference between bounce rate and engagement rate

Although they’re closely related, bounce rate and engagement rate represent opposite sides of the same story.

• Bounce rate shows the percentage of users who did not interact beyond the initial page or who left within 10 seconds.

• Engagement rate shows the percentage of users who stayed, explored, or converted.

Because these metrics are inversely related, improving engagement rate will naturally reduce bounce rate. However, both should be interpreted in context. For example, a blog article might have a higher bounce rate if users find exactly what they need without navigating elsewhere   which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Why these metrics matter for SEO and marketing

Bounce rate and engagement rate help you gauge whether your website’s content, design, and user experience align with visitor expectations.

For SEO:

• High engagement rates can indicate strong content relevance and quality, which may support higher rankings.

• Low engagement or high bounce rates may suggest poor content structure, irrelevant targeting, or slow loading times.

For marketing performance:

• Tracking these metrics helps measure how well campaigns drive meaningful traffic.

• Analysing engagement can reveal whether visitors from ads or social media stay long enough to take action.

By understanding the story behind these numbers, you can fine-tune both content strategy and advertising efforts to improve ROI.

How to find bounce rate and engagement rate in GA4

Finding these metrics in GA4 is slightly different from previous versions.

1. Access your reports – In GA4, go to Reports → Engagement → Overview.

2. Check engagement rate – This is displayed by default and reflects the percentage of engaged sessions.

3. Enable bounce rate – Bounce rate can be added as a metric to custom reports or dashboards in the “Exploration” section.

Because GA4’s reports are event-driven, you can filter engagement by traffic source, device, landing page, or location for deeper insights.

How to interpret your bounce and engagement rates

The “right” numbers depend heavily on your website type and goals. Here’s how to interpret results across common website categories:

• Ecommerce sites – High engagement rates (above 70%) indicate that visitors are exploring products and adding items to baskets. A high bounce rate could mean product pages aren’t appealing or lack clear calls to action.

• Service-based businesses – Engagement rates between 50% and 70% are healthy if users interact with service pages or contact forms. Low engagement might mean unclear messaging or weak value propositions.

• Blogs and content sites – Engagement rates can vary widely. If visitors stay to read content but leave afterwards, it’s not necessarily negative. Focus on time spent and scroll depth instead.

How to improve engagement rate and reduce bounce rate

If your GA4 data shows poor engagement, several practical strategies can help:

1. Enhance page speed – Slow loading is one of the biggest causes of high bounce rates. Optimise images, scripts, and server response times.

2. Improve mobile experience – Many users access websites from mobile devices. Ensure your design is responsive and easy to navigate.

3. Use engaging visuals and structure – Break content into readable sections with images, videos, and internal links to encourage exploration.

4. Add clear calls to action – Encourage users to click, enquire, or purchase. Each action increases engagement and conversion opportunities.

5. Target the right audience – Ensure your SEO and ads bring in users genuinely interested in your offering. Misaligned targeting leads to high bounce rates.

6. Optimise landing pages – Align your content and headlines with user intent. When visitors see what they expect, they stay longer.

Using engagement metrics to guide decisions

Engagement rate isn’t just a diagnostic metric   it’s a strategic tool. Tracking how users behave across pages reveals which types of content, offers, or layouts work best.

• Identify top-performing pages – Pages with high engagement should be models for future design and structure.

• Spot weak areas – Pages with high bounce and low engagement might need rewritten content, better visuals, or faster load times.

• Measure campaign quality – Compare engagement between traffic from different channels to see which audiences interact most.

When monitored regularly, these insights help you refine your marketing strategy, improve user experience, and maximise conversions.

Common misconceptions about bounce and engagement

Many marketers assume a high bounce rate is always bad or that engagement rate should always exceed 70%. In reality, both metrics depend on context. A single-page website or blog post can serve its purpose perfectly with a higher bounce rate, while ecommerce pages require stronger engagement to convert.

It’s also important to remember that GA4 measures these metrics differently from older systems, so comparing them to historic Universal Analytics data isn’t meaningful. Focus on trends over time rather than fixed numbers.

Expert advice

To get the most from GA4, businesses should customise reports to match their objectives. For example, service-based businesses might track engagement around contact forms, while retailers focus on add-to-cart events. The key is connecting user behaviour data to real-world results.

Combine GA4 insights with SEO tracking tools to understand not just how users arrive at your site, but how they interact once they’re there. Together, these insights help build a complete picture of visibility, engagement, and conversion potential.

Conclusion

Bounce rate and engagement rate in GA4 offer a modern, more accurate way to measure website performance. Rather than focusing on one-off page visits, GA4 looks at true user interaction, giving deeper insight into how effectively your content captures attention and drives action. By understanding these metrics and optimising accordingly, businesses can create stronger digital experiences that improve both local SEO and overall marketing success.

We have also written in depth articles on How to use Google Analytics to track local SEO performance and How to Use Google Analytics as well as our Google Analytics Hub to give you further guidance.