Let’s keep it simple: there is no Bounce Rate in GA4 – or Session Duration, either. What you’re looking for is Engagement Rate. And here’s how it works

Every time Google Analytics updates there’s always some kind of Earth-shaking shift. In this case, it’s the recent disappearance of Bounce Rate – the internet traffic metric that tracked who visited only a single page on a site – in Google Analytics 4. But never fear, entrepreneur, Google’s here. The people who brought you Maps would never leave you stranded.

Entre Engagement Rate.

Why did Google get rid of Bounce Rate?

The first obvious question is where did Google Bounce Rate go? To put it bluntly, Google decided to retire the engagement metric because it just wasn’t quite accurate enough.

For example, someone visits a site and interacts by reading an article or blog. While they spent a significant amount of time on that page, Google used to count that as a bounce. Another problem comes in the form of single-page apps and mobile. Why did Google get rid of Bounce Rate?

The first obvious question is where did Google Bounce Rate go? To put it bluntly, Google decided to retire the engagement metric because it just wasn’t quite accurate enough.

For example, someone visits a site and interacts by reading an article or blog. While they spent a significant amount of time on that page, Google used to count that as a bounce. Another problem comes in the form of single-page apps and mobile. Users simply don’t always generate multiple page views during these sessions even though they’re obviously engaged, causing a discrepancy in the analytics versus reality.
They tried to balance that out with Session Duration but – as many have noticed – that metric is gone, too. Google UA’s Sessions also appears to have disappeared in the GA4 roll-out, however, it’s just been rolled into a digital measurement that performs far more accurately at tracking engagement across all platforms.

That would be Engagement Rate.

How does GA4 Engagement Rate Work?

Engagement Rate quantifies metrics by tracking Engaged Sessions, Engaged Sessions per User, and Engaged Time.

A session meets the requirements for Engagement when a visitor does one of the following during their visit to a site:

Engages with a website or app for at least 10 seconds
The user records 2 or more screen or page views
A conversion event is fired meaning a business objective has been met
What GA4 users have begun to notice is that visitors they thought were bouncing actually engaged in some sort of way.

An easy way of explaining Engagement Rate is to think of it as the inverse of Bounce Rate. Sites with a Bounce Rate of 65% in UA will see an Engagement Rate of around 35% in GA4 once everything is organized. This allows GA4 to provide more precise insights that are easier to access while facilitating more informed decisions based on data that is specific to the particular business.

Engagement Rate delivers cross-platform information that forms a more well-rounded analysis of how users interact with a site and apps across all devices. The tighter insights translate to more effective marketing that grants a better return on investment.

Bounce Rate and Engagement Rate can be seen as 2 sides of the same coin.

Actually, Engagement Rate is Better Than Bounce Rate

This upgrade may take some time to get used to, but OptFirst believes Engagement Rate grants an understanding of site traffic that Bounce Rate lacked. This allows GA4 to provide more valuable data about what users are doing on a website instead of just gauging who left.

GA4 users may even notice that users they thought were bouncing actually engaged with their site in some way or another.

If your business needs any help monitoring your site with GA4, contact OptFirst – we’ve got you covered.

Where has the bounce rate gone? Not only is the bounce rate showing higher than ever in traditional Google Analytics, but it also is not even listed in Google Analytics 4. The new metric for bounce rate is engagement rate.