Bounce rates on Google Analytics

[baldidiot]

If a user lands on your site and clicks off through an aff link or banner, is that seen as a bounce in google analytics?

Assuming it is, is there any way to track these actions? All of my links are cloaked, but obviously the links do not have the analytics code in them and the whole folder is restricted in robots.txt

[davemerry]

Not sure if it is counted as a bounce, the user has interacted with your site rather than just go backwards. Could be wrong though...

When you say track these actions, do you mean track outbound link clicks through Google Analytics? I know a way to set up every individual affiliate link click as a completed goal - great for breaking down to which keywords convert best, seeing how many overall goals where completed, making comparison models etc. If this is the type of thing you mean let me know and I will post it, don't want to waste 30 minutes on a post if you mean something else

[baldidiot]

Not sure if it is counted as a bounce, the user has interacted with your site rather than just go backwards. Could be wrong though...

When you say track these actions, do you mean track outbound link clicks through Google Analytics? I know a way to set up every individual affiliate link click as a completed goal - great for breaking down to which keywords convert best, seeing how many overall goals where completed, making comparison models etc. If this is the type of thing you mean let me know and I will post it, don't want to waste 30 minutes on a post if you mean something else

That would be awesome! I plan on experimenting more with adwords so this would be an amazing stat to have!

[Simmo!]

I'd suggest creating a single redirect script for your aff links, adding GA to it and setting it up as a goal. Much easier to manage and theoretically that should reduce your bounce rate as effectively a user is viewing 2 pages on your site. It also makes managing aff links easier as they are all in one place.

[davemerry]

Pretty much as Simmo suggested is what I was reffering to, except the way I have done it is by adding a javascript onClick function to the URL.

Without trying to promote my blog to much here, it seemed a good thing to write an informational post on (and way to long to post here), so I created a step-by-step post here http://www.davidmerry.co.uk/affiliat...gle-analytics/

Feedback always welcome!

[baldidiot]

Thanks!

I use Joomla and my links run through weblinks, so I don't think there would be any way to add the analytics code to these pages (as they're just 301 redirects handled by the built in script - please correct me if anybody knows otherwise!).

The solution Dave posted could work, and what's nice is that the site is all DB driven so changing everything over would take 5 mins

I'll try it tomorrow - fingers crossed!

[bonusbetting]

Thanks Dave for the excellent info.

I have been putting off doing this but it makes a lot of sense.

I did experiment with adding an onclick event to track clicks using some code I found at google webmaster central, but it meant that links were opened in the same window, even with target="blank" set. It's crucial that my links open in new windows. Do you think this will be an issue?

Thanks for a really clear and useful guide.

[MichaelCorfman]

I think for most webmasters the best approach to this general issue is to set up events for clicks to a gaming site. After all, when that happens it is an event you want to know about when using Google analytics to understand what is happening on your site. And, when an event is triggered on a site then the visit is not considered a bounce even if other pages on your website are not visited. The old work-around before events were added to Google analytics was to record page visits on clicks, but that method distorts things like average page views on your site, since the click incorrectly adds an additional page view with that approach whereas that does not happen when using events.

Michael

[HBKKH]

I was also wondering this. thx for posting

[davemerry]

Thanks Dave for the excellent info.

I have been putting off doing this but it makes a lot of sense.

I did experiment with adding an onclick event to track clicks using some code I found at google webmaster central, but it meant that links were opened in the same window, even with target="blank" set. It's crucial that my links open in new windows. Do you think this will be an issue?

Thanks for a really clear and useful guide.

Hi Bonusbetting, not a problem at all!

To be honest I am not an expert when it comes to untested technicalities like you have described so I wouldn't hold to much weight with my answer, but I can't see a reason why this wouldn't work.

All the outbound links on my affiliate sites redirect using a JS script, these automatically open up the link in a new window and it tracks outbound clicks fine.

If you are looking to implement it on your site and can't get it to open up in a new window then let me know and I'll grab you a solution - I'm sure it is easily solvable if it is an issue.

I think for most webmasters the best approach to this general issue is to set up events for clicks to a gaming site. After all, when that happens it is an event you want to know about when using Google analytics to understand what is happening on your site. And, when an event is triggered on a site then the visit is not considered a bounce even if other pages on your website are not visited. The old work-around before events were added to Google analytics was to record page visits on clicks, but that method distorts things like average page views on your site, since the click incorrectly adds an additional page view with that approach whereas that does not happen when using events.

Michael

Michael you are 100% correct with the pageview numbers being distorted by this method of tracking, I found this out first hand pretty quickly however I have got used to it and considered the pros to outweigh the cons.

I am going to test filtering the goal tracking URL out with the profile filter manager and see whether it also affects the goal tracking as well. If anyone knows the answer to this before I do so then it would be much appreciated.

Would solve the only issue that I can really see, which Michael has described.