Exit page
What is an exit page?
An exit page is the last page a user opens before leaving a website. Exit pages serve as an important marketing metric, helping to understand users’ behavior on a website.
For example, in a path
Organic Search > Product Page > Blog Page > Homepage > Exit
the last page, homepage, is an exit page. And this is an example of highly undesirable user behavior.
The purpose of tracking exit pages is to improve the user journey throughout a website and increase conversions from the traffic you have already gained.
For each exit page, you get the exit rate metric which shows the ratio of exits to pageviews. This means how often people leave the page without proceeding further to the site.
Contrary to the bounce which is the first page in a session that a visitor leaves without interaction, an exit page means the last page in a user’s session. Hence, bounce rate is also not to be confused with exit rate[1].
Why exit pages are important for your SEO
Analytics and marketing tools use exit pages and the exit rate as a metric to assess user behavior and interaction with a site’s content. If a landing page has a low conversion and a high exit rate, it means that your traffic is wasted. That is why it is crucial to identify top exit pages and improve them.
It is urgent to notice when your top-conversion pages have a high exit rate. These can be cases when:
- Users leave a product page without converting
- The shopping cart is abandoned
- Users exit the site search page without finding what they want.
Why do pages suffer from a high exit rate?
The reasons for high exit rates on landing pages boil down to the following issues:
- Bad design
- Poorly visible calls to action
- Bad navigation menu
- Absence of internal linking
- A page is outdated or presents thin content
- A page addresses the wrong user intent
How to identify your top exit pages
In Google Analytics, head for the Behavior > Site Content dropdown section and find the Exit pages module. There you will find your top landing pages with the biggest number of users who left your website from these pages.
A helpful feature from Google Analytics is to apply Audience segments to single out visitors who did not convert. You can analyze these audiences to spot the conversion issue, optimize the landing page, and decrease the exit rate.
How to fix a high exit rate issue?
Each exit page should be analyzed for the reason why the exit rate is so high. As a probable solution to the issue, one can try:
- Improve page experience (mobile-friendliness, load speed time, etc).
- Add a pop-up inviting people to subscribe, buy, etc.
- Add internal links to helpful related resources.
- Alter the call to action and make it more understandable.
- Run a remarketing campaign.
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