Originally Posted by mynameisjim

I think bounce rate is a bogus number by itself. Think of it like this.

If you are searching google for something, click on a link, and don't find it on the first page and search all around the site, that's actually a bad experience for the surfer, even though bounce rate would be low since you are searching all over this site and not finding what you wanted.

Now say you click on a link, get the info you need, then move on with your life. The surfer had a good experience but the bounce rate would be very high.

There is no way you can apply the same bounce rate criteria to different types of sites. So it's not a universal stat and has to be used on a site by site basis, and even a search by search basis.