Bounce rate used to be a go-to metric for judging content quality, but changes in how modern analytics platforms define engagement have made it far less reliable on its own.
What Changed
Newer analytics tools often measure "engaged sessions" instead, factoring in time spent and scroll depth rather than simply whether a second page was visited.
Why the Old Metric Was Misleading
- A reader who found their answer on one page and left was still counted as a "bad" bounce
- Single-page sites (like landing pages) always show artificially high bounce rates
What to Track Instead
Scroll depth, time on page, and specific goal completions give a much clearer picture of whether content is actually working.