I was analysing my google analytics for a client the other day and needed clarification on the differences between Exit Rate and Bounce Rate. It’s not overly clear while you are looking at the analytics, but I found a help page which explains in detail the differences;

This is an excerpt from Google which I think will help others that are unsure or even how to work out what’s happening;To understand the difference between exit and bounce rates for a particular page in your site, keep in mind three things:

1. For all pageviews to the page, the exit rate is the percentage that were the last in the session.
2. For all sessions that start with the page, bounce rate is the percentage that were the onlyone of the session.
3. The bounce rate calculation for a page is based only on visits that start with that page.

Let’s clarify this last point with a simple example. Your site has pages A through C, and only one session per day  exists, with the following pageview order:

• Monday: Page A > Page B > Page C
• Tuesday: Page B > Page A > Page C
• Wednesday: Page A > exit

The content report for Page A would show 3 pageviews and a 50% bounce rate.  You might have guessed that the bounce rate would be 33%, but the Tuesday pageview granted to Page A is not considered in its bounce rate calculation. Consider that a bounce is the notion of a session with only one interaction from the visitor, and the session-centric analysis answers a simple yes/no question:  “Did this session contain more than one pageview?” If the answer to that question is “no,” then it’s important to consider which page was involved in the bounce.  If the answer is “yes,” then it only matters that the initial page in the session lead to other pageviews.  For that reason, bounce rate for a page is only meaningful when it initiates the session.

Now let’s extend this example to explore the Exit rate and Bounce rate metrics for a series of single-session days on your site.

• Monday: Page B > Page A > Page C
• Tuesday:  Page B > Exit
• Wednesday:  Page A > Page C > Page B
• Thursday:  Page C > Exit
• Friday: Page B > Page C > Page A

The % Exit and Bounce rate calculations are:

Exit Rate:

• Page A: 33% (only 3 of 5 sessions included Page A)
• Page B: 50% (only 4 of 5 sessions included Page B)
• Page C: 50% (only 4 of 5 sessions included Page C)

Bounce Rate:

• Page A: 0% (no sessions began with Page A, so it has no bounce rate)
• Page B: 33% (bounce rate is higher than exit rate, because 3 sessions started with Page B, with one leading to a bounce)
• Page C: 100% (one session started with Page C, and it lead to a bounce)