The way bounce rates were measured in Google’s Universal Analytics platform has changed since the new Google Analytics version 4 (GA4) rolled out and replaced it. Instead of focusing on the negative aspect of what percentage of visitors leave after they land on a page for the first time, GA4 uses the engagement rate metric which instead focuses on what percentage of visitors stay and engage with the content. In UA, engagement is based on user interaction, whereas in GA4, engagement considers page views, session duration, and conversion events.
How Engagement is Measured in GA4
In GA4, a visitor is flagged as ‘engaged’ when one of three things happens:
The visitor spends more than 10 seconds on the page
The visitor triggers a conversion event
The visitor generates at least 2 page or screen views
To calculate the bounce rate, simply subtract the engagement rate % from 100%. For example, if the engagement rate is 89%, then the bounce rate would be 100% - 89% = 11%.