How to Find Exit Pages in Google Analytics

Figuring out which pages users leave from on your website tells a powerful story about their journey. This is where the Exit Pages report in Google Analytics comes in, showing you the last page a person viewed before their visit ended. This article will show you exactly how to find your exit pages in both Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4, understand what the data means, and take action to improve your site.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

What Are Exit Pages, Anyway?

An exit page is simply the last page a user views on your website before their session ends. Every single session has an exit page. Whether a visitor spends two minutes or two hours on your site, they eventually have to leave, and the page they leave from is recorded as an exit.

It's easy to get exit pages confused with bounce pages, but they are conceptually different, especially in Universal Analytics.

• Exit Page: The last page in any session, regardless of how many pages the user visited. A user could visit your home page, a product page, check your pricing, and then leave from the pricing page. The pricing page is the exit page.
• Bounce Page: An unofficial term for a page where a user starts and ends their session without visiting any other pages. A bounce is a single-page session. A user who bounces from your blog post has made that blog post both the entry page and the exit page of a one-page session. All bounces are exits, but not all exits are bounces.

This also relates to two key metrics: Exit Rate and Bounce Rate.

• Exit Rate is the percentage of visits to a page that were the last in the session. It's calculated as total exits from a page / total pageviews of that page.
• Bounce Rate (a Universal Analytics metric) is the percentage of sessions that started on a page and didn't go any further. It's calculated as total single-page sessions / total sessions started on that page.

Why You Should Care About Exit Pages

Analyzing which pages have high exit rates can reveal critical insights about your website's performance and user experience. It's not just about seeing where people leave, it's about asking why they are leaving from that specific page.

Here’s why it matters:

• Identify Leaks in Your Funnel: Are tons of users abandoning your site from a specific step in your checkout or signup process? A high exit rate here is a serious red flag that something is wrong.
• Highlight Poor User Experience (UX): Pages that are confusing, slow to load, or have broken elements often have high exit rates. If a top landing page has a high exit rate, users might not be finding what they expect.
• Uncover Content Gaps: If you have a support page with a high exit rate, it could mean users found their answer (good!) or got frustrated and left (bad!). Context is crucial.
• Find Opportunities for Optimization: Pages with unexpectedly high exit rates are prime candidates for A/B testing, redesigns, or new calls-to-action (CTAs).

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

How to Find Exit Pages in Universal Analytics (UA)

For those who still need to access historical data, finding the Exit Pages report in an old Universal Analytics property is straightforward, as it's a standard, pre-built report.

Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to your Universal Analytics property.
2. In the left-hand navigation menu, click on Behavior > Site Content > Exit Pages.

That's it. You will see a table listing all your site's pages, sorted by the number of exits by default. The key columns to pay attention to are:

• Exits: The total number of times visitors left your website from that particular page.
• Pageviews: The total number of times that page was viewed.
• % Exit: This is the Exit Rate, calculated for you. It's the most valuable metric for quickly identifying problematic pages.

How to Find Exit Data in Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 works very differently from UA. One of the biggest changes is the removal of many pre-built reports, including the Exit Pages report. In GA4, you have to build this report yourself using the "Explore" section. It sounds intimidating, but it's a simple process.

Here’s how to create your own Exit Pages report in GA4.

Step 1: Get Started in the "Explore" Section

From the main GA4 sidebar on the left, click on Explore. On the Explorations screen, click to create a new Blank exploration.

Step 2: Add Your Dimensions

The "Variables" column on the left is where you'll select the data you want to use.

1. Under the DIMENSIONS box, click the + icon.
2. In the search box, type "Page."
3. Check the box next to "Page path and screen class" (to see the URL path) or "Page title and screen class" (to see the page's HTML title). Select whichever makes more sense for your analysis.
4. Click the Import button in the top right.

Now, drag the "Page path…" dimension you just imported from the DIMENSIONS box over to the ROWS area in the "Tab Settings" column.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

Step 3: Add Your Metrics

Next, you’ll add the numbers you want to measure.

1. Under the METRICS box in the "Variables" column, click the + icon.
2. Search for and select "Exits" and "Views".
3. Click the Import button.

Drag both "Exits" and "Views" from the METRICS box into the VALUES area in the "Tab Settings" column. Your report will now populate with data, showing a table of your pages along with their view and exit counts.

Step 4: Create a Calculated "Exit Rate" Metric

You probably noticed that unlike UA, GA4 doesn't have a ready-made "Exit Rate" metric. No problem - we can create our own!

1. In the "Variables" column, click the + icon next to the METRICS header again.
2. This time, select Create a new metric > Calculated metric.
3. In the formula builder, enter this formula: {{Exits}} / {{Views}}.
4. For Metric name, type in "Exit Rate".
5. For Formatting type, choose "Percent."
6. Click Create.

Finally, drag your new "Exit Rate" metric underneath your other metrics in the VALUES area. Now you have a fully functional - and superior - Exit Pages report, just like in UA, which you can rename and save for future use.

Interpreting the Data: Good Exits vs. Bad Exits

Once you have your report, the analysis begins. Remember, a high exit rate isn't automatically a bad thing. Context is everything. The goal is to separate the "good exits" from the "bad exits."

What are "Good" (or Expected) Exits?

In some cases, users leaving from a certain page is the natural and desired outcome of their visit. Pages where a high exit rate is perfectly normal include:

• Thank You/Confirmation Pages: If a user just completed a purchase, filled out a form, or signed up for your newsletter, leaving from the confirmation page means they have successfully completed their task. This is a win.
• Support or Documentation Pages: A visitor who lands on a specific help article, finds their answer, and leaves is a satisfied user. The high exit rate proves your page solved their problem.
• Outbound Link Pages: If the purpose of a page is to direct users to an external site (like a partner’s platform or a social media profile), seeing them exit is the intended behavior.
• Blog Post Articles: Often, a user will search for a specific question, read your article, get the answer, and leave. While you might prefer they stick around, this isn't necessarily a failure of the page.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

What are "Bad" (or Concerning) Exits?

High exit rates on these pages warrant immediate investigation, as they may signal that users are leaving out of frustration, not satisfaction.

• Checkout or Cart abandonment: This one is the most critical. If users are abandoning their carts or leaving during the payment process, you are losing money. This could be due to unexpected shipping costs, a confusing form, or a technical bug.
• Multi-Step Form Pages: For lead generation or signup forms, a high exit rate on step 1 or 2 is a problem. It indicates friction in the process that is preventing people from completing the conversion.
• Key Product/Service Pages: High-traffic pages that are central to your business should not be leaking visitors. A high exit rate here means your value proposition isn't clear, the pricing is confusing, or the call-to-action isn't compelling.
• Important Landing Pages: For pages driving your marketing campaigns, exits suggest a mismatch between ad copy and page content or a failure to persuade visitors to take the next step.

Actionable Steps to Reduce High Exit Rates

If you’ve identified a page with a concerningly high exit rate, don't panic. Here are practical steps you can take to diagnose the problem and fix it.

• Assess On-Page Experience: Put yourself in your users' shoes. Is the page's purpose immediately clear? Is the text readable? Are there annoying pop-ups getting in the way? Simplify the design and focus on the primary goal of the page.
• Check Page Speed: Slow-loading pages are a huge reason for abandonment. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights to check your performance score and get recommendations for improvement.
• Review Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Is it obvious what you want the user to do next? Your CTA should be clear, visible, and compelling. Sometimes, a lack of direction is all it takes for a user to leave.
• Test for Technical Glitches: Click every button and fill out every form on both desktop and mobile. A broken link, a non-working form, or a visual bug can stop a user's journey dead in its tracks.
• Add Internal Links and a Next Step: For pages like blog posts where high exits are common, give users a reason to stay. Add internal links to related articles, recommend a relevant product, or suggest they sign up for your newsletter. Guide them on their journey.
• Use Heatmaps and Session Recordings: Tools like Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar allow you to see where users are clicking, how far they scroll, and watch recordings of anonymized user sessions. This is an incredibly powerful way to see firsthand where users are getting stuck or confused.

Final Thoughts

Monitoring your exit pages is a fundamental part of understanding user behavior and optimizing your website. It helps you find and fix the leaky parts of your funnel, improve user experience, and ultimately guide more visitors towards your goals. Whether you’re using historical UA data or building your own reports in GA4, the process is well worth the effort.

Manually building these reports in GA4 every time you need to dig into the data can become tedious. At Graphed, we connect directly to your Google Analytics account so you can stop wrestling with custom report builders. You can simply ask for what you need - like, "show me my top 10 exit pages by exit rate for last month" - and we instantly generate a dashboard that stays updated in real-time. It’s about getting answers in seconds, not spending your time building reports.