How to Find Exit Rate in Google Analytics
Trying to figure out where visitors are leaving your website can feel like a game of whack-a-mole. You plug one leak, and another one appears. Fortunately, Google Analytics has a specific metric designed to pinpoint exactly where these drop-offs are happening: the Exit Rate. This simple metric shows which of your pages are most often the last stop in a user's journey. This guide will show you exactly how to find Exit Rate in Google Analytics 4, explain what it means, and translate that data into actionable steps to keep visitors engaged.
What is Exit Rate? A Simple Explanation
In the simplest terms, Exit Rate is the percentage of times a specific page was the very last page in a user's session. It answers the question, "For all the times this page was viewed, how often was it the final one users saw before leaving my site?"
The calculation looks like this:
Exit Rate = (Total Number of Exits from a Page) / (Total Number of Views for that Page)
For example, say your new "About Us" page gets 500 total pageviews in a week. During those sessions, 25 users leave your website directly from that page. The other 475 visitors click on to view a product or return to the homepage.
Your "About Us" page's exit rate for the week would be:
(25 Exits / 500 Pageviews) * 100 = 5%
It's important to remember that a "high" exit rate isn't automatically a bad thing - context is everything. Sometimes, an exit is a sign of a successful visit!
A "Good" High Exit Rate: Consider a purchase confirmation or "thank you" page. Users are supposed to exit from here, they’ve completed the most important action. The same applies to a blog post that fully answers a specific question. If someone finds the answer they need and leaves satisfied, that’s a win.
A "Bad" High Exit Rate: On the other hand, a high exit rate on a product page, a category page, or in the middle of a checkout funnel is a major red flag. These pages are designed to move users forward, so a high number of drop-offs signals a problem like a confusing layout, unclear call-to-action (CTA), or a technical issue.
Exit Rate vs. Bounce Rate in GA4: What’s the Difference?
"Exit Rate" and "Bounce Rate" are often used interchangeably, but they measure two very different things. Understanding the distinction is vital for accurate analysis.
Bounce rate in GA4 is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged sessions. A session is considered "engaged" if the user does any of the following:
Stays on the site for longer than 10 seconds.
Has a conversion event.
Visits at least two pages.
A "bounce," therefore, is a single-page session with no meaningful interaction. It says more about the quality of the entire visit.
Exit Rate, on the other hand, simply measures how often a page was the end of the road. It doesn't care if the user looked at one page or twenty pages before it. It’s a page-specific performance metric.
Here’s a practical way to think about it:
A user lands on Blog Post A and leaves after 5 seconds: This is counted as a bounce for the session and an exit for Blog Post A.
A user lands on the Homepage, clicks to Product Page B, and then leaves:
This session is NOT a bounce because the user viewed more than one page.
Homepage gets a pageview, but not an exit.
Product Page B gets a pageview AND an exit.
The key takeaway is this: every bounce is an exit, but not every exit is a bounce.
How to Find Exit Rate in Google Analytics 4 (Step-by-Step)
Unlike Universal Analytics, GA4 does not show the "Exit Rate" metric in a single column in its standard reports by default. You either need to add the raw "Exits" number to your report or build a custom exploration to see the percentage directly. Here are both methods.
Method 1: Adding 'Exits' to a Standard Report (The Quick Way)
This method gives you the raw numbers you need to calculate the exit rate yourself (Exits / Views). It's the fastest way to get a snapshot.
Navigate to the Reports tab in the left-hand menu.
Under the "Life cycle" section, go to Engagement > Pages and screens.
In the top right corner of the report, click the pencil icon that says "Customize report."
A panel will appear on the right. Click on Metrics.
In the Metrics section, click "Add metric." Start typing "Exits" into the search bar and select it when it appears. Click the blue Apply button at the bottom.
Your report table will now include a column for "Exits" next to "Views." By comparing these two numbers, you can spot pages where the ratio of exits-to-views is alarmingly high. While it doesn't calculate the percentage for you, it puts the necessary data right at your fingertips.
Method 2: Building an Exploration Report with a Calculated Metric (The Better Way)
If you want to see a clean "Exit Rate" percentage column without doing manual math, the Exploration Reports are your best friend. This might seem complex at first, but it just takes a minute to set up.
Go to the Explore tab in the left-hand menu and start a new report by clicking Blank exploration.
In the "Variables" column on the left, you need to import the dimensions and metrics you want to use.
Click the (+) icon next to "Dimensions." Search for and import "Page path and screen class."
Click the (+) icon next to "Metrics." Search for and import both "Exits" and "Views."
Now, it's time to create the Exit Rate metric itself.
In the "Variables" column, click the (+) sign next to "Metrics" again.
On the "Select Metrics" screen at the very bottom, choose Create a calculated metric.
Enter the following details:
Name: Exit Rate
API Name: (auto-fills)
Formula:
{{Exits}} / {{Views}}(You can just type 'Exits' and select it, then the '/' symbol, then type 'Views' and select it.)Unit of measurement: Percentage
Click Create.
Finally, you can build your report. In the "Tab Settings" column (the middle one):
Drag your "Page path and screen class" dimension from Variables into the Rows box.
Drag your newly created "Exit Rate" metric (along with "Views" and "Exits" for context) into the Values box.
That's it! You now have a reusable, sortable report that clearly displays the exit rate for every page on your website, exactly like you were used to in Universal Analytics.
How to Analyze and Act on Your Exit Rate Data
Now that you have the data, the real work begins. Your goal is to identify pages that are losing visitors unnecessarily and fix them.
1. Identify High-Priority Pages
Sort your report by Exit Rate (descending) to find the biggest offenders. But before you panic, filter your results based on a few criteria:
Sufficient Traffic: Ignore pages with high exit rates but very few views. A page with 2 views and 1 exit has a 50% exit rate but isn’t a meaningful problem. Focus on pages with a significant amount of traffic.
User Journey Context: Filter out pages where an exit is the expected outcome. As mentioned, "thank you" pages, content downloads, and account logouts should naturally have a high exit rate. Your focus should be on landing pages, product pages, core content, and checkout steps.
2. Dig Deeper with Segments
The overall Exit Rate is just the starting point. The real insights emerge when you segment your data. For example, compare the exit rate for a specific page by:
Device Category: Is the exit rate on your checkout page 30% on desktop but 85% on mobile? You likely have a serious mobile usability issue – perhaps form fields are hard to tap or the "Next" button is off-screen.
Traffic Source/Medium: If visitors from your Facebook Ads campaign have a much higher exit rate on a landing page than those from organic search, there may be a mismatch between your ad creative and the page's content. They expected one thing and got another.
3. Investigate the "Why" and Implement Fixes
Once you've identified a problem page, put on your detective hat. Here are common culprits for an unexpectedly high exit rate and what to do about them:
Common Causes & Solutions
You've created a dead end: The page answers a question or shows a product but offers no clear next step.
Solution: Add strong, clear calls to action (CTAs). If it's a blog post, add internal links to related articles or guide them toward a relevant service. On a product page, make the "Add to Cart" button impossible to miss.
The page looks and feels bad: Slow loading times, walls of tiny text, a terrible mobile experience, or an auto-playing video can send users fleeing.
Solution: Use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to check for performance issues. Make sure your design is responsive and your content is easy to scan with clear headings and short paragraphs.
There are technical errors: A broken link, a non-functioning form, or missing images lead to frustration and immediate departure.
Solution: Regularly audit your key landing pages. Click every link, test every form, and ensure the user experience is smooth and error-free.
Final Thoughts
Understanding where users leave your site is the first step toward improving their journey and reaching your goals. By learning what an exit rate is, seeing how it differs from a bounce, and mastering how to find it in GA4, you can transform that raw data into a powerful diagnostic tool for your website's health.
Staying on top of your site's performance, from high-level traffic trends to granular metrics like Exit Rate, is a constant effort. Sometimes, the most time-consuming part isn't the analysis, but simply gathering the data. At Graphed, we created a way to get these answers instantly using simple language. Instead of painstakingly building reports, our users can just ask questions like, "Which of our blog posts has the highest exit rate on mobile?" and see the results in a real-time, shareable dashboard.