difference between ga:entranceBounceRate and ga:vi

Question

What is the difference between ga:entranceBounceRate and ga:visitBounceRate ? I found the following definition from Google analytics like

ga:visitBounceRate

• The percentage of single-page visits (i.e., visits in which the person left your site from the first page).

ga:entranceBounceRate

• The percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page).

The Only difference which i see is first page and entrance page. Is both not the same ? How it is different from each other ?

Answer 1

The difference is in how the rates are calculated:

ga:entranceBounceRate

The percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page).

Calculation: (ga:bounces / ga:entrances) * 100

ga:entrances: The number of entrances to your website measured as the first pageview in a session.

ga:visitBounceRate

The percentage of single-page visits (i.e., visits in which the person left your site from the first page).

Calculation: (ga:bounces / ga:visits) * 100

ga:visits: Counts the total number of sessions.

While they may be nearly identical for the site because entrances often equal visits, if you run it on a page level basis, you could see which pages created a high percentage of bounces and are thus driving up the overall site bounce rate.

In short, apply ga:entranceBounceRate to a particular page.

Apply ga:visitBounceRate to the site.