How much direct traffic is really direct?
-
Does anyone else think that a large chunk of traffic labelled as "Direct" in your analytics isn't direct at all. When you analyse traffic trends it seems that a large percentage could just be browsers with their referring URL hidden so it only appears direct. Here's the evidence:
-
When we've been affected by major search algorithm changes, we've seen big changes in direct traffic as well as organic, but not in referral traffic.
-
If direct traffic is just bookmarks, typed-in URLs, and people clicking through from emails why is direct traffic 85% new visitors? We don't do any offline advertising, so you'd expect genuine direct traffic to be returning visitors -- either our brand loyalists or subscribers to our email newsletters.
-
If you segment direct traffic into new and returning visitors and look at a major algo update as discussed in 1), you find all the drop in direct traffic is from New Direct visitors, with no drop at all in Returning Direct visitors.
Can anyone explain who these New, Direct visitors are if not simply mislabelled new, search visitors. Cookie deletion can't be the problem (ie: they can't be Returning, Direct really) because the traffic doesn't behave like returning, direct (that is, it varies too much).
I'd be really interest to hear theories, and whether anyone has any figures on the extent of HTTP referrer blocking.
-
-
We get a lot of brand searches, but even if they come from unrecognised search engines you'd expect them to be registered as referrals not direct, wouldn't you?
-
I have thought the same thing before but, then again it could be true. Do you have high number of searches for your business name? I've also thought that maybe Google can't track it because its coming from another search engine. I also get a pretty high number of not provided keyword searches. Hopefully someone will answer this question for the both of us!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Analytics - Referral traffic being reported as Direct traffic
Hi, I have a link on my www homepage to another subdomain website. Both websites are served on https, and have independent Google Analytics properties. However, the traffic from the www site to the subdomain site is being reported as Direct, and not Referral traffic. Any ideas why? See image provided for context... RCn6HER
Reporting & Analytics | | RWesley1 -
Help needed - traffic reduced by half for no apparent reason - not sure what to do
My client site, https://www.helpinhearing.co.uk/ - has regularly been showing traffic of between 1000 & 1500 sessions per month. I've just looked at their Analytics for September and the sessions have dropped to just over 600! And not only was there a period of around 11 days from September 19th onwards when there was either zero traffic or 1 or 2 visits, but also from October 4th to today (8th Oct) also no visits at all. This has never happened and we've managed this website for several years now. I cannot fathom out why this may be the case. We haven't changed anything on the site from a technical point of view, just added content and usual blog etc pages. Search Console lists 147 pages as 404 errors but there are no urgent messages or alerts/warnings. I really don't know how to proceed and try and find out what is going on with the site. Can anyone offer suggestions?
Reporting & Analytics | | mfrgolfgti0 -
Why Is My Traffic Going Up But My Alexa Rating Getting Worse?
I am curious why my Alexa rating has been getting worse over the last few weeks. My organic traffic is up, direct visits and social networking visits are up but my Alexa has been getting worse and worse. Is anyone having the same problem? Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.
Reporting & Analytics | | Videogamefan0 -
Bing Referral Traffic
We do not get referral traffic from Google, only organic. Why do we get both organic and referral traffic from Bing?
Reporting & Analytics | | Mike.Bean0 -
.com site referral traffic to ccTLDs
We have 7 international domains set up along with our main .com site. All of the ccTLds are showing their main referral traffic as coming from the .com site in GA, and most of those being from mobile. Each site is set up correctly with geo-targeting and hreflang tags. Has anyone experienced this before?
Reporting & Analytics | | ggpaul5620 -
How does Google Maps/G+ traffic show up in Analytics?
Hi Moz Community, I've been trying to figure out how traffic from Google Maps (and G+) shows up in Google Analytics and am struggling to find a good answer online. If someone finds a business through Google Maps and then clicks on the website in the Maps listing, does that show up as a referral from Google Maps? Our site shows virtually zero traffic from Google Maps even though we have a number of listing. Two related questions: if someone clicks through to a G+ page from a Maps result and then visits our website from the G+ page, does that show up in Analytics as a referral from G+? Is traffic from Google Maps or G+ ALSO counted as organic traffic? (Would it be possible to accidentally double-count a visit as both organic and a referral from Maps/G+? Thanks everybody!
Reporting & Analytics | | JohnGroves0 -
Looking for a GA developer to block internal traffic and integrate with Snipcart JS API - paid
Hi There, We're looking for someone to help us setup: Blocking internal traffic using a custom dimension/query URL as described here: http://www.simoahava.com/analytics/block-internal-traffic-gtm/ Integrate Google Analytics ecommerce tracking with the Snipcart API as described here: https://snipcart.com/blog/integrating-snipcart-with-google-analytics-ecommerce-tracking Discuss Kiss Metrics and possibly integrate with Snipcart We're a small, 2 person startup so are ideally looking for a freelancer or small firm to help - Any recommendations or pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated. Cheers Ben
Reporting & Analytics | | cmscss0 -
Not displaying traffic data
Hello! For my site http://systemfarmer.hu i have connected GA accout.
Reporting & Analytics | | systemfarmer
But if I try to access traffic data, it just keeps loading. Any idea? Regards, Laszlo0