Shortcut Link and Referral domain in Google Analytics
-
Hello,
One of my clients has a Facebook page for his company, and his social media manager posts some promotional and educational posts on daily basis. the social media manager uses affiliate ID's in the destination URL to track traffic and leads that come from the social media and to make it look nicer he uses shortcut links service - bitly.
Now I have a few questions about this:
-
I don't see traffic comes from bit.ly or bitly.com in Google Analytics, my question: is using 301 redirect makes Google Analytics understand that the last website which sent the traffic to my website is not the actual Referral website?
-
Is using shortcut links in the social media damages the links value (even though they are <nofollow>links - but still considered as signals from social media</nofollow>
Thanks.
-
-
You don't see traffic from bit.ly as they actually redirect the user without serving any content, therefore is just a redirection, instead, you should see the actual referrer, facebook, or whatever. However, if you are getting the hit from a facebook page, it is probably an HTTPS page, and therefore, if redirected to a non-SSL page referrer information isn't passed along. However, you could see something like facebook.com/u.php?.... You should use Analytics tracking variables to better understand from which posts are those visitors coming: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en
As for your second question, just like you can interpret the redirection, so can Google or whatever search engine scrapes the page looking for signals. It won't matter if you pass them through bit.ly or services alike, the link ends up in your site (as long as there's a 300 redirection in place, which it is in bit.ly).
Hope that helps!
-
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 is telling me to Vote Trump - What is going on over there?
An Australian start up we act for has Vote Trump appearing in Google Analytics. Is that happening for anyone else. It is very strange. 43rvF
Social Media | | ClaytonJ1 -
My Belgian Facebook page is not indexed in Google
Dear all, I have several Facebook pages and are all indexed except the Belgian Facebook Page. How is that possible? Thanks!
Social Media | | HMK-NL0 -
Importance of Links and Social
I am putting together a presentation for my managers about why link building and social media is important for SEO so that we can get more resources allocated to these areas. Does anyone have advice/links of convincing arguments for me to include? Thanks!
Social Media | | theLotter0 -
How to remove Google + logo?
I removed social plugins and installed only one Shareholic. Google+ button is left. I checked all plugins - sounds as no one supports it. Any ideas how to remove it? Thank you! http://oasisoftheseasallureoftheseas.com/#axzz289zdLaJm
Social Media | | NadiaFL0 -
Has anybody else noticed that Google has made a significant change to their SERP? There is a lot of social data reported from LinkedIn, Youtube and Facebook (includes page likes and activity) when you search by company name. Thoughts anybody?
Has anybody else noticed that Google has made a significant change to their SERP? There is a lot of social data reported from LinkedIn, Youtube and Facebook (includes page likes and activity) when you search by company name. Thoughts anybody?
Social Media | | rrad0 -
How do I start a Google Local effort?
I was wondering how can I start a Google Local effort and how is it beneficial?
Social Media | | bronxpad0 -
How long until Social Spam achieves the same notoriety/problem as Link Spam used to be
What are people's thoughts on whether or not social spam will become a major problem soon, just like forum profile/blog comment spam, etc, and what do you think the search engines will do about companies that are blatantly gaming the social signals game I.E. since social proof seems to be google's answer to combating anchor text manipulation and content farms, what do you think will be google's answer to combating the rampant social spam that will surely overtake us.
Social Media | | ilyaelbert0 -
Google does not index individual facebook posts often?
It looks like google (regular organic) does not index individual posts from facebook pages often, more likely the wall of the page itself or separate pages. Can someone confirm this?
Social Media | | qlkasdjfw0