Google Analytics - Referral Traffic Question
-
How Google Analytics determine that some particular web site referred traffic if there is no back link on that site?
-
Referrals are a header. It doesn't matter if GA is on the site.
-
Are you sure there's not a link to your site on the referring site? How are you checking?
Google Analytics will be capturing the source location from the referer set in the http header when someone visits your site.
-
The referral is something that is passed by the user's browser when they visit your site, so even if the link is in a forum or somewhere that Google can't access, Analytics can still see whatever is reported by the user's browser.
The wikipedia article on HTTP referer is a good one to read for a more detailed explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_referer
-
Google Analytics can only determine referred traffic if a site has Google Analytics installed on it. Sites that do not have GA installed will not be able to see any of these stats.
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 Campaign Tracking overriding each other
Howdy, fellow mozzers. So, here is the situation: Let's say someone comes to the website through Organic Google Search, and first thing they see is the banner on the website, on a click of which it takes you to a promotional landing page. I have this banner being tracked with GA campaigns. Now, here are my questions: If that user makes a purchase, which source / medium it will be assigned to? Organic/google or website/banner? (as far as i understand it assigns it to website/banner) If that's the case, is there way to find out afterwords where the website/banner sessions came initially from? If there is no such way, how shall i setup the tracking to be able to see wherre the initial visit to the website came from, yet also track how many people clicked on the banner and made a purchase? Thanks 🙂
Reporting & Analytics | | DmitriiK0 -
Www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js what is this link doing on my website?
Hello Expert, I am using google tag manager and google analytic is already configured in that now i just want to confirm when i do inspect element of my home page in that i can see this link - http://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js where as if i do view source of my page then it is not visible. so what is this link - www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js and what role it play? Do we really need this link to be present on website? Regards, Raghuvinder
Reporting & Analytics | | raghuvinder0 -
Complete loss of Organic visits within Google Analytics??
Hey guys, I have a pressing query that's really puzzled me! I've just been going through Google Analytics and noticed that there has been a complete drop off of all my organic visitors from May 7. All other traffic mediums are unaffected so there is no issue with the Analytics code recording visits. I haven't received any penalty and my rankings have actually improved in the last month. This is proper bizarre. Any ideas? MjLmL70.png
Reporting & Analytics | | Webrevolve0 -
Is there a way to apply the same google analytics filter to multiple properties?
I manage WordPress multiple sites for my clients. Some of these clients are SEO customers. One issue I have with the analytics reports is the occurrence of spam and ghost spam. I know how to create filters to block however there are always more and more. Is there away to export the filter and import it to all the other properties i manage? Or do they just have to be done manually every time i need to block spam?
Reporting & Analytics | | donsilvernail1 -
Google Analytics Average Position
I'm looking at Google Analytics -> Acquisition -> Search Engine Optimization -> Queries reports. I'm looking at keywords and the average position. What Google reports and what I see in a Google incognito search is different (usually my search is much lower). For example, for one search term, Google reports 5.8 average position and every time I search it is 8. My local result is 4. Anyone know why this is? I'm wondering if Google is averaging the Local results into number?
Reporting & Analytics | | CalicoKitty20000 -
Google Analytics - how do you find out Unique Visitors ?
Hi Im trying to find out unique visitors per annum in GA, is this possible, is it simply users ? i know they changed definitions recently cheers dan
Reporting & Analytics | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Alternative to Google Analytics
Hey Everyone, My company has just changed the order processing software we are using and it's causing some issues with Google Analytics conversion funnel tracking. Specifically, there is one point in the funnel where making certain selections (which about half the people do) causes the page to reload. Also, on the login/register page, if they miss a field, the software tells them missed the field, but loads a new page which has a different URL which is not a part of the funnel when a mistake like that isn't made. All of this is causing Google Analytics to report people as leaving the conversion funnel when they really haven't. About a third of the traffic is being shown as exiting the funnel with the exit URL being the exact same URL as the step they are supposedly exiting from (example: the visitor enters on page1, moves to page2, Google is showing that they exit on page2 and go to...page2. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to deal with this in Google Analytics? If not, do you have a recommendation of an alternative analytics program which can deal with the situations mentioned above? PS - Changing the way the checkout software works does not appear to be a viable option. Kurt Steinbrueck
Reporting & Analytics | | Kurt_Steinbrueck
OurChurch.Com1 -
X2 Google Analytics affect page rank ?
Hi there, If you had 2 Google Analytics Accounts one to the main site and another to the blog, could this affect the page position in Google? We've suddenly noticed a drop in our KWs and it was shortly after we added another Google Analytics Account. The blog has 68% Bounce rate and the main site has always been about 48%. Any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks Paul
Reporting & Analytics | | webdesigncwd0