Referral Traffic vs. Campaign Traffic in Google Analytics
-
I have two sites: a blog and an ecommerce site. The blog funnels people to the ecommerce site. In Analytics I'm seeing declines in referral traffic from the blog to the ecommerce site. During the same time I'm seeing an increase in campaign traffic to the ecommerce site, with most campaign traffic coming from the blog. I believe the increase in campaign traffic is largely a result of simply having installed more tracking links. This leads me to believe that the declines I'm seeing in referral traffic is simply a result of the increase in campaign traffic. In other words, what was once counted and reported as being referral traffic is now being counted and reported as campaign traffic. So my question is this: In Google Analytics is campaign traffic ALSO reported as referral traffic, or is campaign traffic reported separately and not duplicated in referral traffic reports?
I'll provide a concrete example to make this more clear in case it isn't:
Say site X sends 1000 visits each month to site Y. Say 50 of those visits come from a single link on X. If that link is changed so that campaign Z data info added (via the Google URL Builder), would you expect to then see 950 referral visits each month from site X to site Y plus 50 campaign visits to site Y via new campaign Z, or would you continue to see 1000 referral visits plus the new 50 campaign visits?
Many thanks in advance to anyone that can shed some light on this.
-
Thank you very much, Martijn and ThompsonPaul, for your responses. I searched everywhere for an answer online, but couldn't find an answer to this somewhat obscure question. Your answers finally clarify this for me. Thanks again!
-
As long as the link is correctly tagged with full primary Analytics variables (utm source, medium and campaign) it will show only under campaigns, Mark. It's an either/or process. Traffic can't be recorded under 2 sources or else your analytics would be completely inaccurate (artificially inflated for every tracked link).
Hope that makes sense?
Paul
-
Hi Mark,
This really depends on how you've tagged your outgoing links to your ecommerce site. If you provide another medium or source within the UTM parameters it might be that it will only pop up under campaign traffic instead of referral traffic. Could you provide us with an example to help you out?
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 Not Properly Attributing Goals
My GA has been working fine for years and is now suddenly attributing 100% of my goals/conversions to a "referral" source. In this case "crm.zoho.com". (see attached url) Our contact form is a zoho CRM form. When prospect fills it out online, it dumps them to a thank-you page and the conversion is counted. That all works just fine, but it is not attributing the conversion to Organic or PPC or Direct as it was a month or so ago. I'm not sure if this may be the cause, but I was cleaning up GA about a month ago, deleting some filters I didn't think I needed any more. Thank you for your help. 9CRUx
Reporting & Analytics | | sanctuary2420 -
Google Analytics direct traffic dropped by 50% after switching to https
Hi, everyone, have a little dilemma and was hoping to get some advice here. I recently installed a new SSL (3 months ago) to force our URL to start with https://. The site was earlier accessible through https:// and http:// prefix however now I have made it so that all urls are redirected to the correct https:// version. The problem is that direct traffic has dropped by more than 50% after implementing these changes and I can for the life of me figure out why. Why would the direct traffic drop all of sudden after making these changes? I am starting to suspect that the earlier data was inflated and that Google analytics was counting users coming from a http:// version of the URL to a https:// version of the URL was counted as direct traffic. Could that be it? Any other possible causes? Would really appreciate any guidance on this problem. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | nsereke0 -
Some goal conversion in Google analytics showing under referral
Yesterday I have created Google analytics account for a new website but few goal conversions comes from payment gateway site (paypal.com, epdq.co.uk) and showing under referral. How to fix this issue so I can know the real source of Goal conversion. *Note - utm_nooverride=1 on thank you page applied, payment gateway URL is already placed in Referral Exclusion List. So please don't suggest either of them. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | Alick3000 -
Identifying Bots in Google Analytics
Hi there, While you can now filter out bots and spiders in Google Analytics, I'm interested in how you identify a bots and spiders in the first place. For example, it used to be thought that Googlebot wouldn't appear in GA as it 'couldn't process Javascript' but now Google has announced new developments for its crawler with regards to interpreting javascript and CSS, this argument isn't as cut and dry. I'm not suggesting Googlebot appears in Google Analytics, but I am saying that you can't make the case that it won't appear only because it can't interpret JavaScript. So, I'm interested to see what metrics you use to identify a bot? For me, the mix of Users > Browser, Users > Operating System Version is still quite handy, but is it possible to identify individual bots and spiders within Google Analytics? And would Googlebot appear?
Reporting & Analytics | | ecommercebc0 -
Conflicting numbers in Google Analytics
I am getting 2 completely different numbers in Google Analytics.According to the graph on my Dashboard organic traffic decreased ~40% comparing June 7 -> June 6.However, when I dig a bit deeper and look at the 2 dates specifically compared to each other I get a `3% increase in traffic.When I look at the traffic on just June 7, I get the number indicating the increase.Any ideas or someone getting similar conflicting numbers??
Reporting & Analytics | | theLotter0 -
Google Analytics: Okay to change domain?
So, we are a long time user of GA and we're planning a domain change.
Reporting & Analytics | | jmueller0823
Does anyone know if I can 'change the domain' in GA so we don't lose our past data?
Thanks!0 -
How Accurate Is Google Analytics Audience Location
Cioa from Latitude 53.92705600 Longitude -1.38481600 Clients love to know which part of the country there visitors originate adn cant get enough of this type of data:
Reporting & Analytics | | Nightwing
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/country-level_zps41f273a3.jpg But just how innacurate is this data when you consder is getting the data from isp locations put another way if i was sat in darkets deepest hole of Paisley Scotland and my ISP was in London would i be tagged as visitor originating in London? Ta muchly,David0 -
How can I track search engine optimization data in Google analytics?
My website is linked to a Google Analytics web property. But, I am not able to track search engine optimization data in Google Analytics. So, How can I get it done?
Reporting & Analytics | | CommercePundit0