Why am I seeing so many referalls to my root domain from Facebook in Google Analytics?
-
When we look at referalls from Facebook in Google Analytics, more than 50% (and sometimes upwards of 80%) of the traffic we're getting is listed as landing on our root domain. The thing is, we don't have any direct links TO our root domain on our Facebook page. So is this legitimate traffic, and how are they getting to our page if we have no links to it?
We do post links to stories, videos, etc, but those are to the individual pages, not to our root domain. When I look at those pages that we link to, they do have traffic numbers, but nothing compared to the root domain. Any thoughts would be helpful.
Thanks.
-
Thanks for the responses. Visit duration for the root domain is 9:31, with an average of almost 10 pages/visit. And while we ARE actively promoting on Facebook, we don't have a link to that specific page. I'm doing an experiment this week - not posting anything at all and seeing if that affects traffic numbers. I have a feeling it won't.
And no, we don't have any purchased traffic that I'm aware of.
-
I guess they don't show the post that it was clicked from, or it was clicked from the news feed section.
What are the page metrics? Bounce rate, exit, visit duration etc. If you are not actively promoting on Facebook and or active users/readers mentioning your brand, it would be extremely odd that you would get that much from Facebook.
It could be purchased traffic, have you hired someone to do this for you? I know there are ways to spoof traffic to look like its coming from a source.
-
The "shared URL" is our root domain.
When you look at the "full referrer" to that shared URL, you get 5 results (attached):
-
There is a difference between referral source and referral path. I think the bigger question is what the referral path is. You should be able to view where the hit is coming from Facebook.
And as Alberto stated, it could be a rewrite, which is how Analytics classifies a URL path.
-
Thanks Alberto. I'll talk with our developer to see if he can take a look at what you're talking about. Interestingly, we do have a link to our page in the "About" section, but it's actually pointing to a different page that barely gets ANY traffic, and none from Facebook. So nobody is clicking that at all.
-
Hello,
It's very rare, it may be that you have some kind of redirection and rewrite your URL, which is confusing Analytics.
Often web technology does not support automatic analysis programs.
It could also be that you had a link to the home page in the information section of the fanpage.
What happens to you is not normal, however it is more about using Analytics with SEO issues.
Greetings.
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
-
What are your experiences with Google+?
Hi all, It would be great to hear about your experiences with Google+. We've tried a few times to use it in the hope that it might give us a hand in SEO terms but it has been utterly painful. Not only because the UI is almost impossible to figure out, but because engagement is essentially 0. Perhaps we're doing something wrong. How has it gone for you? Ross
Social Media | | MSGroup0 -
Google+
Hello everyone, just a quick question about Google+; I had already a Google+ business page and I tried to link it with Google Places but instead of doing so, it created another page. So now I have two Google+ pages, one all set up with all the circles, images and everything else, plus another one (the new one) with nothing but the link to Google Places. Is there any chance to merge them both? Cheers
Social Media | | PremioOscar0 -
How to migrate social likes when moving blog domain?
Hi, Our blog currently is hosted at wordpress.com and we are planning to move it under mysite.com/blog. I've noticed that at the moment in the existing individual articles there are social likes for the reader to likes/follow the page. And we do have some likes from these social buttons e.g. in a particular article I receive 4 twitter likes/5 facebook likes from those social media buttons after the article body. After moving the blog would the articles lose the social likes? How would I manage it not to? I know that there is a wordpress plugin available to purchase: http://store.wordpress.com/premium-upgrades/redirect/ If I purchase it would it resolve my problem? Please help Thanks!
Social Media | | LauraHT0 -
Google+ for Business
Google+ has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into my SEO plans. Over the last few weeks, Google+ listings started showing up in the SERPs for my money keywords. The good news is that once we launch our new site, we have a good chance of getting into the Google+ 7 packs. The bad news is that SEO on a national level just got tougher with the local Google+ listings crowding natural listings down the page. Questions: 1. How does Google+ determine who goes into the 7 pack?
Social Media | | CsmBill
2. Is there always a 7 Pack? Can there only be a 4 pack?
3. I see Google+ listings for companies that don't have a Google+ page. How is that possible?
4. Through my keyword research, I have about 20 keywords that are triggering Google+ listings in the SERPs. Some SERPs are only showing 2-4 G+ listings. Is it safe to assume that this is because no one has put those keywords in their Google+ description, and hasn't optimized for those words on their site?0 -
Same posts on facebook and google+. Is this a problem?
I plan to publish same posts on facebook and google+. As they are in 10 different languages, I would rather not make modifications for facebook and google+ respectively. Do you see any problems with this? Do you think it matters whether I first publish on google+ or first on facebook? Any problem if I publish posts on one social media account which I already published in another social media account for another company of mine some months ago? thanks
Social Media | | lcourse0 -
On the new Google+ Local pages, I was wondering if anyone knew how to add the "Follow" button to lead to the company Google+ profile.
I saw a video on an Internet marketing blog that showed a company's Google+ Local page with a "Follow" button on it so people could follow their company Google+ profile.
Social Media | | innovationsimple0 -
Facebook Admins
Hello, Can you give admin status to a user, that doesn't give them the ability to remove other admins. This would be editor or contributor in wordpress. The concern here is that an admin can delete the other admins. IF ATT gave admin to a disgruntled employee, they could lose a page for some time. Thanks
Social Media | | tylerfraser0 -
Are you doing SEO on Twiiter and Facebook pages?
Seems to be a thought process emerging (CALL THE MEDIA!) that twiiter and facebook are having through various different paths a real ranking effect. Is anyone now doing SEO on a clients Social media page because of this. I know they are no follow. I am not sure they don't pass juice.
Social Media | | MBayes0