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
-
Facebook mobile link
I have a weird issue that I just cant fathom so I thought I'd ask you guys. One of my clients sites: positivepathfoudation.org has social bookmarks as we all do but the Facebook link when clicked on mobile (I have ios) shows a broken link when the address is correct and works when opened in desktop. Anyone have any ideas?
Social Media | | Libra_Photographic0 -
Invite a Facebook user to Like a Company Page
Hi All, Was looking at our Facebook company page last night and was going through our recent posts and noticed that the individuals that liked our posts had an "Invite" button next to their name. I've been testing this and is it true that I can only send an Invite to like my company page if I'm actually friends with the user? The "Invite" button is there for every individual that has liked a post on our page, but I've only had success sending the invite to people I'm connected with. The frustrating thing about this is that the button changes to "Invited" regardless of whether or not they have actually received the invite.
Social Media | | Brando160 -
Social media signals and their roles in Google rankings
Hello, I keep on hearing that social media signals have a role in the way Google ranks pages and sites, but for now, I haven't seen any hard evidence of that. Like any other company, we have pages on facebook, linkedin, google plus and twitter, to which we post daily. No, there are no clients coming in from social media, so I was wondering if it's worth investing time in adding every day updates, unless those count in ranking on Google. What do you think, is there a link between social media and Google rankings, and how much does this weight in ranking my sites? Thank you
Social Media | | anitawapa0 -
Exporting Facebook Page Likes
Has anyone found a work-around to export the entire list of people how have liked your page? I know this has been on-going problem for people, but I'm hoping someone here discovered a secret method they'd like to share...please. Thanks, Ruben
Social Media | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Google+ pages in search results
I have a simple question - I've read a lot about how google+ pages are ranking well in google searches, and that it's a good idea to incorporate google+ into your strategy. So I was on a call this morning, talking to a client about this. The client brought up the fact that in all his google searches, he's NEVER seen a google plus page in the search results. I realized that I never have either. After some searches, I still don't see any google plus pages, at least not on page 1 or 2. Am I missing something? Needless to say, the client was not convinced about the value of having a G+ page, and I came away not sure what I was missing. So how do people measure the impact of using google+ on their main website? -Jim
Social Media | | jimr4511 -
Adult dating site. How can I get people to share content on facebook or google plus..
I am working on http://www.top-10-dating-reviews.com an adult dating review website. I want to build a presence on social networks so have set up twitter, google plus, and a facebook page. As I understand it retweets, like, shares etc... Play a significant part in seo. Therefore I want to get as many shares etc as possible. My initial idea was to create a fan page on facebook and pay to promote it on facebook gaining likes on the fan page. Will likes on the fan page impact the main site? I would imagine not? However I can see how someone visiting the main site and liking a post would have a positive effect on rankings. The problem I've come into is facebook won't run the ads as the page is adult so they won't accept paid ads. If I add a post to the facebook page how can I get it in front of people to share or like it? Equally how can I get google plus shares? I'm new to social and am unsure of how I should proceed? Especially as facebook considers the page adult. Finally how important is social. I've read it can get short term wins and optimised posts can appear at the top of search results but don't stay there long. Link building is still the long term strategy?
Social Media | | SamCUK0 -
Social Media Examiner - Facebook Success Summit
Hi there, I was wondering if you could tell me if you think it is worth it to pay $300 for this online conference regarding Facebook marketing. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/fbsummit12/
Social Media | | qlkasdjfw0 -
Why is Google+ so confusing?
I have to update my data in 3 separate place is there anyway to just update one area and it filters into all required places. I have a 1)Google+ places page 2)Google+ profile page, what I would expect others to use for my business 3)Google+ page seems to be the one I should be using for my business? Anyone seen a good guide on Google+ ?
Social Media | | tempowebdesign0