Drop in direct traffic

[CommT]

Hi,

I help look after two websites and have been tracking traffic sources for a couple of years. I have noticed that both sites have seen a drop in direct traffic over 2 years. Has anyone else noticed this and do you have a hypothesis as to the reason?

Overall, on both sites traffic has increased.

Thanks,

Amelia

[CommT]

Thanks guys,

The niche for both sites is UK mortgages - one specialises in commercial and buy to let mortgages, the other residential mortgages. Neither subject is particularly interesting unless you're looking for one at the time - e.g. interesting when you want/need to finance your home purchase but not something most people care about once its all in place! Its a means to an end, and often the least 'fun' part of buying a home! We make it happen, but we're under no illusions that anyone wants a mortgage - they need one which is a different kettle of fish altogether. I don't think its something people come back to regularly - apart from the brief period of time when they are looking for a mortgage. (hope that makes sense?) So I personally would not expect a lot of direct traffic.

The quality / quantity of content hasn't changed - if anything our content writer has got even better as he's immersed himself in the subject more and more to be able to provide really insightful and interesting articles.

I am inclined to believe its the way google analytics is attributing visits as you've suggested. As far as I know nothing has been altered specifically, but I'll check this.

Thank you for answering.

Amelia

[loopyal]

Amelia, it used to be that analytics would report traffic from URL shorteners as direct traffic.

I haven't checked lately, but it could be that is where some of your direct traffic has disappeared to, as Ray-pp suggests.

[Ray-pp]

Have you compared the site traffic to the major algorithm updates? If not, check out this simple and free tool to do so easily: http://www.barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-tool/

That might give you some missing insight and immediate direction.

Edit for a better answer - duh, sorry you specifically mentioned 'direct traffic.'

When it comes to direct traffic, I immediately go to customer loyalty. Have you seen a decrease in the amount of purchases a customer is making (if ecommerce)?

If it is a content website - has the quality / quantity of posting decreased? It would help to know what the niches of the website are and how they add value to the visitor. But, I always think of loyalty when it comes to direct traffic.

Also, direct traffic includes not only visitors that type your URL in, but any errored or dropped referral URLs.It could be that you adjusted the way Analytics is tracking your traffic and it better understands which source to put the traffic into and report it properly. Sometimes, a decrease in traffic is a good thing.