{"id":21439,"date":"2020-01-28T16:37:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T16:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/referral"},"modified":"2026-09-17T13:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:51:30","slug":"referral","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/referral","title":{"rendered":"Referral"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Referral Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Referral<\/strong> or referral traffic is traffic that an analytics tool attributes to links on other websites. It occurs, for example, when someone follows a link in an article, review or directory and arrives at the website being analysed.<\/p>\n

The source of the visit is usually identified through referrer information sent by the browser<\/strong>. Not all external traffic is referral traffic: organic search, advertising, email and social media may be classified as separate channels depending on the tool and tagging used.<\/p>\n

The absence of a referrer does not prove that the person typed the URL<\/strong>. Applications, privacy settings, certain protocol changes and untagged links can prevent this information from being transmitted and cause a visit to be classified as direct traffic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

What referral analysis is used for<\/h2>\n

Referral analysis identifies the domains and pages that send visits<\/strong>, helps assess whether that traffic is relevant and reveals relationships, mentions or content that make the website easier to discover. In web analytics<\/a>, this information can be compared with subsequent actions such as reading content, submitting a form or making a purchase.<\/p>\n

A source with many sessions is not necessarily the most valuable<\/strong>. Interpretation should consider visit quality, conversions, the context of the link and possible anomalies, such as automated traffic or self-referrals caused by an incorrect configuration.<\/p>\n

Referral describes an observed source, but it does not by itself establish which contact caused a conversion<\/strong>. That assessment depends on the attribution model<\/a> and the information available throughout the user journey.<\/p>\n

Examples of referral traffic from external websites<\/h2>\n

Editorial links and legitimate mentions can generate referral traffic<\/strong>. Common examples include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Related websites:<\/strong> A specialist publication links to a resource, study, product or service because it provides useful information for its readers.<\/li>\n
  • Forums and communities:<\/strong> A member shares a relevant link to answer a question or expand a discussion, without using it as repetitive promotion or spam.<\/li>\n
  • Reviews and directories:<\/strong> A business listing, comparison or review includes a link to the website it mentions.<\/li>\n
  • Editorial collaborations:<\/strong> A contributed article, interview or external contribution links to its author or a relevant source. Its purpose should be informative, not an exchange designed to manipulate search engines.<\/li>\n
  • Events and organisations:<\/strong> A conference, association or partner page links to participants, sponsors or cited resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Analysing these cases correctly requires checking the source page and the context of the link<\/strong>. Campaign parameters are also useful when a link is part of a controlled activity because they distinguish it from a spontaneous editorial mention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Definition: Referral or referral traffic is traffic that an analytics tool attributes to links on other websites. It occurs, for example, when someone follows a link in an article, review or directory and arrives at the website being analysed. The source of the visit is usually identified through referrer information sent by the browser. Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1300,1292],"class_list":["post-21439","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-attribution-models","encyclopedia-tag-traffic-measurement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/21439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=21439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}