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My site has been getting substantial direct traffic for a while in Google Analytics. I had been assuming that it was mostly due to link shortened traffic from Twitter. However, after Twitter introduced t.co, and shortened links from Twitter started coming in as "referrer" I started taking a look at what might be the actual cause of my higher than expected direct traffic stats.

Here are some hypotheses of things contributing to direct traffic. Please feel free to shoot them down if it is impossible that they are being counted as direct traffic by Analytics.

  1. Google Chrome's url autocompletion.
  2. Desktop Twitter clients like Tweet Deck.
  3. Mobile clients for Twitter other than the official Twitter app.
  4. Links sent through Outlook and Gmail.
  5. Bookmarked pages.
  6. Right clicking and opening a link in a new window.
  7. People typing in the site url.
  8. Right clicking and opening a link in an incognito window.
  9. 301 and 302 Redirects.
  10. Switching back and forth between http and https.

Any ideas? Can anybody think of any other sources that could potentially be contributing to a Google Analytics Direct Traffic? Is anything on my list flat out wrong?

TrentonMcManus
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  • Gmail's a referral, Tweetdeck should refer through t.co... Definitely bookmarked sites are direct traffic :) – Edd Turtle Sep 24 '11 at 11:43
  • @Edd Turtle I'm noticing large amounts of traffic from yahoo mail, live mail and AOL, but nothing from Gmail, which makes me very suspicious. Could it be that Gmail accounts use https? – TrentonMcManus Sep 24 '11 at 14:55
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    Yes, Gmail uses https, so it doesn't pass a referrer to HTTP pages. – Yahel Sep 24 '11 at 20:47
  • Here is a blog post that contains some [information about the other kinds of traffic that Google Analytics may be counting as direct traffic](http://www.gordonchoi.com/google-analytics-direct-traffic-20101113). – TrentonMcManus Sep 24 '11 at 23:50
  • Most likely links sent via SMS should also be on the list. – TrentonMcManus Sep 25 '11 at 02:48
  • Potentially add to the list "[Computers running Norton Internet Security](https://www-secure.symantec.com/norton-support/jsp/help-solutions.jsp?lg=english&ct=united+states&docid=20080423093909EN&product=home&version=1&pvid=f-home)" – TrentonMcManus Sep 25 '11 at 04:14
  • Looks like 301 redirects are probably not a big contributor to direct traffic: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2158283/will-a-302-redirect-maintain-the-referer-string/5441932#5441932 – TrentonMcManus Sep 25 '11 at 17:07
  • Could IE target="_blank" be a contributor as well? Is [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5643773/http-referrer-not-always-being-passed/5643868#5643868) applicable? – TrentonMcManus Sep 25 '11 at 17:43
  • @TrentonMcManus you should move your contributions in your question to be an answer. – Yahel Oct 04 '11 at 01:38

2 Answers2

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What portion of the traffic is new customers and what portion is returning? I would look at the landing pages for clues. I believe the general thought is most if not all direct traffic is either typed in directly or from a bookmark, but I see a lot of new customers in my direct traffic so they must come from somewhere else...

Kijewski
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Wojtek Poppe
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I agree with most of the list but:

1) Google Chrome's url autocompletion: I don't think this loses the referral information, although I believe iOS has started removing all referral data from its Google searches.

6) Right clicking and opening a link in a new window: I just did this in chrome (to the Gordon Choi page) and opened up a new tab with right click, and it appeared as a referral

I've also discussed this topic here:

https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/32978/a-lot-of-direct-none-traffic-in-google-analytics/33816#33816

Community
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s6mike
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