These instances are where “Direct” becomes a catch-all for anything GA can’t attribute with a defined Source or Medium. Even the browser you use may contribute to what Source/Medium data is available to GA. Redirects from HTTP to HTTPS may also break the user path in a way that Google can’t track. Mobile traffic also tends to generate more traffic than Desktop. If you know you are sending traffic to your site that is not within Google defined segments, you can build your own custom segment and capture some of that misattributed traffic.Īnother common source of Direct traffic comes from third-party booking sites, which can be fixed with cross-domain tracking. However, there are tools at your disposal to make corrections for some of these instances. Some examples of sources that GA sometimes cannot track are: The reality is that there is a growing number of reasons for this. It simply means that Google Analytics cannot track where the user came from when they arrived on your site. However, “dark” does not necessarily mean “bad” traffic. Depending on the page content and volume of landing page sessions, a bookmark may also not be likely. Recently, Portent Analytics Architect Michael Wiegand did a study and found that an average of 17.6% of our clients’ traffic was dark.įor example, if you’re getting Direct traffic to pages deep in your website, or to URLs that would be unnatural for someone to type into a browser, then that traffic is likely “dark” traffic. When traffic arrives on your site that doesn’t fit any other Google Analytics channel and can’t be considered actual Direct traffic, we refer to it as “dark” traffic. Direct Traffic That isn’t Actually Direct We hope to shed some light into that black box and provide you with a handful of metrics and reports to better show the strength of your brand through Direct traffic. That third grouping of traffic can create a black box for marketers. Users from any source where Google Analytics can’t detect referral information.Users who bookmark your site and navigate to it from their bookmark.Users who type your URL directly into their browser.
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This might have to do with Google’s definition of Direct source traffic, which is as “users that typed your URL directly into their browser, or who had bookmarked your site.”
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Some Background on “Direct” TrafficĪ very common misconception in digital marketing is that Direct traffic is registered when a user visits your website by typing your URL into their browser, or from bookmarking the site. But in this post, we’ll lay out a few reasons why that isn’t always the case, and what you can do to get a true understanding of your brand strength in Google Analytics.
#Google analyics direct url Offline
It’s tempting to think all those visitors came to your website because they either already know your brand, or saw some kind of offline advertising you did. If you’ve gone into Google Analytics lately to look at your website performance, you’ll notice a large chunk of traffic and conversions attributed to “Direct.”