Behavioral factors. Website traffic analysis. Traffic source analysis

Website traffic is the number of users/visitors who visit the website in a certain period.

In statistics collection systems, the main sources of traffic are:

Direct transitions to the site; that is, these are mainly transitions in which the user enters the URL of the site in the address bar of the browser, goes from various bookmarks, etc. A high level of this type of traffic is a good indicator, as it indicates good recognition of the brand/site. However, a low indicator is not always a mistake. 

In Google Analytics, this type of traffic is called “Direct”.

Transitions from search engines. This type of traffic is very important. In essence, this is a transition based on the queries that the user enters into the browser search bar. This type of traffic is considered the main one from the point of view of SEO, since this traffic is free (except for the costs of SEO optimization), it is the one that is most often recommended for improvement during SEO analysis of sites. But it is important to consider that many companies prefer advertising traffic. A high level of this traffic is an excellent indicator, but a low level is not always a mistake. 

In Google Analytics, this type of traffic is called “Organic Search”.

Advertising transitions. This is traffic from various advertising channels; it can be Google ADS, Google Shopping, as well as transitions from advertising campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, etc. What level of traffic is considered good and what is bad depends on what traffic acquisition method is used on the site.

In Google Analytics systems, this type of traffic is called “Paid Search”, “Paid Social”, “Cross network”, “Paid Shopping”, etc.

Links from third-party resources. Here, the name speaks for itself; this is traffic via links located on third-party resources. This is often a small percentage of traffic. 

In Google Analytics, this type of traffic is called “Referral”

Other traffic sources: In addition to the above main traffic sources, there are:

• Transitions from social networks
• Transitions from e-mail newsletters

In order to interpret the data, it is necessary to understand the strategy for attracting traffic to the site. For example, for a site that focuses on SEO promotion, a low level of search/organic traffic is considered to be below 60%, and for a site that runs advertising campaigns, even the absence of search/organic traffic is the norm.

Google analytics: "Reports" - "Traffic sources" - "Overview"

It is advisable to analyze traffic for the last three months; depending on the topic (especially for seasonal goods and services), it is important to look at traffic by target date range.

Why is it important:

Traffic source analysis allows you to:

• To form a general idea of the strategy for attracting traffic to the site;
• To identify problems and discrepancies between the developed strategy and the actual results;
• Based on the results of the analysis, to form general recommendations and adjustments for the strategy for attracting traffic to the site.