Traffic Sources
Direct, Website, Twitter - What do they all mean?
What is "traffic"?
In Internet jargon, "traffic" is a different term for "website visitors". If you get a lot of visitors coming in from a Facebook post, one would say you have a lot of "Facebook traffic". Just a thing to know.
What's a "traffic source"?
The "source" of each visitor is sort of an explanation of how that visitor found the site. At Smore, the source of a visit is essentially, "how did that visitor find my flyer?"
Visitors can come from a lot of sources: Facebook posts, links from other websites, Google search results, your emails, and much much more.
We categorize visitors by looking at where they came from and assigning them one of a group of possible sources.
Visitors can come from a lot of sources: Facebook posts, links from other websites, Google search results, your emails, and much much more.
We categorize visitors by looking at where they came from and assigning them one of a group of possible sources.
What traffic sources are there, and what do they mean?
Smore defines 7 source types (ordered here by commonality):
- Website - Visitors coming in from a link on another website.
If a blog has a link to your flyer, and someone clicks that link, then their source would be "Website". These are also sometimes known as "referrals" or "referral traffic". - Email - These are visitors that have opened your Smore newsletter. This will only be counted if you've used the "Share with Email" tool. Once someone sees the flyer in their email app, a view with an "Email" source is counted.
- Direct - These are usually visitors that typed the flyer's URL directly in the browser. For example, if you type "abc.com" in your browser and click Enter, ABC.com will register a "direct" visit.
In some cases, to protect privacy, apps might "disguise" visits to look like direct visits. This hides which app the user was using, etc. Some direct visits to your flyers might be because users came from apps. These apps might include email apps and social network apps. - Smore - Visits from within the Smore network of flyers are classified as "Smore" visits. For example, if someone sees your flyer in the "related flyers" bar, and then clicks on it, they will register as a "Smore" visitor.
- Craigslist - When people view your listing on Craigslist, you get "Craigslist" views.
- Facebook, Twitter - When you share your flyer on Facebook or Twitter, and someone clicks that link and goes to your flyer, it will register as a "Facebook" or a "Twitter" visit.