% Of Traffic From Referral Sites vs From Search Engines?

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% Of Traffic From Referral Sites vs From Search Engines?

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CrdBrd

posts: 17

May 17, 2009 2:57 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Is there rule of thumb as far as the percentage of traffic coming from referral sites vs organic search engine searches that a website should experience? Or it all depends on the site and how well it`s been tuned for SEO?

CarstenJacobsen

posts: 10

May 17, 2009 3:27 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I think it depends on what you do to drive traffic to your website. If you are very active in forums like SuN you will probably get a lot of referral traffic. If you primarely work with SEO you will probably get most traffic from search engines.

So I think it`s very individual. My blog is getting 54% of the traffic from referral sites and 27% from search engines. The rest is from visitors who type the address in the browser. I don`t spend much time on SEO but a lot on forums, which you can see on the numbers :-)

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Carsten Jacobsen
IT Entrepreneur, living in Denmark
My Blog: www.ScandinavianMinds.com

vwebworld

posts: 1237

May 17, 2009 5:51 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Steve,

That`s a good question. As Carsten says, I will depend upon how the website has been structured for SEO and for referrals.

But, it`s a good question because it is something people should think about for their website. What are the ways I can reach my target market? Through search results, referral links, ppc ads, etc.?

Arguably hits from search results and referral links carry different strengths. Referrals can add a trust factor for the viewer following the link to your site. Trust is an important factor in converting visits to sales.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

CrdBrd

posts: 17

May 17, 2009 10:59 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Thank you guys for the responses. A very big percentage of my visits come from referral sites (which I guess is good on the trust factor), but tells me I`m missing out on the organic visits and need to do some work. Wasn`t sure if there was a rule of thumb or not i.e. 60/40.

Thanks again.

Steve

vwebworld

posts: 1237

May 18, 2009 8:17 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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There`s no magic rule of thumb... the key is - what`s the best mix to reach your target market.

Also, if your targeted keyword(s) are highly competitive it may be difficult to get first page search results for them... and referral links (from directories, articles, forums, and social sites) may be more successful.

You might think about your targeted keywords - if they are highly competitive, maybe using more longer tail keywords would be better. For example instead of "jerky"... try more specific keywords like "beef jerky" or "black pepper beef jerky".

You can check your current stats to see what long-tail keywords/phrases are being used now to find your site... then capitalize on those.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Casi

posts: 72

May 18, 2009 4:22 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Another point to consider is the quality of visits that you get. Using Google Analystics, I can see that people who come to my site from social networks (including forums) visit many more pages and spend alot more time than those who come from search engines.

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Brendita`s Body Works - Organic Skin & Hair Care Products

PremierPackaging

posts: 8

May 19, 2009 9:03 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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There`s also another angle to consider. Let`s say you`re getting 70% of traffic from search engines and the rest from referrals. You might think you`re doing great with seo, but then you dig a little deeper and find the majority of SE traffic is people searching for your brand name keyword. While I`d say this means you probably have a loyal customer base, it means your seo is weak on driving long tail keywords for your products / services.

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Your Complete Source for Retail Packaging
http://www.retailpackaging.com
Tips and Advice for independent retailers and small businesses on our blog http://www.retailpackaging.com/blog
Follow us on Twitter for packaging & business advice @retailpackaging

BigIdea

posts: 17

May 19, 2009 1:08 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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You may need to improve your SEO but the referral traffic you are getting can sometimes be more valuable in regards to conversion than organic search.

http://www.ibigidea.com

utzjohn

posts: 72

May 23, 2009 12:18 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Long term, depending on your traffic goals, SEO will likely produce more traffic. Referrals from other sites, unless from high traffic sites, will likely produce less inbound traffic. In addition they are more time consuming to build. In terms of SEO, a strategy that I focus on for the online community that I manage - SBI+ M, is to build search traffic using long tail keywords. My site traffic is about 75% search drive and then equally split between direct traffic and referrals. Here`s an article I wrote on how to build traffic to your site using long tail keywords:

Long Tail Keyword Capture : Using niche keywords to get traffic most people miss

TrafficVault

posts: 4

Jun 02, 2009 12:55 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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This is an interesting topic. I`ve seen the percentage run the gamut. I would say that 50% is about healthy, too high and you may be totally dependent on search. On the other hand, its more important to look at which search terms you are getting traffic for, are they targeted and are they converting for your business.

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