Where to see it
In Google Analytics 4, open the Traffic acquisition report and look at the Referral channel, then view the session source to see which sites send you visitors.
Why referral traffic is valuable
- Visitors arrive with a recommendation from a site they already trust.
- The links behind it often help SEO as well.
- It shows which partners, articles and directories are worth your time.
How to get more of it
- Get listed in relevant industry and local directories.
- Ask partners, suppliers and customers to link to you.
- Offer expert comments to journalists and publish original data that others want to cite.
- Take part in industry events, podcasts and communities.
Watch out for referral spam: fake visits from odd domains that only exist to get your attention.
Referral traffic example
A software company is mentioned in a trade magazine’s article about tools. In Analytics, the Referral channel shows 300 visits from the magazine’s site in a month, and the sign-up rate from these visitors is double the average. The company thanks the editor, offers an expert comment for future articles and asks the magazine to update the link when the product page moves.
How to grow referral traffic
- Check the referral report to see which sites already send visitors.
- Contact those sites and look for ways to work together.
- Get listed in relevant trade, local and partner directories.
- Publish research or tools that others will cite.
- Offer experts’ comments to journalists and bloggers.
- Keep an eye on broken links to your site, and redirect them.
Referral traffic mistakes
- Counting spam referrals, which come from bots, as real visits.
- Chasing links from sites with no relevant audience.
- Forgetting UTM tags on partner links, so the source is lost.
- Judging a referral only by visits, not by conversions.
Referral traffic FAQs
How is it different from organic traffic?
Referrals come through links on other sites. Organic comes from search results. See organic search traffic and direct traffic.
Does it help rankings?
The links behind it may. See backlinks and UTM tracking codes.