Analytics dictionary › Referral

What is Referral

Referral is a visitor who came to your website from a link on another website (referrer).

Every online business wants to have as many (quality) referrals as possible. Not only are referrals bringing you more traffic when people click on them, they are also a very important part of SEO, helping you to rank higher in search results.

As seen in the screenshot below, referrals are usually not the number one channel for traffic but it certainly supports almost all of the other channels!

Google Analytics Traffic Channels
Google Analytics Traffic Channels

How to get more referrals?

There are multiple techniques for getting more referrals, some of them better than others.

It's not only the quantity that matters

Keep in mind that while you can buy thousands of referrals quite cheap, you shouldn’t. Search engines will find out and you may end up being blacklisted!

Here are some of the good techniques that will help you get more referrals:

  • Add your website to online directories
  • Have your website published on review sites
  • Write guest blog posts on other blogs
  • Be active on social media
  • Be active in comments on other websites and blogs
  • Use forums and other communities
  • Create content that is worth sharing

Here are some good articles if you want to learn how to get more referrals:


Last modified: May 15, 2017


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