Finding an Unusual Traffic Source?

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   DrMark1961posted 6 years ago

   Last Sunday I published a new article and it is getting over 50 reads a day. When I went to see where they are coming from, however, it only lists hubpages. The views are not comiing from Google.
   Is there a way on Google Analytics to find the traffic source for new articles? The only thing I have been able to find is "realtime-"source" but it lists the traffic source as (direct). That does not help much.
   Thanks for any ideas.

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2. 69

   lobobrandonposted 6 years ago

   I don't think there's a way to do this. Maybe they are visits through the related/recommended section? If it lists hubpages it's very likely that these are visits through your profile page.

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   1. 99

      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry  I was not clear on this. The views are not from HP, not from any source listed in traffic. When I go to GA 'acqusition-all traffic-referals" I find that some of my non-Google traffic is from ecosia.org and quora but there is no way (that I can find) to see which article the users of these sites are clicking on.
      It is not that important since it is not many views, but I am curious. Thanks for answering this.

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         lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Nope not possible as far as I know to view the source of traffic for each individual link (hub) so I guess it's hard to say.

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   2. 77

      wildernessposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I used to get a lot of traffic from HubPages.  That died with the advent of niche sites (although I still get some) and traffic from Dengarden sites is now #4 on the list of referrers.
      
      It wasn't from the profile page, then (for the most part), but from interlinking of hubs and from what HP does to promote articles.  For that matter, the list of referrers found on the stats page separates out my profile; it is way down the list at #8 with both HubPages.com and Dengarden well above it.

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      1. 69

         lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah but DrMark has most of his hubs on the niche sites, so if the source is from HubPages it is from hubpages.com. It is very unlikely that any articles on HP are receiving so much traffic that he gets 50 views from the related section.
         
         The profile shows separately from back in the day when we had subdomains. Now it just shows as hubpages.com. The rest about Dengarden is as you say, it's the 6th highest for me in terms of referrals.

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         1. 77

            wildernessposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Dengarden is coming in just behind google.ca for me, at #3.  Understandable as I have not only interlinked, but the "recommended" and "popular" sections are mostly mine as well, at least for my most popular hubs.  Just looked at one and out of 7 suggestions in those two areas, 6 of them were mine.
            
            I also see that Bing is picking up; while they're down the list for "ever", the monthly list shows it at #3, ahead of Dengarden.  Good to see - the Great God Google has some competition, although not a great deal.  (The "ever" column shows google at 3M, with Bing only 150,000, but it's growing.)
            
            Interestingly, I see that google is at a little over half the total monthly traffic, rather than the 90% it used to be.  Maybe that's why I didn't see the massive drop others have been reporting lately.

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            1. 69

               lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               Bing is also at #3 for me on the monthly stats. Nice catch. It's just 13 times less than Google for the month and 35 times lower than the major googles (.com .in .au and .uk).
               
               Yup, just like you most of the related hubs I see on my hubs are mine too apart from the very good interlinking. I was planning on writing to a few others who have hubs that compliment mine to ask for internal links (I'd link out to theirs too). Let's see when I get to that.
               
               As Mark says: Go Niche sites

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               1. 77

                  wildernessposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Hey!  Don't make fun of Bing.  They may be just a pimple on Googles nose, but 2 years ago they weren't even a blemish!

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                  1. 69

                     lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     Haha I'm waiting for duckduckgo to blow up a bit more. Every time FB has data issues, duckduckgo grows.

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                     1. 77

                        wildernessposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                        Yes, I get some there, too.  Not as much as Bing or even Pinterest, but a respectable number.  Several hundred per week.

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                           lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                           Nice. I see a decent amount from there on my website too. Bing is increasing there as well.

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         2. 99

            DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

            This new one is still on the HP main site but is only getting about 3 views a day from HP.
            Pethelpful is number 3 on my all time traffic source list. Go niche sites!

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3. 67

   eugbugposted 6 years ago

   If you go to Acquisition - All Traffic - Referrals and click on a source, it actually seems to give more information. I tried clicking on Quora and it showed me the question that landed a reader on an article.

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   1. 99

      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Eugene. I found this true for Quora but it did not work when I checked the info for aol.com or ecosia.org

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4. 67

   eugbugposted 6 years ago

   .,,...I don't think you can link this traffic to a specific article on a niche site though.

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   1. 99

      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I could tell from the question on quora what article they were driven to. If someone asked about drooling, for example, they were probably taken to the article on excessive drooling.
      It did not help with that latest article though. I think I will have to live with that mystery.

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