What is referral traffic?
Referral traffic is visitors who arrive by clicking a link to your site on another website that is not a search engine or social network.
When someone clicks a link to you on another website, such as a directory, a partner's site or a news article, analytics records it as a referral and names the site. GA4 groups these in the Referral channel. Search engines, social networks and tagged email links are counted in their own channels instead. Your own domain or a payment page sometimes shows up as a referral by mistake, which can be fixed in settings.
Why it matters for your business: Referral traffic shows which outside sites send you real visitors, which helps you see which listings, partners and links are worth keeping.
Related articles
More in Glossary
Still need help?
Ask our team